Trinacria the island of Helios and his cattle

From the Aeolian islands we headed towards Sicily, the largest of the Mediterranean islands lying in between the southern tip of Italian peninsula and the continent of Africa.  There is evidence of early habitation dating back to 12,000 BC. Sicily that Ancient Greeks called Thrinakria or Trinacria (Greek: Θρινακία) is the island where Sun God Helios kept his cattle. It is said that Trinacria is Sicily, since its name implies a connection to the number three (Greek tria) and corners (Greek Akra), and as Sicily has three corners it is the island of three corners.    

Early historical references state that Daedalus, the famous Athenian engineer who conceived and built the Labyrinth in Crete escaped to Camicus in Sicily after the death of his son Icarus.  King Cocalus provided him with shelter in his court a fact that did not deter or prevent King Minos from sailing the 600-700 nautical miles from Crete to Sicily to capture and bring Daedalus back to Knossos.  It was in the ensuing battle that King Minos, the wisest of all Kings, was killed, as King Cocalus was not about to surrender his guest. 

It was in Trinacria that Sun God Helios kept his cattle.  Homer refers to Helios as the Sun God, a mighty charioteer, driving his flaming chariot from east to west across the sky each day.  At night, according to the legend, Helios crossed back to the east by floating in a golden cup on a stream, Ocean, the mythical river that was thought to encircle the flat earth. Because Helios was in the sky all day looking down on the earth, people assumed he saw and heard everything that went on; thus, both gods and humans called on him as a witness to various events or oaths sworn. 

Odysseus has been warned by both Circe and the shade of Tiresias to avoid Trinacria, but his men beg him to stop and let them rest. He reluctantly agrees, but makes them swear an oath not to touch the cattle on the island. However, because unfavorable winds blew continuously for a month they are unable to leave. When Odysseus went to pray asking for the Gods help for a safe return to Ithaca, his crew, fearing starvation, slaughtered and ate some of Helios's cattle. 

In punishment, when they finally sail away, Helios successfully pleads to Zeus to hit their ship with a thunderbolt, killing all the men except Odysseus. Odysseus is spared but, as forewarned by Circe and Tiresias, is punished when his return to Ithaca is delayed by a seven-year sojourn on the island of Ogygia.  As we knew Odysseus and his crew fate we decided to forgo landing in Sicily and proceed with crossing the strait of Messina where Skyla and Charybdis were lurking.   

Tiresias and the Underworld

We decided against searching for Tiresias, the blind prophet, somewhere at Oceanus which was beyond the Pillars of Hercules, todays Gibraltar, as it required changing our southern course towards the Aeolian Islands.   

Odysseus though reached the Underworld, met Tiresias, and performed the rite Circe taught him, pouring fresh ram's blood on the ground. Tiresias the blind prophet was not the only shade Odysseus encountered in the Underworld, as he spoke to the ghosts of his fallen comrades, including Achilles and Agamemnon.  He also saw Minos, the great king, dispensing judgment; and Tantalus, forever hungering for food just out of reach; and Sisyphus, pushing a boulder up a hill, only to have it roll down again.

Two sets of myths revolve around the cause of Tiresias blindness. The most prevalent one was that the goddess Athena blinded him when he saw her bathing naked.  The other myth states that Zeus called up Tiresias, to mediate on an argument he had with Hera about who was most pleasured during an erotic act - a man or a woman. Tiresias, a man who also lived as a woman for seven years, stated that women experience more pleasure agreeing with Zeus. This angered Hera, who in return blinded him.  Zeus felt badly and gave Tiresias the gifts to prophesize and that of a long life that lasted seven generations. 

While in the Underworld the ghost of Tiresias revealed to Ulysses that Poseidon was angry with him but gave him advice and directions on how to get home to Ithaca safely.  As we did not meet Tiresias we had to rely on ancient and modern navigation methods to find our way and reach our destinations, which I will describe in a future post.  But first we had to sail by the Sirens!