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Early historical references state that Daedalus, the famous Athenian engineer who conceived and built the Labyrinth in Crete escaped to Camicus in Sicily after the death of his son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.   

Aeolian Islands

The Aeolian Islands is a group of eight Islands in close proximity to the north shore of Sicily.  The picture on the right is the Marcator nautical map we used to navigate the seas in between those charming islands.

Nikos our captain is looking ahead and setting the course to the Aeolian Islands, while the first mate Kostas-a most able sailor-is steering our delightful sailboat which name at that time was Vol de Nuit. Her new name is Okyrhoe, the daughter of Oceanus - the Ocean - a nymph associated with water. The nymphs were lesser deities who were though invited to attend the assemblies of the twelve Gods on Mount Olympus.  The legend has it that Sun God Helios and Hermes the messenger of Gods were in love with her.

We are sailing under spinnaker in perfect weather towards Isola di Salina.  The island of Salina has fertile plains and two extinct volcano mountains therefore during the Hellenistic period was named "Didyme" (Δίδυμη), a Greek name that refers to the two mountains as "twins". The Greeks from Sicily decided to conquer the islands and put an end of the piracy that interfered with trade.  Soon after their conquest together with the locals formed a profitable confederation of pirates.  They also created an early utopian socialist state as all the proceeds - loot - from piracy were distributed to all the islanders on a day that commemorated their success and bravery.  It was taking place in the fall each year likely in a festival where local food and wine were consumed in abundance. 

The attractive town of Santa Marina with its well organized harbor is where we spent a few delightful days recovering from the long sail from Propriano Corsica south on the Balearic sea, across the Strait of Bonifacio, and the fierce storm in the north part of the Tyrrhenian Sea.  

In the beautiful little town of Santa Marina we learned and sampled the delightful local wine called Malvasia which though did not make us forget that loved ones were waiting for our return so we had to sober up and sail again.  The wine and local food are feted in a festival in October while there is a similar festival in June in which capers are feted as the Salina variety is the best in the world.

Stromboli a small Aeolian island and its active volcano were known since antiquity.  It derives its name from the Greek word Στρογγύλη that means round.  Because of its frequent volcanic eruptions the island is also known as the “lighthouse of the Mediterranean”.   Was it here where Odysseus met the god of winds Aeolus requesting favorable winds for his return to his homeland?

Aeolus the keeper of winds responded by gathering and placing the unfavorable winds in a sac and leaving out only Zephyr the gentle west wind.  He instructed Odysseus not to open the sac as the bad winds were inside.  Οιμε (alas) scream the readers of Odyssey because while Odysseus was sleeping his crew who thought the sac was filled with riches opened it, releasing stormy winds that drove them away from Ithaca and back to where they came from.    

The Tower of Winds in Athens depicts Boreas, the north wind on the left and Sciron a northwesterly on the right, the wind other than Zephyr Ulysses needed to return home from the Aeolian Islands.