Ulysses
Well inserted in the LIM register of the Sicily Region (Places of the Sacred) - Sector "Places of myth and legends" in the following sub-category: Places of heroes and heroic legends
Places indicated in the IWB register
- Mouth of the Aci River, Port of S . Mary La Scala
- Faraglioni, Archipelago of the Cyclops
- Aeolian Islands, Aeolian Archipelago
- Scilla and Cariddi, Strait of Messina
- Polyphemus cave (Milazzo)
- Port of Ulysses (Ispica)
- Grotto of Sataria (Pantelleria)
- Rock of the Ligny Tower
Mouth of the Aci River, Port of S. Maria La Scala //Faraglioni, Archipelago of the Cyclops /Polyphemus cave
The myth of Polyphemus is linked to these places Polyphemus card taken from the book by Ignazio Caloggero "Cults Myths and Legends of Ancient Sicilito"
Aeolian Islands, Aeolian Archipelago
In 'Homer's Odyssey (book X, vv 1-25), it is said that the Aeolian Islands hosted Ulysses after the Trojan war. It is said that Aeolus hosted him and gave him a leather wineskin inside which the winds against navigation were locked up. Legend has it that, during the journey, Ulysses made only the sweet Zephyr blow but while he slept, his companions, believing that the bottle was full of treasures, opened it, releasing the winds that unleashed a terrible storm from which he was saved. only the ship of Ulysses.
“And we came to the Aeolian island. Here he lived Aeolus, dear to the gods, son of Hippota. The island wandered swimming. A wall surrounds it bronze; and smooth rises a cliff. Twelve children with him lived in the palace. The fragrant house echoes to the sound of the flutes until the day fades; Then when he left, I asked him to leave he did not refuse, but took my trip to heart; stripped a nine-year-old ox of the hidehe made a wineskin, and closed it inside of the howling winds the streets: he had a keeper of the winds made the chronicle, and could keep them quiet or incite them at will. In the hollow ship with a shiny rope, silvery, the skinskin tied, so that outside not even a breath came out; but only the breath of Zephyr set free for me may the benign ship push for us ”.
Scilla and Cariddi, Strait of Messina
From the Homer's Odyssey (book XII):
The other rock, the lower you will see it, Odysseus, / close to each other, / from one you could hit the other with an arrow. / On this there is a large fig, rich in leaves; / and under Charybdis gloriously livid water absorbs. / Three times a day he vomits it and three times he reabsorbs it / fearfully. Ah, may you not be there when it reabsorbs.
Port of Ulysses
In this regard, see the Melchiorre Trigilia fact sheet: The landing in Porto Ulisse
Grotto of Sataria
It seems that this was the cave where Ulysses met the Goddess Calypso. Another cave (Grotta Calypso) located in Malta is considered according to some versions the true place of the goddess Calypso. In this regard, see the sheet: The Legend of Kalypso and Ulysses
Rock of the Ligny Tower
According to tradition, the rock called the "malcosiglio" has the shape of an elongated boat because it would be the boat of Ulysses that was turned into stone on the return to Scheria that some hypotheses make correspond with Trapani (Samuel Butler: The Authorres of the Odyssey - book written in 1897)
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An interesting study on the places of Ulysses in Sicily was carried out by Melchiorre Trigilia. See the interesting study: Travels and places of Ulysses in Sicily
Card insertion: Ignazio Caloggero
Photo: web
Information contributions: Ignazio Caloggero, Region of Sicily
