Atlas
A line on a map is a claim about a road.
Distinguish historical geography, literary geography, later traditional identification, and the mythic. Do not draw certainty where the source gives ambiguity.
Mediterranean · Odyssey
Place index
Derived from verified geography
Known, traditional, literary, disputed. Literary geography is not physical certainty.
Unknown
Aeaea
Literary
Aeolia
Unknown
Antarctica
Unknown
Bārāṇasī
Traditional
Cedar Forest
Known
Egypt
Unknown
Elephant Island
Known
Eridu
Traditional
Finisterre
Unknown
Horeb
Disputed
Horeb / Sinai
Traditional
Isipatana / Sārnāth
Traditional
Ithaca
Unknown
Ithaca, New York
Unknown
Joppa
Traditional
Kadesh-barnea
Disputed
Kapilavatthu
Traditional
Kirina
Literary
Kur
Literary
Kur, the nether world
Traditional
Lumbini
Unknown
Mande
Unknown
Mashu
Traditional
Monte Circeo / Aeaea
Literary
Mount Mashu
Traditional
Mount Seir
Traditional
Nebo
Traditional
Niani
Unknown
Niger bend
Known
Niger bend / Mande
Unknown
Nineveh
Literary
Ogygia
Unknown
Pylos
Known
Pylos and Sparta
Unknown
Rome
Traditional
Roncesvalles
Known
Santiago de Compostela
Unknown
Scheria
Traditional
Scheria (Phaeacia)
Unknown
Sinai
Disputed
Sinai / Horeb
Unknown
South Georgia
Unknown
Sparta
Traditional
Strait of Messina
Unknown
Tarshish
Unknown
the Black Sea
Known
the meseta
Unknown
the palace
Unknown
the sea
Literary
the seven gates
Literary
The underworld
Unknown
the waters of death
Unknown
the Zered
Unknown
Thrace
Unknown
Tomis
Unknown
Troy
Known
Troy (Hisarlık)
Known
Uruk
Unknown
Uruvelā
Traditional
Uruvelā / Bodh Gayā
Literary
Waters of death
Unknown
Weddell Sea
Disputed
Yam Suf
Journey shapes
Interpretive diagrams, not universal laws.
Return
The Odyssey
Can someone truly return after becoming someone else on the road?
Shape · parallel
Descent
Inanna’s Descent
What must be given up to pass each threshold, and what does return cost those who stayed?
Shape · descent
Mortality
Gilgamesh
What remains when immortality cannot be carried back?
Shape · spiral
Failed return
Orpheus
What happens when the condition of the gift is not to look?
Shape · broken
Exile
Ovid at Tomis
What happens when there is no return, and home continues without you?
Shape · exile
Pilgrimage
The Camino
What if the destination and the return are different offices of the same road?
Shape · pilgrimage
Refusal
Jonah
What if the meaningful act is not crossing, until the sea makes another road?
Shape · refusal
Modern life
Shackleton
What if the original destination fails, and the new office of the road is to bring everyone back?
Shape · broken
Oral epic
Sunjata
What happens when the keeper of the road is a singer, not a book?
Shape · exile
Wander
The Wilderness
What happens when a short road is refused, and the time that follows is not geography?
Shape · wandering
Leave
The Going Forth
What happens when the house is left, and the office of the road is not to come back as prince?
Shape · line