The Celtic Myth
Odysseus visited many places on his journey of ten years sailing the seas trying to return home. His journey took him all over the Mediterranean. He visited to coasts of Africa, Italy, Turkey and many of the small islands off the coast of Greece. He faced many great monsters, all intent on destruction. He lost his whole fleet and all his men before he could finally return to his home.
People believe that the stories of these Greek myths, the battle of Troy and this following tale of the Journey of the Odyssey, were accounts of Greek soldiers and that they occurred around Greece. However, no where in Homer's epic poem, is a location explicitly stated, and of course now it is difficult to match the descriptions from this fantastic voyage to a known place.
It may be that the Celtic people migrated to the land of Achaea and lived there, naming cities after the places they came from and bringing with them the stories that formed the basis of the great Homeric poems.
There are several main reasons why the main belief that Troy and the ten year war occurred in Turkey, and that the journey of the Odyssey was in the regions bordering the Mediterranean does not fit with reality. In Homer's poem he states that the Trojans and the Greeks cremated their dead, this however was not a practice of the people in the Mediterranean but was however a Celtic custom. Also in his descriptions of characters, Achilles has blonde hair, Agamemnon has red hair and Odysseus has a reddish brown hair, and many of the soldiers are described as having fair skin. This does not correlate to what we would expect of the Greeks, or from any nationality around the Mediterranean sea. Furthermore, the names of rivers, towns and cities from Homer come from areas of western Europe and England and do not fit with the region surrounding 'Troy', also the geographical description of the region does not match the Homeric descriptions.
The main evidence for this theory, the theory that it is in fact a Celtic myth, comes from a book by Iman Wilkens called, Where Troy once Stood, which analyses all the evidence and serves to prove that the Odyssey and its surrounding stories could not have been Greek.
Battle for Troy
The battle of Troy is claimed to be the great battle between Achaean invaders and the defending force from the city of Troy. According to most historians, Homer's account of this epic battle and all the evidence indicates that the battle for Troy took place in the Dardanelles, Turkey, on the Eastern side of the Mediterranean sea. Archaeologists have uncovered many ruins on the site of this famous city, yet have no confirmation that any of them could be the magnificent city. Nine layers of city have been excavated at the site, some indicate great cities that match details of Troy and others are only small settlements, however their destruction and the evidence found there makes a match there improbable. The most likely, Troy II, a great city found with much gold and bronze, a city destroyed by fire has been dated to nearly a thousand years before the Trojan War could have possibly occurred and no other layer of the buried city is grand enough to match.
However when we look elsewhere, it is indeed possible that Troy was a city that existed on the east coast of modern day England, in what is now known as Cambridgeshire. They geographical description from Homer, that of fourteen rivers in the surrounding regions matches the area of England. The names of these rivers also, is easily matched to passages from the Iliad. Also, there have been many findings of bronze weaponry on the region of Cambridgeshire where the battle would have been fought. This indeed makes it even more likely the site of the great battle of Troy.
It is more likely that the battle for Troy therefore did not take place over a beautiful woman, but instead over the precious resource, tin. The Bronze age, as its name suggests, was largely dependant on tools made out of bronze, and therefore there was an incredibly large demand for tin. Large tin deposits had been found in this region of England, and so the armies came together to try gain control.
If what is said about Troy can be true, if Troy is indeed not on the Mediterranean and instead the battle takes place in England, then what we believe about the other stories from Homeric poems could be untrue. For if this is the case, then the story of Odysseus and all the events that occur in the Odyssey would not have been able to occur in the Mediterranean but instead would have taken place in the vast Atlantic Ocean. However, when we study the locations it is almost impossible to say for certain where something could have taken place.
Here are some ideas for places in the Atlantic that are likely locations of the events in the Odyssey:
Land of the Lotus Eaters
The land of the tribal people called the Lotus Eaters by Homer would most likely be an area on the West coast of Africa known as the Senegal. In this area the Lotus plant was a member of the pea family, and its fruit was readily consumed by the people as it had a narcotic effect.
This is similar to what other historians say, for they claim that it was located in the north area of Africa on the coast of Libya, where this plant with its drug-like fruit can also be found.
Polyphemus
The majority of people who accept that the Odyssey took place in the Mediterranean are saying that the capture of Odysseus and the subsequent brutality took place on the island of Sicily. The description in Homer's poem is of a mountainous and overgrown country, where wild goats run wild, a highly wooded and highly fertile land.
Yet this description of Homer's more accurately describes the Cape Verde Islands, near Portugal, where those who think Odysseus travelled the Atlantic place this segment of the long narrative. However, either of these two islands could be the land of Polyphemus and it cannot be stated that one is better than the other.
King of the Four winds - Aeolia
Then Odysseus travels to the Aeolian Isle where he meets the King of the Four winds. Greek historians place this island in the small group of islands just north of Sicily. However, it could also possibly be one of the islands of the Caribbean, south of Cuba just north of South America. For both these places are geographically possible, and it would depend on your acceptance of the myth to differentiate.
Land of the Laestrygonians
After meeting the King of the winds, Odysseus nearly arrives home but is driven back by winds unleashed from the greed of his men, and ends up on the Land of the Laestrygonians, indicated again by most historians to be another part of the island of Sicily. On the other hand, the island of Guadeloupe, in the Caribbean also matches the description of Homer, with a calm harbour closely bounded by headlands, a highly mountainous island with a large rock offshore that could have been where Odysseus once stood to observe the destruction of his fleet.
Circe
Odysseus visits Circe twice on his long journey. Her island is a low lying island totally surrounded by sea, and covered in thick forest. Navidad bank is said to be the island in the Atlantic where this goddess lived, captivating the wildlife and any stray human for her pleasure. It was here that the Celtic Odysseus is supposed to have journeyed, a small island in the Caribbean. However, Circe is more commonly said to have lived on Mount Circeo on the Western side of Italy. This however does not fit with the original Homeric description. For Odysseus says that they are on a low lying island, totally surrounded by sea. Therefore it could not be a mountain peninsula.
Land of the Cimmerians - Visit to the Underworld
Homer describes a very exact place where Odysseus had to go for his visit with the spirits of the dead. He had to find "the place where the rivers Pyriphlegethon and Cocytus (which is a branch of the river Styx) flow into Acheron, and you will see a rock near it, just where the two roaring rivers run into one another." This was where he would find the entrance to Hades.
However, the Atlantic myth states that the entrance to Hades can be found at the Santo Tomas caverns in Cuba. This is a massive system of caves on the western side of Cuba.
There are several elements however, that do not fit in with the myth the Odyssey relates the epic tale of a Celtic journey around the Atlantic ocean. For there are no places where the stories of the Sirens, or the tragedies with Scylla and Charybdis and the fiasco with the sheep of the Sun-God on Thrinacia, could have taken place in the Atlantic. Therefore the supporters for this theory conclude that these events could not have been true, but where instead just additions by Homer to build a better narrative.
Calypso
Homer states that Odysseus came to the island of the nymph Calypso, known as Ogygia, and this island is recognised by many to be the modern Gozo, a part of the Maltese archipelago. Ogygia is a highly fertile land with many sweet smelling flowers and beautiful trees, and also dotted with caves, with many species of animals living there. However many others claim that Ogygia is an island in the Atlantic and claim it to be the island of Saint Miguel in the Azores. The island is volcanic and covered in ravines, so therefore it would be likely to hold caves and have a highly fertile land. This therefore makes it a more suitable choice for Calypso's island.
Scheria - Island of the Phaeacians
What we know of the island of the Phaeacians is that it was surrounded by water and was a large port, for they were a seagoing people. Also it had large mountains nearby, as they feared that Poseidon would bury their city under a mountain as punishment for helping Odysseus. Therefore, most people have chosen the island of Corfu, an island in the Ionian Sea. On it can be identified many of the fruits that Homer said were growing in the garden of King Alcinous.
However, we must also look at the other option. For in the Atlantic people have chosen the Alcinot Island in the Canaries, as the correlating island for the Odysseus journey. Even when we study the name of this island we can see a link back to the recorded king of the Phaeacians, King Alcinous. These islands were also mountainous and highly vegetated. Therefore Scheria could be located in either place.
Ithaca - Home
Ithaca, is of course famous mostly for its involvement in this story, and during the Mycenaean age was the capital of the region. However its power faded rapidly after the period narrated in Homer's poems. Ithaca is known to be the island off the coast of Greece, an island in the Ionian Sea. It boasts the worlds largest natural harbour, and would therefore have been an important city for the sea faring people of that age.
However, what if this was not all taken just for granted but instead we looked elsewhere. Then it becomes possible to locate Ithaca in the south west part of Spain, in the region near modern day Cadiz. Both are great cities with large natural ports, that were easily defendable and therefore became strongholds. Either of these two great cities could be the renowned Ithaca, home to the Odysseus of our stories.
This just serves to highlight the amazing difficulty that arises when trying to place the ancient myths in our world, when the original author provides descriptions but no names that directly relate to ours. For as can be seen from a brief study of all these places in the Odyssey, they can nearly all take place in various locations.
Could it be that Odysseus was not a Greek, and that he was instead a great Celtic warrior who sailed the Atlantic in the times before Greece became a recognised power.
Is everything that the Greeks claimed as their own a derivative of an earlier civilisation? A culture that discovered the world and explored the unknown regions?