The island of Ogygia is one of the last places that Odysseus visits in the Odyssey, before arriving back home to Ithaca. Ogygia was the mysterious island home of Calypso, a nymph who kept Odysseus trapped for seven years. Many of the locations in the Odyssey can be identified as real places. What about Calypso’s island? Can the island of Ogygia from the Odyssey be identified as a real place?
Theories about the location of the Odyssey‘s island of Ogygia
As with most of the locations in the Odyssey, there are lots of theories about Ogygia’s location. One of the most popular theories is that it was Gozo, the second largest island in the Maltese archipelago. This is popular, in part, because Homer’s description suggests that it was a remote island.
Another theory connects it to Othonoi, a small island northwest of Corfu, near the entrance to the Adriatic Sea. One of the most appealing parts of this theory is that Homer explains in the Odyssey that Odysseus arrived at Scheria after leaving the island of Ogygia. Since Scheria can be confidently identified with Corfu, this suggests that Ogygia was near Corfu.
The ancient geographers Strabo and Plutarch claimed that Ogygia was in the Atlantic Ocean. Plutarch even went so far as to say that it was five days distant from Britain, far from the entrance of the Mediterranean.
Problems with these theories
One of the biggest problems with the latter two theories is that they do not fit Homer’s descriptions of Ogygia in the Odyssey. For instance, consider the claim that Homer’s narrative places Ogygia close to the island of Corfu. Is this really what Homer says?
Indeed, Homer’s island of Scheria in the Odyssey does appear to match Corfu. This was the home of the Phaiacians, a rich seafaring civilization. Furthermore, Scheria is indeed the very next island that Odysseus reaches after leaving Ogygia. However, Homer’s account emphatically does not place Ogygia close to Scheria.
According to the Odyssey, Odysseus had to sail from Ogygia for seventeen days before he finally reached Scheria. This places the two islands hundreds of miles apart. This completely rules out the possibility that Othonoi was the Ogygia of the Odyssey.
Could Ogygia have been in the Atlantic Ocean, or near Britain in particular? Again, a close examination of Homer’s description rules out this idea. Homer presents Odysseus as sailing for seventeen days while keeping the Great Bear, Ursa Major, on his left side and looking at the Pleiades and Boötes.
Explorer and historian Tim Severin explained that this suggests an east-north-east direction of travel. It would be completely impossible to arrive at Corfu, the Scheria of the Phaiacians, from outside the Mediterranean by sailing in this direction.
The real location of Ogygia in the Odyssey
Based on Homer’s description in the Odyssey, Ogygia must be a location in the Mediterranean. Odysseus travels in his makeshift raft from Ogygia in a straight line, across open water, in an east-north-east direction in an attempt to return to Ithaca. He miscalculates and arrives at Scheria, or Corfu, which is north of Ithaca.
With these basic facts in mind, it is obvious that Ogygia must be somewhere southwest of Corfu, directly across the Ionian Sea. It cannot be past Sicily, for it would be impossible for someone to arrive at Corfu from a starting location west of Sicily while keeping a straight course.
This evidence overwhelmingly supports Gozo (or potentially a nearby island, like Malta itself) as the Ogygia of the Odyssey, as it is 350 miles southwest of Corfu. This plausibly matches the distance that a makeshift raft, going at essentially walking pace, might be expected to travel in seventeen days.
Furthermore, the Maltese archipelago is in a remote part of the Mediterranean, explaining why Odysseus, without a ship, was not able to escape easily. In contrast, the island of Othonoi is a mere 7 miles from Trachia, which is itself a mere 5 miles from Corfu. Othonoi hardly qualifies as an effective island prison, being within eyesight of neighboring islands.
On the other hand, the Maltese archipelago is some 50 miles from Italy. Upon arriving here, Odysseus would have been completely at the mercy of his captor, and he would have had no idea where the nearest land was.
Based on the evidence from Homer’s Odyssey, the traditional identification of Ogygia as Gozo in the Maltese archipelago is the most plausible theory.
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