Despite the heartfelt protests of Laocoön and the unheeded predictions of Cassandra, the Trojans had brought the trap hidden within the Trojan Horse inside the walls of Troy, and proud Ilium was in flames. Aeneas, warned by the shade of Hector and protected by his mother Aphrodite, was able to reach safety with his father Anchises and son Ascanius, also known as Julus, taking with him the sacred ornaments and the Penates. The ghost of his wife Creusa, who had perished during the sack of the city, showed him the goal of his exile: the Land of the Sunset, where the tawny Tiber flows.
Beneath the peaks of Mount Ida in Phrygia, Aeneas built a fleet of twenty ships, with which he set sail from Antandrus along with his people.

Reaching the Thracian coast, Aeneas set about founding a city, Aenead, but an ill omen induced him to give up: when he picked twigs of myrtle to adorn an altar for a sacrifice to Aphrodite and Zeus, they immediately began to bleed. It was the tomb of Polydorus, the youngest of the Trojan princes, murdered out of the greed of the Thracians who were supposed to have raised him far away from the war. There was no alternative but to give the victim his funeral honors and go back to sea.

Favorable winds took the fleet to the sacred island of Delos, whose people were ruled by Anius, priest of Apollo and old friend of Anchises. The Trojans consulted the oracle of the god about their destination and were told to seek the "ancient mother" where Aeneas and his descendants would reign forever. Anchises interpreted this as the island of Crete, the cradle of Helladic civilization, where Rhea, the Great Mother, had brought Zeus into the world. So the fleet sailed on through the islands of the Cyclades and came in sight of the beaches of the ancient Curetes.

Aeneas at once raised the walls of the city that he thought was going to be his new and final home and called it Pergamum after the stronghold of Troy. His people divided up the fields, built houses, and were happy to return to normal life in a land that appeared fertile, but this was not the will of Fate. A plague destroyed all that had been built with such effort, and the Penates spoke to Aeneas in a dream, telling him that Crete was not the place meant by the oracle: his people had been assigned the fertile land of Italy, "ancient mother" because it was from there that the Etruscan Dardanus, the ancestor of the Trojans, had come. Anchises, who remembered the old stories, confirmed the prediction, and the refugees set sail once more.

After three days of storm had blown the ships off course, Aeneas landed on the Strophades Islands, where the Harpies had taken refuge after being driven from the house of Phineus. The Trojans had to use their weapons to defend their food from attacks by the foul creatures, and the queen of the Harpies, Celeno, to get her revenge, predicted to Aeneas that the Trojans would found a new city in Italy only after many hardships, when hunger had compelled them to "devour the tables."

Having sailed past Zacynthus and avoided the cursed Ithaca (the home of Ulysses, the destroyer of Troy), Aeneas came to Actium, where he offered a sacrifice to Zeus and held games in honor of his abandoned homeland. He then consecrated the famous shield of Abanthes, taken from the Achaeans during the war.

Beyond the island of the Phaeacians, Aeneas landed at Butrotus, on the coast of Epirus, where he made an astounding discovery: the land was ruled by Helenus, the son of Priam, who had inherited Pyrrhus' scepter and wife. That wife was none other than Andromache, who had formerly been married to the hero Hector, taken as a slave by Pyrrhus, and then abandoned for Hermione. Aeneas was welcomed with full honors in the city, which had been built on the model of Troy, and asked Helenus, famous for his gifts of prophecy, what perils the refugees would have to face before reaching the end of their journey. Helenus admitted that he was unable to reveal all the secrets to him as he was prevented from doing so by Hera, but offered him useful advice.

Leaving Epirus and crossing the short stretch of sea that separated it from Italy, the Trojans landed at the extreme tip of the land of the Sallentines, near a large temple dedicated to Athena. Their stay was a short one for the whole coast was inhabited by Achaean peoples and the Trojans preferred to move on quickly: they sailed across the Gulf of Tarentum, rounded the promontory of Lacinium, and, avoiding the treacherous Charybdis, arrived in Trinacria (Sicily).

They landed at the foot of Mount Etna, said to have crushed the body of Enceladus. This was the land of the Cyclopes, visited by Ulysses not long before. And it was one of that crafty hero's companions, Achaemenides of Ithaca who had been abandoned in that region, who told Aeneas of the tragic encounter between the Greeks and Polyphemus. When the now blind monster appeared on the mountainside and descended toward the beach with his flock, feeling his way with the uprooted trunk of a pine tree, the Trojans quickly put out to sea, taking Achaemenides with them.

Sailing along the coast of Ortygia, where Alpheus was finally reunited with his beloved Arethusa, the Trojan ships reached Pachynus, the southernmost point of Trinacria, and, bypassing the Greek cities of Camarina, Gela, Acragas (Agrigento), and Selinus, came to the coast of Lilybaeum (Marsala) and landed at the port of Drepanum (Trapani). Here, worn out by seven years of hardship, the aging Anchises met his death: neither Celeno of the Harpies nor the seer Helenus had foreseen his end.

As soon as the Trojans resumed their voyage, Juno, seeing them enter the Tyrrhenian Sea and approach the land that had been destined for them, grew angry. Zeus's consort then asked Aeolus to unleash his strongest winds. At once, the fleet was struck by a storm, and many ships were lost before the storm was calmed by Poseidon, irritated with the meddling of Aeolus who had disturbed the sea without his permission. The survivors of the storm landed on the coast of Libya, where they received a welcome at the new city of Carthage, founded by the Phoenician Queen Dido. Venus sent Eros to her in the guise of Ascanius, making her fall in love with Aeneas so that she would not harass him at the instigation of Juno.

So Dido was caught in the web that Aphrodite had woven for her, urged on by her sister Anna Perenna. The news of her union with Aeneas spread through all the cities of the coast and reached the ears of Iarbas, son of Zeus and king of the Getulians, who had been seeking the hand of Dido for some time. Iarbas asked his father to intervene and the latter, using Hermes as a messenger, peremptorily ordered Aeneas back to sea so that his destiny might be fulfilled. Thus, after a year's stay in Carthage, Aeneas was obliged to resume his voyage. As the ships left the harbor, the abandoned Dido impaled herself on a sword on the funeral pyre that she had prepared for herself.

When Aeneas' ships were already far from the coast, a sudden storm forced them to land in Sicily again, where they were welcomed by Acestes, king of nearby Eryx. Solemn games were held in memory of Anchises, but after the contests, the Trojan women, provoked by Iris on behalf of Hera, set fire to the fleet because they were tired of roaming the seas. Zeus was able to limit the damage and Aeneas only lost four ships, but founded the city Segesta for those who did not wish to continue the voyage. Nine days later the Trojans set sail again.

Aphrodite persuaded Poseidon to allow the Trojans to bring their voyage to a peaceful close, but, in exchange, one of them had to be sacrificed. Fate chose the pilot Palinurus who, yielding to Sopore, the god of sleep, off the coast of Campania, vanished into the sea. But the fleet went on safely, passing the rocks once inhabited by the Sirens, and came to the shore of Cumae, dominated by the magnificent temple of Apollo, in whose recesses was hidden the cave of the Sibyl. Interrogated by Aeneas, she told him of the grave dangers and battles that he would have to face in Latium before final victory.

Before resuming his voyage Aeneas held a funeral for Misenus and then descended into the kingdom of the dead from Lake Avernus to meet the shade of his father in the Elysian Fields. Back among the living, Aeneas turned his ships north and sailed to a harbor that he gave the name Gaeta, in honor of his own wet nurse, Caeta, whom he buried on that beach.

The ships then rounded the promontory on which Circe made her home, which Aeneas decided prudently to avoid. Not far off, the waters of the tawny Tiber flowed into the sea, and it was on the banks of this river that the Trojans landed. When, to refresh themselves, they spread wild fruit on flat loaves of wheat and bit into them voraciously, they realized that they were "devouring the tables" just as the Harpies had predicted, and understood that they had reached the end of their long journey. Solemn confirmation was provided by the roll of Zeus' thunder.

Ulysses set sail from the shores of Troy, heading for Ithaca with twelve ships and 500 companions who had survived the war. The enemy city had been burned to the ground thanks to the trick of the wooden horse that he had devised. This was how the hero's adventurous voyage through the Mediterranean began.

Sailing along the coast, Ulysses' fleet reached Thrace, in the land of the Cicones, old allies of the Trojans. Ulysses sacked their capital Ismarus, but the arrival of other enemies forced him to take flight after loosing seventy-two of his companions.

Doubling Cape Malea, in the Peloponnesus, Ulysses' ships were caught by the winds of Boreas from the north that drove them past Cythera. For nine days they were in the grip of the storm and on the tenth made the coast of Africa, landing in the country of the Lotus-eaters. A very sweet fruit, the lotus made them forget their sorrows and pains, but it also banished all thought of their native land from their minds, along with all desire to return to it. Two of his companions who tasted the fruit had to be brought back to the ships by force.

Heading back to the north, Ulysses' ships reached the land of the Cyclopes, monstrous giants with a single eye in the middle of their foreheads. Leaving the fleet in a safe harbor on the nearby Island of Goats, Ulysses set off with a ship and twelve men for the cave of Polyphemus, the son of Poseidon, who devoured six of his companions. After befuddling the Cyclops with wine, the hero blinded him with a sharpened and heated olive stake and escaped from the cave by binding himself and his companions underneath the bellies of rams in the giant's flock of sheep.

Ulysses came next to the island of Aeolia, the home of Aeolus, lord of the winds, who gave him a leather bag in which all the winds that might hinder his voyage back to Ithaca were imprisoned. Driven by the favorable breeze of Zephyr, from the west, the ships came within sight of their homeland. But his companions, curious about the contents of the leather bag, opened it, causing a terrible tempest that drove them back to the kingdom of Aeolus. The god of the winds, offended, chased them away.

After six days and six nights of navigation the fleet landed in the inhospitable land of the Laestrygonians, cruel giants who ate human flesh. Eleven of the twelve ships were sunk with all their crew and only Ulysses' vessel managed to row to safety.

Sailing onward with a broken heart, Ulysses reached the island of Aeaea, the home of Circe, a sorceress whose habit it was to turn all those who came to visit her into animals. Several of his companions were turned into pigs, but Ulysses, with the aid of Hermes, broke the enchantment and made the sorceress submit. He remained as a guest in her palace for a year. Before going back to sea and on Circe's advice, the hero decided to descend into Hades, the subterranean world of the dead, in order to question the shade of the prophet Teiresias about the fate of his voyage.

Teiresias revealed to Ulysses that Poseidon, enraged at what had happened to his son Polyphemus, was hindering his return to Ithaca. And yet, it was still possible for them to reach their home if, when they came to Thrinacie, his companions did not touch the sacred cattle of the Helios. If they were harmed, however, the hero would not see his native land for a long time and would arrive there alone, upon a foreign ship.

Resuming his voyage, Ulysses managed to avoid the seduction of the magical song of the Sirens, though without renouncing the opportunity to hear the sound of their voices. He plugged his companions' ears with wax and had himself bound to the ship's mast so that he could not yield to the desire to join the Sirens.

To avoid the Wandering Rocks, cliffs that crashed together and crushed ships passing between them, Ulysses' ship headed for the caves of Scylla and Charybdis, which faced the sea. Slipping by the dreadful Charybdis, the hero also escaped Scylla, but six of his companions were snatched from the deck by the monster and devoured.

After their terrible experience with the monsters of the straits, Ulysses and his companions landed on Thrinacie, the large island where the heifers of the Sun-god (Helios) grazed. For a whole month the breath of Notus, the south wind, prevented the ship from setting sail again and, in spite of Ulysses' heartfelt warnings, the sailors, wracked with hunger, killed the finest of the cows and aroused the anger of the Sun-god. Threatening to rise no longer to illuminate the earth and the sky, the enraged god obtained the promise of a prompt revenge from the immortals: when a favorable wind at last permitted the ship to leave Thrinacie, Zeus sent a terrible storm that destroyed the ship and swept all of Ulysses' crew into the sea.

Clinging to the ship's shattered mast, Ulysses, the only survivor of the shipwreck, was swept back toward Charybdis. He then drifted for nine days at the mercy of the currents until, on the tenth night, he was washed ashore on the remote Isle of Ogygia, home of the nymph Calypso. The divine maiden kept the hero at her side, but after seven years was forced to submit to the will of the gods and allow Ulysses to resume his voyage so that his destiny could be fulfilled.

Ulysses then sailed for seventeen days on a raft built with the aid of Calypso and had come within sight of the island of the Phaeacians when Poseidon unleashed a violent tempest against him. The raft was smashed to pieces but the hero, thanks to the intervention of the sea goddess Ino, reached land and was led by the lovely Nausicaa to the court of her father Alcinous . Here, Ulysses told the story of his wanderings and was given a ship that took him back to his homeland.

Last Edited On: 08/13/99

Copyright © 1999 by Paul Logasa Bogen II, Bobbie Keane, and Jeff Ryan Martinez. All Rights Reserved.

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