Apollonion

Odysseus must have left Rouda Bay at around 11:30 hrs and set off in a westerly direction, where a mountain cuts off Rouda Bay from the south-western part of the island. As Homer writes:

The municipallity of Apollonion

Odysseus went up from the harbor by the rough path, up trough wooded terrain and through the heights to where Athena had told him the excellent pig herder lived,

There just happens to be a path matching Homer's description just behind Mikros Gialos, which leads west through the gorge 'Sinika Langadi'. Naturally, I decided to follow this path in search of the rock of Korax, the fountain of Arethousa and Eumaios' hut.

The rough path

The Sign

Odussey Book 14 line 1-4 Barry B Powell

Nearest shore

Near the top I came upon an old border sign of the former municipality of Apollonion (in 2011 the island as a whole became a single municipality). The old border lies rather conveniently exactly where we previously hypothesised the border of Odysseus kingdom might've been, in between Rouda Bay and Syvota Bay.

As you can see on the map, the 'nearest shore' is just on the edge of Apollonion. The mountains define these borders. It suggests to me that Odysseus' kingdom might very well have run along the same borders as Apollonion, which makes up 41% of the island. This means Odysseus has finally returned to his kingdom, we have arrived in the land of Apollo, about whom we'll talk later on. First I'd like to welcome you to Odysseusland!