Venus
Her prow curved as it were the neck of a stallion, and a great wave of dark seething water boiled in her wake. She held steadily on her course, and even a falcon, swiftest of all birds, could not have kept pace with her.
The ship is approaching Ithaca as the morning star or planet Venus, the brightest 'star' in the sky, rises. Venus circles the sun at a small distance and always appears close to the sun, it becomes visible as it rises at least half an hour before sunrise though it's at its brightest up to 4 hours before. For Homer to mention this phenomenon would suggest Venus must have risen a minimum of 3 hours before sunrise.
As we saw earlier, sunrise on December 16th starts at 07:35 hours, so Venus would be rising at about 04:35 hours, which all fits quite nicely if we factor in the speed of Rhadamanthos' voyage. So, Odysseus' ship draws near land about 04:30 hours, with Venus rising more than 3 hours before the sun. Let's find out what they encounter there.
As we saw earlier, sunrise on December 16th starts at 07:35 hours, so Venus would be rising at about 04:35 hours, which all fits quite nicely if we factor in the speed of Rhadamanthos' voyage. So, Odysseus' ship draws near land about 04:30 hours, with Venus rising more than 3 hours before the sun. Let's find out what they encounter there.
Lefkada
Corfu
Straight line
When the bright star that heralds the approach of dawn began to show, the ship drew near to land.
After the ship has left Scheria Homer writes:
Apparently, the ship sails a steady course at a fast pace and the only island that can be reached in a straight course from Corfu city is Lefkada, which lies at a distance of about 110 km. Rowing at 15 kph this would take about 7 hours and 20 minutes, which would mean the ship reaches the land of Ithaca at about 4:20 hours.
And then:
And then:
Drew near land
00:00
23:00
03:00
01:00
04:00
02:00
22:00
21:00
Odyssey Book 13 line 84-87 Samuel Butler
Odyssey Book 13 line 93-95 Samuel Butler
Odyssey Book 13 line 93-95 Samuel Butler