Publisher's Synopsis
In 'The Odysseus Code', Sarita Armstrong solves the underlying mysteries of Homer's epic poem, the Odyssey. Through meticulous research and exploration, she finds the answers to a 3000 year old puzzle. Homer is revered as the greatest of the ancient Greek epic poets but most modern scholars believe that his descriptions of the routes and the places that Odysseus visits in the poem are purely imagined. Sarita Armstrong disagrees. In 'The Odysseus Code', she follows the routes on medieval portolans (maps) which show coastal geography as it was in pre-history and, in so doing, discovers a world long lost beneath the sea. Was Homer recording ancient seafaring knowledge that had become lost after the eruption of the volcano on the Mediterranean island of Santorini? Was he writing of ancient races, whose lands and harbours were destroyed by rising sea-levels at the end of the last ice age? Did the Phoenicians sail to Cornwall and Wales to trade for tin and gold? Where did their seafaring knowledge come from? What charts did they use and how did they navigate? All these questions and more are answered in 'The Odysseus Code'.
