Is Homer’s Odyssey Based on Real Events?

The Odyssey, written by Homer in the seventh century BCE, tells the story of Odysseus attempting to get home to Ithaca after the Trojan War. The journey is a disaster, with Odysseus facing one terrible event after another. Eventually, although he does finally get home, he is the only survivor. Is the story of the Odyssey something that Homer made up, or is it based on real events?

Fictional monsters

Firstly, let us consider some reasons why many researchers believe that the Odyssey is just a fictional story. One obvious reason is that the story involves numerous monsters, gods and goddesses.

For example, in one part, the goddess Circe turns Odysseus’ men into pigs. In another part, the characters fight against a Cyclops, and this Cyclops hurls enormous boulders at them as they escape from its island. Another episode involves a serpentine monster, Scylla, picking off Odysseus’ men from their ship as it passes beneath her cave.

There are many such examples in the Odyssey. For this reason, it is obvious that the Odyssey cannot be an accurate account of real events.

Implausible timeframe and places

Another reason why many doubt the authenticity of the Odyssey is the fact that the timeframe covered by the story seems completely implausible. According to Homer, it took ten years to get back to Ithaca from Troy. In reality, it should have taken about a week to sail that journey.

Of course, the Odyssey explains this partially by showing that adverse conditions caused Odysseus to be diverted off course. Many maps of the journey from the Odyssey show that he travelled all over the Mediterranean. Some of them place part of his journey as far west as Spain.

Yet despite this partially explaining the implausibly long timeframe, this in itself is a problem. How could Odysseus possibly have been pushed so far off course? In a journey from Troy to Ithaca, a route that took him as far west as Spain is simply not believable.

Do these objections stand up to scrutiny?

At first, these objections might seem solid enough to prove that the Odyssey cannot have been based on real events. However, when we examine the evidence more closely, we see that it is more complicated than this.

Consider, for example, the fact that many historians believe that the Iliad is based at least partially on a historical conflict. Of course, it is obvious that the story also contains plenty of fictional elements. It involves gods and goddesses getting involved in the conflicts, as well as heroes performing superhuman acts.

Nevertheless, none of this could reasonably be used to insist that the story was not based on a real conflict. It is obvious that Homer, or his predecessors, were perfectly capable of adding fantastical and mythological elements to a story of a real conflict for the purpose of making it more interesting.

Since few would use such logic against the historicity of the basic conflict described in the Iliad, why should we use such logic against the historicity of the basic journey described in the Odyssey?

A new understanding of Odysseus’ route home

What about the objection regarding the timeframe covered by the Odyssey, as well as the places visited?

Despite the traditional view that Odysseus travelled all over the Mediterranean, more recent research shows that this understanding may be incorrect. In reality, it would appear that the major part of the journey described in the Odyssey took place very close to the shores of Greece.

Rather than an illogical journey that took Odysseus hundreds of miles away all over the Mediterranean, the Odyssey appears to actually describe a perfectly logical attempt to go from Troy to Ithaca.

Why, then, did it take ten years to make the journey? The actual amount of sailing time that Homer presents is very little. The vast majority of the ten years was spent waiting (or trapped) at certain locations for various reasons. For instance, in one part, Odysseus and his men stay on the Island of Aeolus for an extended period of time, enjoying hospitality.

Geographical evidence that the Odyssey was based on real events

However, the simple fact that the route described in the Odyssey is logical and that Homer could have added mythological elements to his account of a real event does not necessarily mean that it was, in fact, based on real events. Is there any evidence actively supporting the conclusion that real events inspired the Odyssey?

One line of reasoning comes from the fact that the Odyssey appears to describe real, yet very obscure, places. The circular bay at which the Laestrygonians attack Odysseus and his men is one of many examples. There is good evidence that this was Mezapos beach and was part of a logical route back to Ithaca.

Yet, this location is extremely obscure and does not appear elsewhere in Greek legend. The Laestrygonians do not appear in other records. Despite this place and people being unique to Homer, their logical placement on a route to Ithaca is conspicuous.

In other words, if Homer’s Odyssey was not based on real events, then it must have been very well researched.

Evidence from Homer’s choice of mythological concepts

Furthermore, consider the example of the Land of the Lotus-eaters. This appears to be a description of the coast of Libya. Yet other mythological and legendary accounts from the Greeks do not present the Libyans like this.

This makes it unlikely that Homer simply invented a story and filled it with Greek mythological concepts. It seems that Homer’s story is actually filled with more local mythological concepts, hence why we do not see many of them outside of the Iliad.

Did Homer go and visit each of the locations in the Odyssey himself so as to learn of these local myths? Perhaps he did. However, it is arguably simpler to conclude that Odysseus really did travel on the journey Homer described. This would allow him to have picked up some of the local mythological traditions along the way.

Therefore, although we cannot confirm it, there is a distinct possibility that the Odyssey really was based on real events.