Talk:Scheria
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[edit] Distance Between Scheria and Ithaca
The article says that, "Despite the above qualities of the ship, it took Odysseus twenty days of sailing to arrive back home to Ithaca, thus indicating that Scheria was a long distance away from Ithaca." However, the Odyssey states that Odysseus was asleep on the boat and the Phaeacians only took a night and morning to reach Ithaca from Scheria. (Book XIII) Can someone clarify please? --Must WIN 23:08, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
- As is often the case, there's an error in the article. --Akhilleus (talk) 23:12, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
This passage, "On the twentieth day of sailing he arrived at his home in Ithaca" is in the Main article: Odysseus. Odyssey doesn't state any specific number of days in Book XIII. It states: "When the bright star that heralds the approach of dawn began to show the ship drew near to land." indicating that the ship arrived at dawn in Ithaca, not necessarily of the following day. I haven't a clue where the number of days comes from--Odysses (☜) 19:09, 7 November 2006 (UTC)
- But wasn't Odysseus asleep during the journey? I don't think that he would have asleep for more than 1 or 2 days. --Must WIN 22:47, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
I agree with 1-2 days. In fact, this is what King Alcinous says in Odyssey, 7, 320, that Pheacians carried Rhadamanthus to Euboea, "which is the furthest of any place" and came back on the same day. Here we have a puzling question: Even if Scheria was Corfu, the distance between Corfu and Euboea is 750 kilometres, therefore it would require a speed of over 60 kilometres per hour to cover the distance. This speed is comparable only to present day cruisers, not to ancient galleys. What short of ships were the Phaeacian ships that could travel "faster than a falcon"?--Odysses (☜) 14:08, 26 November 2006 (UTC)
Perhaps the Phaeacian ships were air ships i.e. air-planes which explains everything, or Phaeacia is dreamland and Odysseus did not realize at the beach because of his long traumatic adventure as a sex slave for Calypso that Nausikaa was a daughter of Ithaca.
