January
27
/ 2021
The mythological Alcinous and the location of his kingdom of the Phaeacians have remained one of the most elusive topics of ancient Greek literature. Clues to the ruler and his kingdom survive only in the narratives of the journeys of Odysseus and Jason. Was there an Alcinous prototype ruling over a foreign nation of master seafarers? Apollonius in Argonautica directs one to Drepane in the Ceraunian sea; Apollodorus in Library points to Corcyra (Korfu) as the island of the Phaeacians; Homer in the Odyssey only writes that Odysseus washed ashore on Scheria, and that the Phaeacians had fled from Hypereia where they were under attack from the Cyclopes. How much evidence can the ancient narratives provide, and how much of
