On the track of Ulysses; Together with an excursion in quest of the so-called Venus of Melos / Two studies in archaeology, made during a cruise among the Greek islands

by William James Stillman

PAGE [ON THE TRACK OF ULYSSES] 1 [THE ODYSSEY, ITS EPOCH AND GEOGRAPHY] 50 [THE SO-CALLED VENUS OF MELOS] 75

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE [The Route of Ulysses] 1 [Ithaca and adjoining Islands] 3 [West Coast of Scheria] 8 [Greek Boats and Rostrum of Roman Galley] 13 [Corfu, from the King’s Garden] 14 [Port of Phorcys and Neriton, from the Mouth of Ulysses’ Cave] 28 [Raven’s Cliff and the Fountain of Arethusa] 34 [The Site of Ithaca—Port Polis] 36 [Inscription found at Polis] 39 [The School of Homer] 43 [View of Samé from the West,—with parts of Pelasgic and Hellenic Walls] 58 [Crané from the Sea Shore] 60 [Distant View of Palé from the Citadel of Crané] 63 [Zante] 64 [Citadel of Cerigo] 67 [Landing-Place of the Cyprian Aphrodite or Astarte] 73 [The so-called Venus of Melos] 82 [Street in Castro] 84 [The Site of Old Melos, from the Port] 85 [Medicean Venus] 88 [Venus Urania] 88 [Capitoline Venus] 88 [Venus of the Vatican] 89 [Venus Anadyomene] 89 [Venus Victrix of the Louvre] 89 [Venus of Capua] 90 [Restoration of the Statue as proposed by Mr. Tarral] 90 [Fragments found at Melos attributed to the Statue] 91 [Victory of Brescia (Front)] 92 [Victory of Brescia (Side)] 92 [Victory raising an Offering (Temple of Niké Apteros, the Acropolis, Athens)] 93 [Victory untying her Sandal (Temple of Niké Apteros, the Acropolis, Athens)] 96 [Victories leading a Bull to Sacrifice (Temple of Niké Apteros, the Acropolis, Athens)] 97 [The so-called Venus of Melos (Front)] 99 [The “Venus” Restored (Front. Traced from a Photograph of a living Model)] 99 [The “Venus” Restored (Side. Traced from a Photograph of a living Model)] 100 [The so-called Venus of Melos (Side)] 100 [Victory of Consani] 104 [Temple of Niké Apteros] 105 [Greek Coin] 106

ON THE TRACK OF ULYSSES.

CHAPTER I.

THE ROUTE OF ULYSSES.

What remains for exploration to find on the surface of our little earth? The north and south poles, some outlying bits of Central Africa, some still smaller remnants of Central Asia,—all defended so completely by the elements, barbarism, disease, starvation, by nature and inhumanity, that the traveler of modest means and moderate constitution is as effectually debarred from their discovery as if they were the moon.

What then? I said to myself, searching for adventure. Let us begin the tread-mill round again and rediscover. I took up the earliest book of travel which remains to us, and set to burnish up again the golden thread of the journey of the most illustrious of travelers, as told in the Odyssey, the book of the wanderings of Odysseus, whom we unaccountably call Ulysses, which we may consider not only the first history of travel, but the first geography, as it is doubtless a compendium of the knowledge of the earth’s surface at the day when it was composed, as the Iliad was the census of the known mankind of that epoch. Spread on this small loom, the fabric of the story, of the most subtle design,—art of the oldest and noblest,—is made up with warp of the will of the great gods, crossed by the woof of the futile struggles of the lesser, the demi-gods, the heroes, and tells the miserable labors of the most illustrious of wanderers, the type for all time of craft, duplicity, and daring, as well as of faith and patient endurance.