Scheria or Scherie (; or Σχερίη), also known as Phaeacia () or Faiakia, was a region in Greek mythology, first mentioned in Homer's Odyssey as the home of the Phaeacians and the last destination of Odysseus in his 10-year journey before returning home to Ithaca. It is amongst one of the earliest descriptions of a utopia.
From Ogygia to Scheria (Odysseus)
Before leaving
Ogygia, Odysseus builds a raft and sails eastwards, instructed by Calypso to navigate using the stars as a celestial reference point.
[Homer, Odyssey, 5, 270] On the eighteenth day appear the shadowy mountains of the land of the Phaeacians, that looked like a
shield in the misty deep.
Poseidon spots his raft and seeking vengeance for his son
Polyphemus who was blinded by Odysseus, produces a storm that torments Odysseus. After three days of struggle with the waves, he is finally washed up on Scheria.
Odysseus meets Nausicaa
Meanwhile, the goddess
Athena sneaks into the palace, disguised as a sea-captain's daughter, and instructs princess
Nausicaa (the daughter of King
Alcinous) in her sleep to go to the seashore and wash her clothes. The next morning, Nausicaa and her maids go to the seashore, and after washing the clothes, start to play a game on the beach, with laughs, giggles and shouts. Odysseus, sleeping nearby exhausted from his adventure, is awakened by the shouts. He covers his nakedness with thick leaves and goes to ask for help from the group. Upon seeing the unkempt Odysseus in this state, the maids run away, but, Nausicaa, encouraged by Athena, stands her ground and talks to him. To excuse the maids, she admits that the Phaeacians are "the farthermost of men, and no other mortals are conversant with them",
[Homer, Odyssey, 6.204] so they run away since they have never seen a stranger before. Nausicaa, being hospitable, provides clothes, food and drink to Odysseus, and then directs him to the palace of King Alcinous.
The palace of King Alcinous
Following
Nausicaa's instructions, Odysseus sought to enter the palace of King
Alcinous and plead for mercy from the queen, Arete, so he could make his way home. On his way to the palace, Odysseus meets Athena disguised as a local girl. In her disguised state, Athena advises him about how to enter the palace. Athena, knowing that the Phaeacians were hostile towards men from the outlands, cloaked Odysseus in a mist that hid him from the Phaeacians' gaze.
Under Athena's protection, Odysseus passes through all of the protection systems of the palace and enters the chamber of King
Alcinous. Odysseus throws his arms around the queen's legs and supplicates her. Naturally, Alcinous and his court are surprised to see a stranger walking into their secured palace. It is only after Echeneus, a Phaeacian elder, urges King Alcinous to welcome the stranger that they offer Odysseus hospitality.
The front doors of the palace are flanked with two dogs made of silver and gold, constructed by Hephaestus. The walls of the palace are made of bronze that "shines like the sun", with gates made of gold. Within the walls, there is a magnificent garden with apple, pear, and pomegranate trees that grow year-round. The palace is even equipped with a lighting system consisting of golden statues of young men bearing torches. After Odysseus tells Alcinous and his court the story of his adventures after the Trojan War, the Phaeacians take him to Ithaca on one of their ships.
The Phaeacian ships
The Phaeacians possessed remarkable ships. They were quite different from the
, the ships used during the Trojan War, and they were steered by thought. King Alcinous says that Phaeacians carried
Rhadamanthus to
Euboea, "which is the furthest of any place" and came back on the same day.
[Homer, Odyssey, 7.320]
He also explains to Odysseus what sort of information the Phaeacian ships require in order to take him home to Ithaca.
[Homer, Odyssey, Book VIII 555–563]
Homer describes the Phaeacian ships as fast as a falcon and gives a vivid description of the ship's departure.
Geographical location of Scheria
Many ancient and modern interpreters favor identification of Scheria with the island of
Corfu, which is within 110 km (68 miles) of Ithaca.
Thucydides, in his
Peloponnesian War, identifies Scheria as Corfu or, with its ancient name, Corcyra. In I.25.4, he records the
Corinth resentment of the Corcyraeans, who "could not repress a pride in the high naval position of an island whose nautical renown dated from the days of its old inhabitants, the Phaeacians." Locals on Corfu had long claimed this, based on the rock off the west coast of the island, which is supposedly the ship that carried
Odysseus back to Ithaca, but was
Petrifaction by
Poseidon, to punish the Phaeacians for helping his enemy,
The Phaeacians did not participate in the Trojan War. The Greek name Φαίακες is derived from phaiós (φαιός “gray”).[Entry “” in Liddell & Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon.] The Phaeacians in the Odyssey did not know Odysseus (although they knew of him, as evidenced by the tales of Demodocus), so they called him a "stranger". Odysseus however was the king of the majority of the Ionian Islands,[Map of Ionian Islands] not only of Ithaca, but also "of Cephallenia, Neritum, Crocylea, Aegilips, Same and Zacynthus"[ Iliad, II.] so if Scheria was Corfu, it would be surprising that the citizens of one of the Ionian Islands did not know Odysseus. Furthermore, when Odysseus reveals his identity, he says to the nobles: "… if I outlive this time of sorrow, I may be counted as your friend, though I live so far away from all of you"[ Odyssey, IX, 17.] indicating that Scheria was far away from Ithaca.
Some suggest that many characteristics of the Phaeacians, including their seafaring and relaxed lifestyle, are suggestive of Minoan Crete. Aside from the seafaring prowess, the palace walls that 'shone like the Sun' are read to be covered not by bronze but orichalcum. The latter similarities make Scheria also suggestive of Plato's account of Atlantis. Since ancient times, some scholars who examined the work and geography of Homer, have suggested that Scheria was located in the Atlantic Ocean, among them were Strabo and Plutarch.
Geographical account by Strabo
Approximately eight centuries after
Homer, the geographer
Strabo criticized
Polybius on the geography of the
Odyssey. Strabo proposed that Scheria and
Ogygia were located in the middle of the
Atlantic Ocean.
See also
Notes
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