Astronomy in literature is not always metaphorical. For example, celestial navigation, without the benefit of a pole star, is addressed in Homer’s Classic Greek epic, “The Odyssey.”  After the Trojan War, the hero, Ulysses, embarks on some great exploration but is shipwrecked and imprisoned before he gets home 20 years later. Eventually, the sympathetic goddess, Calypso, releases him and prescribes sailing directions from Malta, just south of Italy, to his beloved Ithaca, Greece across the Mediterranean Sea. The focus of the talk will be on this final odyssey. The PowerPoint presentation is geared for the general public interested in astronomy.

Though a mythological story, it is based on some historical and geographical facts. The night sky, the climate, the ocean currents, the wind and the weather are all examined in context which reveal the challenges faced by Ulysses during his final voyage home.