Corfu - Scheria -
The IsIc of the Phaeacians
From the island of Ogygia, where he had dwelt with Calypso for almost
eight years, Ulysses, once more wracked by tempestuous seas due to the wrath of Poseidon,
was cast ashore at the mouth of a rivulet in the Land of the Phaeacians, Corfu. Prevailing
opinion identifies this spot as Hermones, though some scholars argue in favour of
Palaiokastritsa where a rock in the sea is known to this day as 'Ulysses' Ship'. When
Ulysses awoke from his deep sleep at Hermones he beheld Nausicaa, the lovely daughter of
King Alcinous, who had come to the river with her friends to launder their clothes and to
play. He conversed with her and likened her beauty to the supple palm tree he had seen on
Delos, in the sanctuary of Apollo.
Nausicaa led Ulysses to the city of the Phaeacians - identified as Palaiopolis in the
modern town of Corfu to her father's palace. There the hero narrated his adventures, as
Homer begins to narrate them in the Odyssey from rhapsodies IX to XIII. King Alcinous and
his subjects listened to his tale and when they were convinced that the much tormented
stranger was indeed Ulysses, they honoured him by giving him gifts, put him on one of
their ships and sent him home to Ithaca.
The visitor to Corfu can take a guided tour of Palaiokastritsa, a place of extraordinary
natural beauty where the rock known as 'Ulysses' Ship' projects from the sea. One can
explore Hermones, a cove with the creek of a rivulet, where Ulysses is believed to have
met Nausicaa. In Palaiopolis - of the modern town - site of the Homeric city and the
palace of Alcinous, one can see the sanctuary of the goddess Hera.
In addition to the sites and sights with Homeric associations and the monuments of the
Classical, Hellenistic and Roman periods, the town of Corfu is of interest too. There are
pronounced Venetian influences in its architecture and the two forts, and there are
numerous churches, built in the eleventh, sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
with significant Byzantine icons and wall-paintings by well-known artists of the Cretan
and Heptanesian Schools.
Half an hour's drive from the town of Corfu, in thevillage of Gastouri, is the Achilleion,
a palace built in 1880 by Empress Elizabeth of Austria (Empress Sissy), the decor of which
(statues, reliefs, murals and paintings) is inspired by ancient Greece and the Trojan War.
Corfu is renowned for its musical tradition. The Corfiote composer N. Mantzaros set to
music D. Solomos's poem 'Hymn to Freedom', the Greek national anthem. Another Corfiote
composer, Sp. Samaras, wrote the music for the international Hymn of the Olympic Games,
with words by the poet K. Palamas. In the theatre of Corfu and other suitable venues works
of famous composers and plays with themes associated with Greek mythology and the Homeric
epics are performed.
Acheron Necromanteion
Opposite Corfu, in Epirus, near the quaint little town of Parga, the river
Acheron flows into the sea. Its sources are in caves in the mountains below Souli in
Epirus, where the river forms the Acherousian Lake, which the ancient Greeks believed was
the entrance to the Underworld. The souls of the dead were rowed over its waters to the
Gateway to Hades, guarded by a fearsome threeheaded dog, Cerberus.
On a hill near the Acheron are the remains of the Necromanteion (Oracle of the Dead) at
Ephyra, a sanctuary visited by the ancient Greeks who wanted to consult the dead, via the
priests, about the future. Today one can visit the Necromanteion and the sources of the
Acheron, either by taking a small boat up the river from its mouth or travelling along its
banks by road. The Necromanteion can also be reached overland from Epirus. One hour's
drive from the Necromanteion are the wellpreserved ruins of Nicopolis, a Roman city built
in the first century AD by the Emperor Octavian to commemorate his victory at Actium in 31
BC, over Mark Anthony and Cleopatra. At Nicopolis there are several Early Christian
basilicas with wonderful floor mosaics.
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