settima

odysseus

Nostos: Il ritorno [Nostos: The Return] (Franco Piavoli, 1989)

Sep

6

Magellan expedition– 1522

Nostos: Il ritorno (1989)

Odysseus (Luigi Mezzanotte) and Poseidon's kingdom, the sea (via). DP: Franco Piavoli.

A seafaring explorer in commemoration of Ferdinand Magellan's (almost) completed circumnavigation in 1522. The Portuguese Magellan was enlisted by Spain to gain access to the Moluccas' spices and other trading goods by sailing west instead of east, thus avoiding the heavily armed Portuguese and Dutch traders who were plundering Southeast Asia, its peoples and cultures.

“Calypso the lustrous goddess tried to hold me back, deep in her arching caverns, craving me for a husband. So did Circe, holding me just as warmly in her halls, the bewitching queen of Aeaea keen to have me too. But they never won the heart inside me, never. So nothing is as sweet as a man's own country.”

– Homer, Odyssey, ca. 8th century CE (via)

 

With the war over, Odysseus returns home by sea, a ten year voyage known as the Odyssey