Scheria orScherie (/ˈskɪəriə/;Ancient Greek:Σχερία orΣχερίη), also known asPhaeacia (/fiːˈeɪʃə/) orFaiakia, was a region inGreek mythology, first mentioned inHomer'sOdyssey as the home of the Phaeacians and the last destination ofOdysseus in his 10-year journey before returning home toIthaca. It is amongst one of the earliest descriptions of autopia.
Before leavingOgygia, Odysseus builds a raft and sails eastwards, instructed byCalypso tonavigate using the stars as a celestial reference point.[1] On the eighteenth day appear the shadowy mountains of the land of the Phaeacians, that looked like ashield in the misty deep.Poseidon spots his raft and seeking vengeance for his sonPolyphemus 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.
Meanwhile, the goddessAthena sneaks into the palace, disguised as a sea-captain's daughter, and instructs princessNausicaa (the daughter of KingAlcinous) 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",[2] 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.
FollowingNausicaa's instructions, Odysseus sought to enter the palace of KingAlcinous 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.[3] Under Athena's protection, Odysseus passes through all of the protection systems of the palace and enters the chamber of KingAlcinous. 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 byHephaestus. 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 theTrojan War, the Phaeacians take him to Ithaca on one of their ships.
The Phaeacians possessed remarkable ships. They were quite different from thepenteconters, the ships used during the Trojan War, and they were steered by thought. King Alcinous says that Phaeacians carriedRhadamanthus toEuboea, "which is the furthest of any place" and came back on the same day.[4]He also explains to Odysseus what sort of information the Phaeacian ships require in order to take him home to Ithaca.[5]
Tell me also your country, nation, and city, that our ships may shape their purpose accordingly and take you there. For the Phaeacians have no pilots; their vessels have no rudders as those of other nations have, but the ships themselves understand what it is that we are thinking about and want; they know all the cities and countries in the whole world, and can traverse the sea just as well even when it is covered with mist and cloud, so that there is no danger of being wrecked or coming to any harm.
Homer describes the Phaeacian ships as fast as afalcon and gives a vivid description of the ship's departure.
The ship bounded forward on her way as a four in hand chariot flies over the course when the horses feel the whip. Her prow curvetted as it were the neck of a stallion, and a great wave of dark blue water seethed in her wake. She held steadily on her course, and even a falcon, swiftest of all birds, could not have kept pace with her.[6]
Many ancient and modern interpreters favor identification of Scheria with the island ofCorfu, which is within 110 km (68 miles) of Ithaca.Thucydides, in hisPeloponnesian War, identifies Scheria as Corfu or, with its ancient name, Corcyra. In I.25.4, he records theCorinthians' 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 carriedOdysseus back to Ithaca, but was turned to stone byPoseidon, to punish the Phaeacians for helping his enemy,
[…] with one blow from the flat of his hand turned her [the ship] into stone and rooted her to the sea bottom.[6]
The Phaeacians did not participate in theTrojan War. The Greek name Φαίακες is derived fromphaiós (φαιός “gray”).[7] The Phaeacians in theOdyssey did not know Odysseus (although they knewof him, as evidenced by the tales ofDemodocus), so they called him a "stranger". Odysseus however was the king of the majority of theIonian Islands,[8] not only ofIthaca, but also "ofCephallenia,Neritum,Crocylea,Aegilips,Same andZacynthus"[9] 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"[10] indicating that Scheria was far away from Ithaca.
Many characteristics of the Phaeacians, including their seafaring and relaxed lifestyle are suggestive ofMinoanCrete. Aside from the seafaring prowess, the palace walls that shone like the Sun are read to be covered not by bronze butorichalcum. The latter similarities make Scheria also suggestive ofPlato's account ofAtlantis.Helena Blavatsky proposed in herSecret Doctrine (1888) that it wasHomer before Plato who first wrote of Atlantis.[11] From the ancient times, some scholars having examined the work and the geography of Homer have suggested that Scheria was located in theAtlantic Ocean. Among them wereStrabo andPlutarch.
Approximately eight centuries afterHomer, the geographerStrabo criticizedPolybius on thegeography of theOdyssey. Strabo proposed that Scheria andOgygia were located in the middle of theAtlantic Ocean.
At another instance he [Polybius] suppresses statements. For Homer says also "Now after the ship had left the river-stream of Oceanus"[12] and "In the island of Ogygia, where is the navel of the sea,"[13] where the daughter of Atlas lives; and again, regarding the Phaeacians, "Far apart we live in the wash of the waves, the farthermost of men, and no other mortals are conversant with us."[2] All these [incidents] clearly suggest that he [Homer] composed them to take place in the Atlantic Ocean.[14]