ODYSSEY MAP · STOP 3/14
Where Is the Land of the Lotus-Eaters?
A sweet fruit, and a homeland quietly erased
A nine-day storm hurls the fleet beyond all known seas. Three scouts go ashore and taste the honey-sweet lotus the locals offer — and forget home, family and the way back. Odysseus drags his weeping men to the ships by force and binds them under the rowing benches.
In the land of the lotus no sword is drawn and no one dies. Yet it is the epic’s most insidious danger: sometimes the enemy carries no weapon and smiles.
Where is it in the real world?
Ancient writers placed the Lotus-Eaters on the North African coast; the most widespread tradition points to the island of Djerba in Tunisia. Herodotus, too, describes lotus-eating peoples on the coast of modern Libya.
What awaits you in the game?
Speed matters here in the game: how you assemble the scouting party and how many men you surrender to the sweet forgetting depends on your choices. A quiet bargain runs between morale and supplies.
Quick facts
- Position on the route
- 3 / 14
- Previous stop
- Ismarus · 780 nautical miles · ≈ 1 months under sail
- Next stop
- Land of the Cyclopes · 210 nautical miles · ≈ 12 sail days
- Modern location
- Island of Djerba, Tunisia — traditional identification
- Region
- Southern Mediterranean, North African coast
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