From Troy to Ithaca, By Bike and Boat

Over two millennia ago, the Greek hero Odysseus helps to end the Trojan War with his idea of a “gift” horse. All he wants to do now is to return to his kingdom of Ithaca and his loving wife Penelope. But the gods have other ideas and it takes him 10 long years to make it home. Or so the story we know as Homer’s Odyssey goes. Come with me on a trip that loosely follows in his track, hopscotching the coast of Türkiye, the Dedocanese islands, the Peloponese, the Greek mainland, and the islands of the Ionian Sea. We’ll be mostly on bikes, sometimes on boats, and the odd mini-bus. Oh, and did I mention? We’ll be gone a month.

What an experience to (e-)cycle through Turkey’s Gallipoli Peninsula in the company of Australians and a Turkish historian/guide shortly after Anzac Day (when Australia and New Zealand honor those who fought and died in war). With brilliant blue skies above overlooking equally blue waters, it’s hard to imagine the blood spilled in a nine-month campaign during World War I. Until, that is, you see the trenches and visit several of the 37 cemeteries and monuments commemorating the fallen—mostly young men—from both the British Empire and France as well as the Ottoman defenders. Today a large part of the peninsula is a peace park.

The bloody campaign was a strategic debacle for the Allies and a costly victory for the Ottoman Empire, allied with Germany. Nevertheless, it led to the emergence of a national hero for the Turks (in Ataturk) and led to a national awakening for Australians and New Zealanders.

Two quotes stood out from the many informative plaques I read:

“A good army of 50,000 men and sea power—that is the end of the Turkish menace.” —Winston Churchill (then a British minister who helped orchestrate the disastrous Dardanelles naval campaign and was involved in the planning of the military landings on Gallipoli which incurred heavy losses)

“Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives ... You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours ... You, the mothers who sent their sons from faraway countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.” —attributed to Ataturk, though there is some doubt among historians that he wrote it. Nevertheless it is engraved on several monuments and read aloud at Anzac Day ceremonies

Since antiquity, travelers, including Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, traveled to this northwestern corner of modern-day Turkey, near the mouth of the Dardanelles, believing it to be the legendary city of Homer’s Iliad.

But was it? It was. In the late 19th century a self-taught German archaeologist unearthed the lost late Bronze Age city of the epic poems, hidden under layers of subsequent civilizations.

Visitors today can explore the UNESCO-designated archaeological site and its museum, located 19 miles from Çanakkale, to glimpse 10 distinct cultural layers representing some 4,000 years of continuous habitation. But perhaps the site’s most significant value is the profound influence it has had on such foundational literary works as Homer’s Illiad and Virgil’s Aeneid, and on the arts and culture in general, over more than two millennia. Think of how less interesting life would be without the Trojan horse, Achilles’s heel, Helen—“the face that launched a thousand ships,” and the Cassandra curse.

The visit has re-awakened a youthful fascination I had with Greek and Roman mythology, nurtured by my grade school social studies teacher, the late Ann Glennon and my high school Latin teacher Elizabeth Heimbach.

Two temples today in the area known in ancient times as the Troad, today’s Biga Peninsula.

Around ancient Troy and the Ionian islands, Apollo was worshipped as the Lord of the Mice, or Apollo Smintheus. He helped farmers destroy pesty mice and transmitted the plague to those who fell out of his favor. The ruins of Apollon Smintheion, near are the only example of this mouse cult in the country. The Ionic-style temple dating to 150 B.C. has relief friezes depicting the Trojan War. Only 24 meters of the 120-meter-long reliefs have so far been unearthed.

At Assos stands the remains of the only Doric temple in Asia Minor, dedicated to Athena and dating to 530 BC. Six of the original 38 columns remain. In the early 1900s sculptures of the Temple of Athena were moved to museums like the Louvre.

One famous resident of Assos was Aristotle, who helped found a philosophic school here.

Just a couple of the cool things we’ve cycled to or through today.

It’s unclear exactly how the residents of the Greek island of Lesbos (Lesbians) became associated with same-sex attraction between women. The most common explanation is that it is the island where the 7th century B.C. poet Sappho was born. Though little of her poetry remains, some of it deals with homoerotic themes.

The island features in many myths. Here’s one: Philomeleides, king of Lesbos was said to challenge guests to a wrestling match to the death. Odysseus, on his way to the Trojan War with the Greek fleet, however, bests the overconfident king. Homer mentions the island in both the Iliad and the Odyssey.

A ferry ride with our bikes from Turkey crossed international borders into Greece for the day, where we pedaled north along the coast and inland through groves of Mediterranean pines, chestnut trees, oaks, and olives.

It’s a complicated story but here’s the simplified version: Pergamon was founded by the eunuch king Philetaerus, who came from humble beginnings to become a lieutenant to Lysimachus, one of Alexander the Great’s generals. After Alexander died and the generals began to fight among each other, Philetaerus rebelled and kept the treasure and made himself king in the third century BC, during the Hellenistic age.

Pergamon had a library second only to Alexandria’s in Egypt. Parchment was produced here, replacing the need for papyrus; in fact the word parchment derives from Pergamon. Its monumental temple (its magnificent reliefs are at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin) to Zeus was mentioned as “Satan’s Throne” in the Bible’s Book of Revelations. Its outdoor theatre is said to be the world’s steepest, with an angle of about 70 degrees.

Our guide Aydin is a master storyteller, giving life to these old stones. He took us through the acropolis, and then walked us down to the modern town, as the winds whipped and the skies turned ominous.

World wonder: If you were a first century traveler, the 7 wonders of the ancient world would have been on your bucket list. (Of the seven wonders, only the Pyramid of Giza, the oldest of the wonders, remains standing.) Two are in modern-day Turkey; and one of these is at Ephesus, legendarily founded by the Amazons (the race of warlike women, not the ubiquitous shopping behemoth.)

Only the foundation and fragments remain of the Temple of Artemis. One iteration of the structure was funded by wealthy Croesus of Lydia (the origin of the phrase “rich as Croesus”). The next and last form of the temple (4th century BC) was its greatest. One ancient travel writer said he had seen all the other wonders of the world, “… but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy….”

Unfortunately there’s little left of the temple; nevertheless, a visit to this UNESCO site is wondrous. The Library’s striking facade is iconic; it was the third-largest library during its time (after Alexandria and Pergamon), housing approximately 12,000 scrolls. The remains of seven houses where Ephesus’ richest residents lived have been unearthed: 2,000 years later and still so opulent.

The apostle Paul spent a few years here in the first century (AD, of course) and some of his many letters were written from this city.

Long but glorious ride through the Latmos Mountains—an astonishing landscape of giant boulders, umbrella-shaped nut pines, fortified monasteries, and prehistoric rock art, alongside which the river Meander (now Menderes) snakes and winds. It is in fact the origin of the word “meander.”

Our 102km ride ended in Euromos at the site of one of the best preserved Roman temples in Asia Minor, the Temple of Zeus Lepsynos, from the second century (though the site goes back to the sixth century BCE). The area was fenced off, but if I could have come closer I would have looked for a panel with the names of magistrates the building is dedicated to, reportedly among them a “Leon Quintus,” a name so similar to mine. (Most of you know that “Norie” is a nickname for my given name, “Leonor.”) It would’ve been cool to see a 2,000-year-old version of my name etched in marble.

Photos © Norie Quintos.