I Odyseen beskriver Homer ett folk han kallar "Phaeacians" - som bor "längst möjligt" från Medelhavets stränder. Deras skepp seglade mycket snabbt, jämfört med dom skepp Homer/Odysseus kände till hemifrån.
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.
(Odyssey, Book XIII)
Approximately eight centuries after Homer, Strabo, the geographer criticized Polybius on the Geography of the Odyssey. Strabo proposed that Schería and Ogygia were located in the Atlantic Ocean.
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 Phaiakians, "Far apart we live in the wash of the waves, the farthermost of men, and no other mortals are conversant with us."[2]
Approximately eight centuries after Homer, Strabo, the geographer criticized Polybius on the Geography of the Odyssey. Strabo proposed that Schería and Ogygia were located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. (Strabo, 1.2.18)
The original text of this passage by Strabo is ταῦτα γὰρ πάντα φανερῶς ἐν τῷ Ἀτλαντικῷ πελάγει πλαττόμενα δηλοῦται.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaeacians#cite_note-13
Strabon påstod alltså att Homers resa hade föregått i norra Atlantern, eftersom Odyssevs seglat efter "den stora havs-strömmen" (Golfströmmen).
I "Odyssevs logg" beskrivs också den "livsfarliga malströmmen" (Charybdis). Ingen av dessa fenomen finns som känt inte i Medelhavet, men enbart i norra Atlantern.
http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fil:Maelstrom,_Carta_Marina.pngSlutligen kan man undra på vart Odyseus hamnar när han "lämnar Oceanets elv-ström" - och kommer i i lugnare vatten ikring ön Ogygia - "vid havets navel". En bit från Itaka torde det ha varit, efter som det tog hjälten 14 år att komma fram och tillbaka.