h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Some years ago a man called Tim Severin got together a crew of men and a boat of the style used at the time in which the Odyssey was set. His object was to sail from Troy to Ithaca, working out Ullysses' stopping off points as he went, and also working out why it would have taken 10 years to get back. (Needless to say, he didn't believe some of the more outlandish theories - like Ullysses went to South America!) The journey is described in 'The Ullysses Voyage', an absolutely fascinating book which got me hooked on Tim Severin's other works.

Just one question - how long did it take them?

If you mean Ulysses, I seem to recall that his voyage took 10 years. If you mean Tim Severin and crew, I'll have to get back to you on that one. He sometimes makes the duration of his voyages quite obvious, e.g., by marking dates on the maps in his books or by stating when they set out and when they reached their destination. However, it's not so obvious with this book. I can't find any dates after just a quick glance through. All I can say at the moment is that the voyage took place some time between 1984 (when he did the Jason Voyage) and 1987 (when the book was published). This puts the most likely date as about 1986, and the voyage itself probably only took a few months.

Tim Severin does state, though, that although it took Ulysses 10 years to get home, not all of that time would have been spent sailing. It's not clear from the Odyssey how long Ulysses and his crew spent in the land of the Lotus Eaters, or how long they spent with Calypso. In both cases, months or years could have gone by before they moved on. Plus the fact that they would have been dependent on fair winds and no storms.

Can I ask something who is Ulysses?

Ulysses, also known as Odysseus, was a character in Homer's Iliad, and the central character in Homer's Odyssey. He was a Greek warrior and king of Ithaca, a small Greek island. The Iliad describes the Greek war with the Trojans. The Odyssey describes his journey home after the war against Troy. Ulysses was away from home for 19 years, 9 of which were spent fighting the Trojans, so his voyage home took roughly 10 years (minus the time taken to get to Troy in the first place - however long that was).

Most people have difficulty accepting the Odyssey as a description of a voyage that could have taken place because of the timespan involved. It shouldn't take anything like that long to get from Troy to Ithaca. However, the ships used in those days were coastal vessels and the Ancient Greeks didn't like cutting across the open sea because they couldn't navigate very well, particularly on cloudy nights (no stars!). In the early part of the journey would have to have been done at the speed of the slowest ship. I haven't read the Odyssey recently, but I believe that when they left Troy there were a few dozen ships, which would have slowed things down a lot. Then, as I said, there were stops in the land of the Lotus Eaters and the islands of Circe and Calypso. The Odyssey doesn't specify how long he spent in these places, so a 10 year voyage isn't out of the question.

Thanks Cheerful Dragon but I have readen the Ilion and the Odyssea in the ancient greek my question should have been refraced why Ulysses and not Odysseas?
thank you though for the try to explain who Ulysses was I appriciated.