Shrivel

Photo courtesy of crossfitsouthbay.com

Athena touched Odysseus with her wand. She shriveled his beautiful skin on his supple limbs, and she transformed his blond hair, and around all his limbs she put the skin of an aged old man. She dimmed his two eyes that before were so beautiful, and around him she put other clothes, a disgusting cloak and shirt, ragged and filty, befouled with dirty smoke. She put the large skin of a swift deer with all its hair removed around him. She gave him a staff and a wretched pouch, riddled by holes, hung by a twisted cord.

Odyssey Book 13 line 402-411 Barry B Powell
Odyssey Book 4 line 219-222 Barry B Powell

In Sparta the beautiful Helena, who sparked the Trojan War, has told Telemachos how Odysseus sneaked into Troy as a spy to meet her.

Odysseus has the cunning notion to disguise himself as an old beggar, which wouldn't have been hard. He probably used a bit of chalk dust, widely available in dried up puddles around the area. The rocks are all limestone.

.... and throwing a cloth about his shoulders, looking like a slave, he entered the broad-wayed city of the enemy. He hid himself, looking like an other man, a beggar, such as there were none in the Greek camp.

Aha, Odysseus has done it before! Let's say it takes him about 15 minutes, which makes it about 11:30 hrs by now. He's still somewhere close to Rouda Bay and Mikros Gialos beach, but he's ready to head for the rock of Korax and the fountain of Arethousa soon.

What about us? In what direction do we need to go? Let's remind ourselves of what was addressed in scroll 2 and add up what we've learned about the area so far.