Myths & Legends

Stories older than the maps

Sea monsters on real coastlines, kings the tablets half-remember, tales that outlived the cities that told them. Every stop, face and story here says plainly what is attested, what is inferred, and what is legend.

LegendThis event comes from the story, not the historical record.

Place: identified in antiquityAncient writers pinned this stop to a real coast. An old identification, not evidence it happened.

Place: pure mythThe story puts this place beyond any map. The pin only keeps the route drawable.

Interactive Maps

Legendary voyages on real seas. Sail them stop by stop.

The Odyssey — the long way home

Twelve ships, ~700 men, ten years. Sail the traditional route, stop by stop.

More comingBrowse legend maps →

Legends of the Atlas

The heroes themselves: first told, oldest source, and where history touches the legend.

Gilgamesh

first told c. 2100 BC

Legend — A figure of story, not of the record. The page says where history touches the legend.

The king who went looking for a way not to die

Odysseus

first told c. 700 BC

Legend — A figure of story, not of the record. The page says where history touches the legend.

The trickster who took ten years to get home

More comingBrowse legend faces →

Stories

Legends, fables and folktales with no single hero to name, retold and tied to what really happened.

Legend — A story set in the real world, in a real place, with history somewhere under it.Greek

Atlantis

The island that sank in a single day and night