Polyphemus' Newly Discovered Cave Is Corked By Lava

It took me hours, even with the detailed and revolutionary algorithmic guidance supplied by researchers at the University of Palermo, to locate the reputed cave of the Cyclops called Polyphemus on the southeastern slope of Sicily’s Mount Etna.

That was the good news.

The bad news is that the previously undiscovered cave, unbeknownst to anyone until today, has been tightly plugged by a lava “cork” presumably formed during a 24-day eruption in 2001. You’re getting this scoop at the same time as the academics at U of P but don’t let them know that the MedTrekker told you.

It will take me time, of course, to organize financing and a skilled team of archeologists to unseal this key historical treasure. I await with blind faith and one eye wide shut.

Watch this space.

It was easier to find remnants of the Cattle of the Sun God around Taormina. These are the cows Odysseus’ crew inadvisably slaughtered/ate that led Zeus to strike their ship with thunderbolts and drown them.

A Part Cow, Part Angel Statue Towers Over Taormina.

There were 350 bovines (“fifty head in every herd, and their herds are seven,” wrote Homer) back in the day. I’ve seen a dozen of their distant offspring near the beaches below Taormina – and actually stepped in some cow paddies on a seaside path near Fiumefreddo (just so I could write that I did so).

This fountain, topped by the statue of an angel who’s half cow in Taormina’s Piazza Duomo, illustrates that this episode from “The Odyssey” continues to play an important role in local legend and folklore.

And The Idiot eats it up like last night’s creamy pistachio penne in nearby Bronte at the foot of Mount Etna.

The Idiot Is Elated To Discover A Statue That's Part Cow

Text and Photos: Joel Stratte-McClure

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About Joel

Joel Stratte-McClure has been a global trekker since the 1970s. He lived in France for over 30 years, working as a journalist, before he turned his attention to a unique life-time-project of walking the shores of the Mediterranean. The first 4,401 kilometers are explored in his inspirational and entertaining first book "The Idiot and the Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean." The next 4,401 kilometers are covered in the gods-filled sequel, "The Idiot and the Odyssey II: Myth, Madness and Magic on the Mediterranean,” published on Valentine's Day 2013. The last 4,401 kilometers will be discussed in the last book of the trilogy currently entitled "The Idiot and the Odyssey III: Alexander the Great Walks the Mediterranean."