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Key Details
Type
CoastMythology
Greek Pantheon
Coordinates
40.85°N, 25.9°E
About This Location
Ismarus, the first raid
Odysseus's first landfall after Troy is the Cicones' coast at Ismarus in Thrace. Odyssey 9: they sack the town, Odysseus cannot hold his men from lingering, the inland Cicones counterattack, and he loses companions before a fair wind. It is a failed pirate stop, not a wonder. No cult of the Cicones survives in Greek ritual calendars. The episode teaches the poem's rule: delay and greed cost ships. Maroneia later claimed Homeric wine from here.
Primary Sources
“From Ilios the wind bore me to the Cicones, to Ismarus. I sacked the city and slew the men.”
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