Aulis

Aulis is a place where an atrocity happens: the sacrifice of Iphigenia to the goddess Artemis. It is where a wedding becomes a murder, and a father a killer; a celebration of life ends in a brutal death, and the man who should protect the victim wields the knife.

Ithaca

Ithaca is the kingdom of Odysseus, and it is where his wife Penelope spends the entirety of the novel. It is from this small, rocky, largely barren island off the West coast of Greece that she writes her letters. It is depicted as something of a sanctuary; a place where “no matter what the winter brought, we were ready” (283). However, this sanctuary is violated as Odysseus’ prolonged absence causes a moral and political vacuum to open up within Ithacan society. When Odysseus returns to Ithaca he restores order and reclaims his throne.

Mycenae

We do not spend long...