Telepylos

Telepylos or Telepylus (Ancient Greek: Τηλέπυλος, meaning: The far-off port) was the mythological city of the Laestrygonians. In the Odyssey, it is described as the rocky stronghold of Lamos. Its location has been identified with Mesapo in Greece and with Havana in Cuba.; see map. Wilkens supposes that the oral poetry underlying the Iliad and Odyssey was originally Celtic (see Where Troy Once Stood). When Odysseus reaches the city in the Odyssey, he sends three scouts to explore the island. They come across the king, a giant cannibal, who then eats one of the men, causing the other scouts to run away. Most of Odysseus' men are killed in the incident, but his boat is moored outside the Laestrygonians' harbour. He is able to sail away, without the bombardment of rocks received by the rest of the fleet who did moor within the harbour. Only fifty-two men escape.
The harbour, about which on both sides a sheer cliff runs continuously, and projecting headlands opposite to one another stretch out at the mouth, and the entrance is narrow, ..., and the ships were moored within the hollow harbour, for therein no wave ever swelled, great or small, but all about was a bright calm......Odyssey 10, 77-96
==Notes==
Category:Greek Mythology