Le isole Eolie: punto di arrivo e di partenza nella mitografia greca

The Aeolian Isles are representative of cultures that have left extraordinary evidence over the millennia. They have been the final destination of amazing travels, as witnessed by the traditions on Ausonius, Aeolus, Odysseus and Jason. After a long period when myth and history have overlapped and intersected in the literary and historiographical tradition, the limes between the two plans has become clearer so that places and tales handed by historians, writers and visitors have became increasingly more precise and verifiable especially through archaeological data. This paper analyses the development of the transition from the mythical to the historical plan until the archaic period. It wants to do so by recovering useful elements for the reconstruction of the real movements in both directions, arrival/departure, in which the Aeolian Isles played a main role.