PHOCAEA
610 BCE
Tyrrhenus had made this trip before, several times. They launched the boats in the morning, steered to the north of the islands just off the coast of Phocaea, then swept south into the Aegean Sea to maneuver through the scattering of islands still governed by the Greeks from Athens. He directed his ship and those who followed to steer south of the island of Aigilia—known in later times as Antikythera—and between it and the island of Heraklion. This arc of sailing would keep them even farther from interference by the Greeks and avoid unanticipated encounters.
Tyrrhenus had experimented with this route on his earlier journeys and appreciated the open waters. Although it would take two days of continuous sailing to round the southern tip of mainland Greece and wedge between
