As Hercules sets sail in the bowl of Helios, enjoy this selection of Latin (and Greek) poems about travel, starting with the voyage and later retirement of

Catullus’s brave little yacht.

A pioneering flight comes to a sad end for

Icarus and his father Daedalus.

At the end of another sad journey,

Catullus says farewell to his brother.

At the beginning of the greatest classical epic of travel,

Homer introduces Odysseus.

As he prepares reluctantly to part from Dido, preparations are in hand for

Aeneas’s departure from Carthage.

Ovid describes an unexpected journey for

Europa.

Aeneas embarks on his most challenging trip, his

journey to Hades.