flatland of abstract visuality and one-way lineality. The Greeks, 
says van Groningen (pp. 36­7), eagerly sought the past:

     Odysseus is nowhere the adventurer who, drawn by the 
     unknown, likes to go farther and farther, who is charmed 
     by the coming events, and urged on by the mysteries of 
     the future to ever receding regions. Quite the contrary. He 
     only wants to go back; the past fascinates him; he wants 
     restoration of the things of the past, he travels by 
     compulsion, driven along by Poseidon’s wrath, Poseidon 
     the god of the strange and unknown land which attracts 
     the adventurers but terrifies Odysseus. This endless 
     wandering to him means adversity and misfortune; the 
     return, happiness and peace. The mysterious future 
     strikes agony into his heart; he has to steel himself 
     against it; but he feels safe with the past, with the