Odysseus

When the Atlantic poured into the Mediterranean:

"...her task was to make a full-sensory record of the whole thing, from its beginning until the day when, a hundred years hence, the basin was full and the sea lapped calm where Odysseus would sail." ("Gibraltar Falls" IN Time Patrol, p. 117)

"Far and far away, a sail passed by. It could have been driving the ship of Odysseus." ("Ivory, And Apes, And Peacocks" IN Time Patrol, p. 326)

Thus, Poul Anderson's hard sf twice refers to Greek mythology and to the beginnings of European literature. (Yahoo is having technical difficulties so I am illustrating this post with an already-used cover of the Iliad instead of finding an image for the Odyssey.)

"It could have been driving..." Of course, Patrol Specialists or civilian scientists will have learned the truth behind the myths. Anderson could have written a Homeric fantasy, a historical fiction or a time travel story based on Odysseus as well as a retelling of King Arthur - but he did give us Odin, Theseus and, with Karen Anderson, the King of Ys.

Later: Yahoo back on line.