In Homeric Greece, the islands of Taphos (Τάφος) lay in the Ionian Sea off the coast of Acarnania in northwestern Greece, home of seagoing and piratical inhabitants, the Taphians (Τάφιοι). Penelope mentions the Taphian sea-robbers when she rebukes the chief of her suitors, and it is disguised as Mentes, "lord of the Taphian men who love their oars," that Athena accepts the hospitality of Telemachus and speeds him on his journey from Ithaca to Pylos. The Taphians dealt in slaves.

In Homeric Greece, the islands of Taphos (Τάφος) lay in the Ionian Sea off the coast of Acarnania in northwestern Greece, home of seagoing and piratical inhabitants, the Taphians (Τάφιοι). Penelope mentions the Taphian sea-robbers when she rebukes the chief of her suitors, and it is disguised as Mentes, "lord of the Taphian men who love their oars," that Athena accepts the hospitality of Telemachus and speeds him on his journey from Ithaca to Pylos. The Taphians dealt in slaves.