Book 5 - Calypso

• The imprisonment of Odysseus in Calypso’s


  Home was heavy on Athene’s heart, and she now recalled the tale of his misfortunes to their minds
• ‘Look at Odysseus,


  that admirable king!’ [ Athene ]
• ‘As you are our usual messenger, 


  convey our final decision to that Nymph of the plaited tresses’ [ Zeus ]
• ‘On the journey he shall have


  neither gods nor men to help him’ [ Zeus ]
• ‘This is how

  it is ordained’ [ Zeus ]
• Calypso was singing with her beautiful 


  voice as she went to and fro at her loom
• It was indeed a spot where even 


  an immortal visitor must pause to gaze in wonder and delight
• What is Hermes’ title?

  The messenger/ The giant-killer
• He was sitting disconsolate on the shore in


  his accustomed place, tormenting himself with tears and sighs and heartache
• ‘But first follow me inside and 


  let me offer you hospitality‘ [ Calypso ]
• The Messenger, the Giant-killer, began to eat and drink,


  and when he had dined and refreshed himself, he answered Calypso’s questions
• ’As one immortal 


  to another’ [ Hermes ]
• ‘He is destined to see his friends and


  come to his high-roofed house and his native land once more’ [ Hermes ]
• At his words 


  the divine Calypso shuddered
• ‘You are outraged if a goddess sleeps openly


  with a man even if she has chosen him as her husband’ [ Calypso ]
• ‘A man whom I rescued from death


  as he was drifting alone astride the keel of his ship, when Zeus had shattered it with his lightning bolt’ [ Calypso ]
• ‘I welcomed him with open arms;


  I tended him; I offered to make him immortal and ageless’ [ Calypso ]
• The Nymph at once went to the valiant


  Odysseus, for the message from Zeus had not fallen on deaf ears
• The days found him sitting on the rocks


  or sands, torturing himself with tears, groans and heartache
• ‘I will stock it myself with bread and water


  and red wine to your liking, so that you need be in no fear of starvation‘ [ Calypso ]
• Odysseus I epithet?

  Ingenious Odysseus
• ‘Nevertheless I long to reach my 


  home and see the day of my return. It is my never failing wish’ [ Odysseus ]
• So the two retired to a recess in the 


  cavern and there in each other’s arms they found pleasure in making love
• And now a warm and


  gentle breeze sprang up at her command
• The sight of Odysseus


  sailing over the seas enraged him
• ‘If only I too could have


  met my fate and died that day the Trojan hoarders let fly at my with their bronze spears’ [ Odysseus ]
• ‘I too know well enough that my


  wise Penelope’s looks and stature are insignificant compared with yours‘ [ Odysseus ]
• ‘But it seems I was

  predestined to an ignoble death‘ [ Odysseus ]
• Weighed down by the


  clothes which the goddess Calypso had given him
• Which goddess helped Odysseus?

  Leucothoe the White Goddess
• ‘With it’s divine protection 


  you need not be afraid of injury or death‘ [ Leucothoe ]
• For two nights and two


  days he was driven by the heavy seas
• He swam quickly on in

  his eagerness to set foot on solid ground
• His skin would have been torn off him


  and all his bones broken, had not the bright-eyed Athene put it into his head to grab hold of a rock with both hands
• Odysseus turned away from the


  river, threw himself down in the reeds and kissed the bountiful earth