Calypso (mythology)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the Calypso in Homer's Odyssey. For other uses, see Calypso (nymphs).
Not to be confused with Callisto.
For other uses, see Calypso.
Calypso
Pleiades, Hyades, Hyas or the Oceanids and the Potamoi
ConsortOdysseus, Hermes
ChildrenBy some accounts Latinus, by others Nausithous and Nausinous, the Cephalonians

In Greek mythology, Calypso (/kəˈlɪpsoʊ/; Greek: Καλυψώ, "she who conceals")[1] was a nymph who lived on the island of Ogygia, where, according to Homer's Odyssey, she detained Odysseus for seven years. She promised Odysseus immortality if he would stay with her, but Odysseus preferred to return home.

Etymology

The name "Calypso" may derive from the

Homeric epithet δολόεσσα (dolóessa, meaning "subtle" or "wily") – justifies the reclusive character of Calypso and her island. An alternative explanation is that Calypso derives from versions of "Calí" + "Ópsis", meaning "Beautiful Sight".[citation needed
]

Family

Calypso is generally said to be the daughter of the

Doris.[7] John Tzetzes makes her a daughter of Helios and the Oceanid nymph Perse, the parents of Circe,[8] perhaps due to her association with Circe; the two goddesses were sometimes confused due to their behaviour and connection to Odysseus.[9] According to a fragment from the Catalogue of Women, Calypso bore the Cephalonians to Hermes[10] as suggested by Hermes' visits to her island in the Odyssey.[11]

Mythology

In Homer's Odyssey, Calypso tries to keep the fabled Greek hero Odysseus on her island to make him her immortal husband, while he also gets to enjoy her sensual pleasures forever. According to Homer, Calypso kept Odysseus prisoner by force at Ogygia for seven years.[12] Calypso enchants Odysseus with her singing as she moves to and fro, weaving on her loom with a golden shuttle.

Odysseus comes to wish for circumstances to change. He can no longer bear being separated from his wife, Penelope, and wants to tell Calypso. He is seen sitting on a headland crying, and at night he is forced to have sexual intercourse with her against his will.[13] His patron goddess Athena asks Zeus to order the release of Odysseus from the island; Zeus orders the messenger Hermes to tell Calypso to set Odysseus free, for it was not Odysseus's destiny to live with her forever. She angrily comments on how the gods hate goddesses having affairs with mortals.

Calypso provides Odysseus with an axe, drill, and adze to build a boat. Calypso leads Odysseus to an island where he can chop down trees and make planks for his boat. Calypso also provides him with wine, bread, clothing, and more materials for his boat. The goddess then sets wind at his back when he sets sail. After seven years Odysseus has built his boat and leaves Calypso.

Homer does not mention any children by Calypso. By some accounts that came after the Odyssey, Calypso bore Odysseus a son, Latinus,[14] though Circe is usually given as Latinus' mother.[15] In other accounts, Calypso bore Odysseus two children, Nausithous and Nausinous.[16]

The story of Odysseus and Calypso has some close resemblances to the interactions between Gilgamesh and Siduri in the Epic of Gilgamesh in that "the lone female plies the inconsolable hero-wanderer with drink and sends him off to a place beyond the sea reserved for a special class of honoured people" and "to prepare for the voyage he has to cut down and trim timbers."[17]

A fragment from the Catalogue of Women, erroneously attributed to Hesiod, claimed that Calypso detained Odysseus for years as a favour to Poseidon, the sea-god who detested Odysseus for blinding his son Polyphemus.[18]

According to

Hyginus, Calypso killed herself because of her love for Odysseus.[19]

In Literature

In her poem Calypso Watching the Ocean, Letitia Landon describes her as eternally yearning for Odysseus' return and comments on the folly of such obsession.[20]

Philosophy

Philosophers have written about the meaning of Calypso in the world of ancient Greece. Ryan Patrick Hanley commented on the interpretation of Calypso in

bourgeois housewives" in the depiction of Calypso.[22]

Gallery

  • Calypso in Art
  • Calypso, blonde-haired goddess by Jan Styka (20th century)
    Calypso, blonde-haired goddess by Jan Styka (20th century)
  • Calypso by George Hitchcock (about 1906)
    Calypso by George Hitchcock (about 1906)
  • The Goddess Calypso rescues Ulysses Cornelius van Poelenburgh (1630)
    The Goddess Calypso rescues Ulysses Cornelius van Poelenburgh (1630)
  • Calypso calling heaven and earth to witness her sincere affection to Ulysses by Angelica Kauffman (18th-century)
    Calypso calling heaven and earth to witness her sincere affection to Ulysses by Angelica Kauffman (18th-century)
  • Calypso receiving Telemachus and Mentor in the Grotto by William Hamilton (18th century)
    Calypso receiving Telemachus and Mentor in the Grotto by William Hamilton (18th century)
  • Mercury ordering Calypso to release Odysseus by Gerard de Lairesse (1676-1682)
    Mercury ordering Calypso to release Odysseus by Gerard de Lairesse (1676-1682)
  • Odysseus as guest at the nymph Calypso by Hendrick van Balen (circa 1616)
    Odysseus as guest at the nymph Calypso by Hendrick van Balen (circa 1616)
  • Hermes Ordering Calypso to Release Odysseus by Gerard de Lairesse (circa 1670)
    Hermes Ordering Calypso to Release Odysseus by Gerard de Lairesse (circa 1670)
  • Odysseus und Kalypso by Arnold Böcklin (1883)
    Odysseus und Kalypso by Arnold Böcklin (1883)
  • Calypso by Henri Lehmann (1869)
    Calypso by Henri Lehmann (1869)
  • Calypso's Isle by Herbert James Draper (1897)
    Calypso's Isle by Herbert James Draper (1897)
  • Ulysses on Calypso's island by Ditlev Blunck (1830)
    Ulysses on Calypso's island by Ditlev Blunck (1830)
  • Hermes bei Calypso und Odysseus by Hubert Maurer
    Hermes bei Calypso und Odysseus by Hubert Maurer
  • Hermes orders Calypso to release Odysseus by John Flaxman (1810)
    Hermes orders Calypso to release Odysseus by John Flaxman (1810)
  • Odysseus bij Calypso (Rijksmuseum) Gérard (de) Lairesse
    Odysseus bij Calypso (Rijksmuseum) Gérard (de) Lairesse

Notes

  1. ^ Grimal, s.v. Calypso.
  2. S2CID 162397268
    .
  3. LSJ
  4. Liddell & Scott, and also Hesiod, Theogony 938
    .
  5. Fabulae
     Theogony 16.
  6. Homeric Hymn 2.422. According to Caldwell, p. 49 n. 359, the Hesiod Oceanid is "probably not" the same; see also West 1966, p. 267 359. καὶ ἱμερόεσσα Καλυψώ; Hard, p. 41
    .
  7. ^ Apollodorus, 1.2.7
  8. ^ Tzetzes ad Lycophron, Alexandra 174
  9. OCLC 26255961.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  10. ^ Most, p. 173, [= fr. 150.25-35 Merkelbach-West]
  11. ^ Gagné, p. 232
  12. ^ Homer, Odyssey 7.259
  13. ^ Homer, Odyssey 5.151-155
  14. ^ Apollodorus, E.7.24
  15. ^ Hesiod, Theogony 1011
  16. ^ See Hesiod, Theogony 1019, Sir James George Frazer in his notes to Apollodorus, E.7.24, says that these verses "are probably not by Hesiod but have been interpolated by a later poet of the Roman era in order to provide the Latins with a distinguished Greek ancestry".
  17. ^ Dalley, S. (1989) Myths from Mesopotamia. Oxford University Press, Oxford, NY.
  18. ^ Budin, p. 230
  19. Fabulae
    243.7.
  20. ^ Landon, Letitia Elizabeth (1836). "poem". The New Monthly Magazine, 1836. Vol. 49. Henry Colburn. p. 20.
  21. ISBN 978-0-19-992892-7
    – via Google Books.
  22. ISBN 978-0-8047-3633-6
    – via Google Books.

References

External links
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