InGreek mythology,Calypso (/kəˈlɪpsoʊ/;Ancient Greek:Καλυψώ,romanized: Kalypsṓ,lit. 'she who conceals')[1] was anymph who lived on the island ofOgygia, where, according toHomer'sOdyssey, she detainedOdysseus for seven years against his will. She promised Odysseus immortality if he would stay with her, but Odysseus preferred to return home. Eventually, after the intervention of the othergods, Calypso was forced to let Odysseus go.
The nameCalypso derives from theAncient Greekκαλύπτω (kalyptō),[2][3] meaning'to cover','to conceal', or'to hide';[3][4] as such, her name translates to'she who conceals' as she conceals Odysseus from the rest of the world, keeping him on her island.[5]
According to the medieval dictionaryEtymologicum Magnum, her name means'concealing the knowledge' (fromGreek:καλύπτουσα το διανοούμενον,romanized: kalýptousa to dianooúmenon), which – combined with theHomeric epithetδολόεσσα (dolóessa, meaning'subtle' or'wily') – justifies the reclusive character of Calypso and her island.[6]
Calypso is generally said to be the daughter of theTitanAtlas.[7] In theFabulae, she is born toPleione, the mother of thePleiades,[8] though this is the only source in which this parentage appears.[9]
Hesiod and the anonymous author of theHomeric Hymn toDemeter mention either a different Calypso or possibly the same Calypso as one of theOceanid nymphs, daughters ofTethys andOceanus.[10]Apollodorus includes the name Calypso in his list ofNereids, the daughters ofNereus andDoris.[11]John Tzetzes meanwhile makes her a daughter of the sun-godHelios and the Oceanid nymphPerse, who are also the parents ofCirce,[12] perhaps due to her association with Circe; the two goddesses were sometimes confused due to their behaviour and connection to Odysseus.[13]
InHomer'sOdyssey, Calypso tries to keep the fabled Greek heroOdysseus 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 atOgygia for seven years.[16] 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 spends the daytime sitting on aheadland or at the sea-shore crying, while at night he is forced to sleep with her in the cave against his will.[17] His patron goddessAthena asksZeus 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, andadze 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 theOdyssey, Calypso bore Odysseus a son,Latinus,[18] thoughCirce is usually given as Latinus' mother.[19] In other accounts, Calypso bore Odysseus two children,Nausithous andNausinous.[20]
The story of Odysseus and Calypso has some close resemblances to the interactions betweenGilgamesh andSiduri in theEpic 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".[21]
A fragment from theCatalogue of Women, erroneously attributed to Hesiod, claimed that Calypso detained Odysseus for years as a favour toPoseidon, the sea-god who detested Odysseus for blinding his son, the cyclopsPolyphemus.[22]
According toHyginus, Calypso killed herself because of her love for Odysseus.[23]
Philosophers have written about the meaning of Calypso in the world of ancient Greece. Ryan Patrick Hanley commented on the interpretation of Calypso inLes Aventures de Télémaque written byFénelon. Hanley says that the story of Calypso illustrates the link betweenEros and pride.[25]Theodor Adorno andMax Horkheimer brought attention to the combination of power over fate and the sensibility of "bourgeois housewives" in the depiction of Calypso.[26]
^Hesiod,Theogony359;Homeric Hymn2.422. 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.
^E., Bell, Robert (1993).Women of classical mythology : a biographical dictionary. New York: Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-507977-7.OCLC26255961.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^See Hesiod,Theogony1019, Sir James George Frazer in his notes to Apollodorus, Epitome7.24, 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".
^Dalley, S. (1989)Myths from Mesopotamia. Oxford University Press, Oxford, NY.
Apollodorus,Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Bulfinch, Thomas (2018-06-21).The Age of Fable: Stories of Gods and Heroes. Floating Press, The.ISBN978-1-77652-441-9.
Caldwell, Richard,Hesiod's Theogony, Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Company (June 1, 1987).ISBN978-0-941051-00-2.
Dräger, Paul, "Calypso", inBrill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Antiquity, Volume 2, Ark – Cas, edited by Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider, Leiden, Brill, 2003.ISBN9004122656.
Dougherty, Carol (2001-04-05).The raft of Odysseus: the ethnographic imagination of Homer's Odyssey. Oxford [England]: Oxford University Press, Incorporated.ISBN978-0-19-535145-3.
Hard, Robin,The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004,ISBN978-0-415-18636-0.
Hesiod,Theogony, inThe Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Homer,The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Hyginus,Fabulae inApollodorus'Library and Hyginus'Fabulae: Two Handbooks of Greek Mythology, Translated, with Introductions by R. Scott Smith and Stephen M. Trzaskoma, Hackett Publishing Company, 2007.ISBN978-0-87220-821-6.
