Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, Elpenor (;

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

: Ἐλπήνωρ, gen.: Ἐλπήνορος), also spelled Elpinor , was the youngest comrade of

Odysseus In Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology, Odysseus ( ; , ), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses ( , ; ), is a legendary Greeks, Greek king of Homeric Ithaca, Ithaca and the hero of Homer's Epic poetry, epic poem, the ''Odyssey''. Od ...

. While on the island of

Circe In Greek mythology, Circe (; ) is an enchantress, sometimes considered a goddess or a nymph. In most accounts, Circe is described as the daughter of the sun god Helios and the Oceanid Perse (mythology), Perse. Circe was renowned for her vast kn ...

, he became drunk and decided to spend the night on the roof. In the morning he slipped on the ladder, fell, and broke his neck, dying quickly. Odyssey, Book X

Mythology

Elpenor was not especially notable for his intelligence or strength, but he survived the

Trojan War The Trojan War was a legendary conflict in Greek mythology that took place around the twelfth or thirteenth century BC. The war was waged by the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans (Ancient Greece, Greeks) against the city of Troy after Paris (mytho ...

, and appears in the ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...

''. He is the youngest man to survive the

Laestrygonians In Greek mythology, the Laestrygonians or Laestrygones () were a tribe of man-eating giants. They were said to have sprung from Laestrygon, son of Poseidon. Hesiod, '' Ehoiai'' fr. 40a as cited in ''Oxyrhynchus Papyri'' 1358 fr. 2 Accordi ...

. While Odysseus was staying on

Aeaea Aeaea, Ææa or Eëä ( or ; ) was a mythological island said to be the home of the goddess-sorceress Circe. In Homer's ''Odyssey'', Odysseus tells Alcinous that he stayed here for one year on his way home to Ithaca. Before leaving Aeaea, ...

, Circe's island, Elpenor became drunk and climbed onto the roof of Circe's palace to sleep. The next morning, waking upon hearing his comrades making preparations to travel to

Hades Hades (; , , later ), in the ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, is the god of the dead and the king of the Greek underworld, underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea ...

, he forgot he was on the roof and fell, breaking his neck, and died in the act. Odysseus and his men apparently noticed his absence, but they were too busy to look for him. When Odysseus arrived in Hades, Elpenor was the first shade to meet Odysseus, and pleaded with him to return to Aeaea and give him a proper cremation and burial. After finishing his task in the underworld, Odysseus returned to Aeaea and cremated Elpenor's body, then buried him with his armour and marked the grave with an oar of his ship.

Later historic uses

The story of Elpenor can be described as a mirror to the story of Palinurus in Virgil's ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...

''. In the ''Aeneid'', Palinurus, one of Aeneas' men, falls overboard and ends up swimming to an island nearby. He is killed on the island by the natives that live there. Later on in the story, Aeneas travels to the underworld where he sees Palinurus. There, Palinurus pleads with Aeneas to give him a proper burial. The story of Elpenor might be the basis of the story of

Eutychus __NOTOC__ Eutychus () was a young man (or a youth) of Alexandria Troas, Troas tended to by Paul the Apostle, St. Paul. Eutychus fell asleep due to the long nature of the discourse Paul was giving, fell from a window out of the three-story buildi ...

in the New Testament.

Modern uses

The character of Patrick "Paddy" Dignam, whose funeral is the focus of Episode 6 ("Hades") of '' Ulysses'' by

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...

, is a modern counterpart to Elpenor. This chapter of ''Ulysses'' is a main inspiration for the film '' Bye Bye Braverman''. Elpenor is the subject of the short novel ''Elpénor'' by

Jean Giraudoux Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux (; ; 29 October 1882 – 31 January 1944) was a French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II. His wo ...

, published in 1919, which retells some of the stories of the ''Odyssey'' in humorous fashion.

Derek Mahon Norman Derek Mahon (23 November 1941 – 1 October 2020) was an Irish poet. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland but lived in a number of cities around the world. At his death it was noted that his, "influence in the Irish poetry community, ...

suggests Elpenor (but does not name him specifically) in his poem "Lives". Mahon talks of a decaying oar, planted in a beach, thinking of Ithaca.

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an List of poets from the United States, American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Ita ...

references Elpenor in his poem

Hugh Selwyn Mauberley ''Hugh Selwyn Mauberley'' (1920) is a long poem by Ezra Pound. It has been regarded as a turning point in Pound's career (by F. R. Leavis and others), and its completion was swiftly followed by his departure from England. The name "Selwyn" might h ...

by having the eponymous poet's grave marked by an oar, with an

epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

that recalls Elpenor's. Pound also makes use of Elpenor in the first of his Cantos: "But first Elpenor came, our friend Elpenor / Unburied, cast on the wide earth, / Limbs that we left in the house of Circe, / Unwept, unwrapped in sepulchre, since toils urged other."

Archibald MacLeish Archibald MacLeish (May 7, 1892 – April 20, 1982) was an American poet and writer, who was associated with the modernist school of poetry. MacLeish studied English at Yale University and law at Harvard University. He enlisted in and saw action ...

wrote a poem about Elpenor published in 1933. Nobel laureate Giorgos Seferis wrote a poem "Sensual Elpenor". Takis Sinopoulos also wrote a poem called "Elpenor". Helen Dunmore included a poem "Odysseus to Elpenor" in her last published collection "Inside the Wave", 2017 Bloodaxe Books Ltd. The video game '' Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break'' has a story mode where Elpenor is the main protagonist, after Odysseus (the traditional hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey) is flattened by the eponymous Rock of Ages.

References

{{Characters in the Odyssey Characters in the Odyssey