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 ...

, Calypso (; ) was a

nymph A nymph (; ; sometimes spelled nymphe) is a minor female nature deity in ancient Greek folklore. Distinct from other Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature; they are typically tied to a specific place, land ...

who lived on the island of

Ogygia Ogygia (; , or ''Ōgygíā'' ) is an island mentioned in Homer's ''Odyssey'', Book V, as the home of the nymph Calypso (mythology), Calypso, the daughter of the Titan (mythology), Titan Atlas (mythology), Atlas. In Homer's ''Odyssey'', Calyps ...

, where, according to

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

's ''

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 ...

'', she detained

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 ...

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 other

gods A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...

, Calypso was forced to let Odysseus go.

Etymology

The name ''Calypso'' derives from the

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 ...

(), meaning , , or ; as such, her name translates to as she conceals Odysseus from the rest of the world, keeping him on her island. According to the medieval dictionary '' Etymologicum Magnum'', her name means (from ), which – combined with the Homeric epithet (, meaning or ) – justifies the reclusive character of Calypso and her island.

Family

Calypso is generally said to be the daughter of the

Titan Titan most often refers to: * Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn * Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology Titan or Titans may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities Fictional locations * Titan in fiction, fictiona ...

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

. In the '' Fabulae'', she is born to Pleione, the mother of the

Pleiades The Pleiades (), also known as Seven Sisters and Messier 45 (M45), is an Asterism (astronomy), asterism of an open cluster, open star cluster containing young Stellar classification#Class B, B-type stars in the northwest of the constellation Tau ...

, though this is the only source in which this parentage appears. Hesiod and the anonymous author of the '' Homeric Hymn to

Demeter In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Demeter (; Attic Greek, Attic: ''Dēmḗtēr'' ; Doric Greek, Doric: ''Dāmā́tēr'') is the Twelve Olympians, Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over cro ...

'' mention either a different Calypso or possibly the same Calypso as one of the Oceanid nymphs, daughters of Tethys and

Oceanus In Greek mythology, Oceanus ( ; , also , , or ) was a Titans, Titan son of Uranus (mythology), Uranus and Gaia, the husband of his sister the Titan Tethys (mythology), Tethys, and the father of the River gods (Greek mythology), river gods ...

. Apollodorus includes the name Calypso in his list of Nereids, the daughters of Nereus and Doris. John Tzetzes meanwhile makes her a daughter of the sun-god

Helios In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Helios (; ; Homeric Greek: ) is the god who personification, personifies the Sun. His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyperion ("the one above") an ...

and the Oceanid nymph Perse, who are also the parents 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 ...

, perhaps due to her association with Circe; the two goddesses were sometimes confused due to their behaviour and connection to Odysseus. According to a fragment from the ''

Catalogue of Women The ''Catalogue of Women'' ()—also known as the ''Ehoiai '' (, )The Latin transliterations ''Eoeae'' and ''Ehoeae'' are also used (e.g. , ); see Catalogue of Women#Title and the ē' hoiē-formula, Title and the ''ē' hoiē''-formula, below. Th ...

'', Calypso bore the

Cephalonia Kefalonia or Cephalonia (), formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallonia (), is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece and the 6th-largest island in Greece after Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Rhodes and Chios. It is also a separate regio ...

ns to Hermes, as suggested by Hermes' visits to her island in the ''

''.

Mythology

The ''Odyssey''

's ''

'', Calypso tries to keep the fabled Greek hero

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

for seven years. 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 a

headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, Jo ...

or at the sea-shore crying, while at night he is forced to sleep with her in the cave against his will. His patron goddess

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

asks

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

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.

Other narratives

Homer does not mention any children by Calypso. By some accounts that came after the ''Odyssey'', Calypso bore Odysseus a son, Latinus, though

is usually given as Latinus' mother. In other accounts, Calypso bore Odysseus two children,

Nausithous The name Nausithous (; Ancient Greek: Ναυσίθοος ''Nausíthoos'') is shared by the following characters in Greek mythology: *Nausithous, the king of the Phaeacians who reigned in the generation before Odysseus washed ashore on their home i ...

and Nausinous. The story of Odysseus and Calypso has some close resemblances to the interactions between

Gilgamesh Gilgamesh (, ; ; originally ) was a hero in ancient Mesopotamian mythology and the protagonist of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'', an epic poem written in Akkadian during the late 2nd millennium BC. He was possibly a historical king of the Sumer ...

and Siduri in the ''

Epic of Gilgamesh The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is an epic poetry, epic from ancient Mesopotamia. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian language, Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh (formerly read as Sumerian "Bilgames"), king of Uruk, some of ...

'' 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". A fragment from the ''

'', erroneously attributed to Hesiod, claimed that Calypso detained Odysseus for years as a favour to

Poseidon Poseidon (; ) is one of the twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and mythology, presiding over the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 He was the protector of seafarers and the guardian of many Hellenic cit ...

, the sea-god who detested Odysseus for blinding his son, the cyclops Polyphemus. According to Hyginus, Calypso killed herself because of her love for Odysseus.

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.

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 '' Les Aventures de Télémaque'' written by Fénelon. Hanley says that the story of Calypso illustrates the link between Eros and pride.

Theodor Adorno Theodor is a masculine given name. It is a German form of Theodore. It is also a variant of Teodor. List of people with the given name Theodor * Theodor Adorno, (1903–1969), German philosopher * Theodor Aman, Romanian painter * Theodor Blue ...

and Max Horkheimer brought attention to the combination of power over fate and the sensibility of "

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

housewives" in the depiction of Calypso.

Gallery

File:Jan Styka - Kalipso.jpg, ''Calypso, blonde-haired goddess'' by Jan Styka (20th century) File:Hitchcock, George - Calypso - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Calypso'' by George Hitchcock (about 1906) File:Cornelis van Poelenburgh - The Goddess Calypso rescues Ulysses - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Goddess Calypso rescues Ulysses'' Cornelius van Poelenburgh (1630) File:Angelica Kauffmann - Calypso calling heaven and earth to witness her sincere affection to Ulysses.jpg, ''Calypso calling heaven and earth to witness her sincere affection to Ulysses'' by

Angelica Kauffman Maria Anna Angelika Kauffmann ( ; 30 October 1741 – 5 November 1807), usually known in English as Angelica Kauffman, was a Swiss people, Swiss Neoclassicism, Neoclassical painter who had a successful career in London and Rome. Remembered prima ...

(18th-century) File:Calypso receiving Telemachus and Mentor in the Grotto.jpg, ''Calypso receiving Telemachus and Mentor in the Grotto'' by William Hamilton (18th century) File:Gérard de Lairesse - Mercurius gelast Calypso om Odysseus te laten vertrekken.jpg, ''Mercury ordering Calypso to release Odysseus'' by Gerard de Lairesse (1676–1682) File:Hendrick van Balen - Odysseus as guest at the nymph Calypso.jpg, ''Odysseus as guest at the nymph Calypso'' by Hendrick van Balen (circa 1616) File:'Hermes Ordering Calypso to Release Odysseus' by Gerard de Lairesse, c. 1670.JPG, ''Hermes Ordering Calypso to Release Odysseus'' by Gerard de Lairesse (circa 1670) File:Arnold Böcklin 008.jpg, ''Odysseus und Kalypso'' by Arnold Böcklin (1883) File:Henri Lehmann - Calypso, 1869.jpg, ''Calypso'' by Henri Lehmann (1869) File:Herbert James Draper, Calypso's Isle.jpg, ''Calypso's Isle'' by Herbert James Draper (1897) File:Museumsberg-flensburg-pi26619 1.jpg, ''Ulysses on Calypso's island'' by Ditlev Blunck (1830) File:Hubert Maurer - Hermes bei Calypso und Odysseus.jpg, ''Hermes bei Calypso und Odysseus'' by Hubert Maurer File:OdysseyHermes.png, ''Hermes orders Calypso to release Odysseus'' by John Flaxman (1810) File:Odysseus bij Calypso Rijksmuseum SK-A-211.jpeg, Odysseus bij Calypso (Rijksmuseum) Gérard (de) Lairesse

Notes

References

* 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
* Budin, Stephanie L., ''Intimate Lives of the Ancient Greeks'', Praeger publications, 2013, . * Bulfinch, Thomas (2018-06-21). ''The Age of Fable: Stories of Gods and Heroes.'' Floating Press, The. . * Caldwell, Richard, ''Hesiod's Theogony'', Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Company (June 1, 1987). . * Dräger, Paul, "Calypso", in '' Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Antiquity, Volume 2'', Ark – Cas, edited by Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider, Leiden, Brill, 2003. . * Gagné, Renaud, ''Cosmography and the Idea of Hyperborea in Ancient Greece: A Philology of Worlds'',

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, 2021, . * Grimal, Pierre
''The Dictionary of Classical Mythology''
Wiley-Blackwell, 1996,
"Calypso" p. 86
* Dougherty, Carol (2001-04-05). ''The raft of Odysseus: the ethnographic imagination of Homer's Odyssey.'' Oxford ngland Oxford University Press, Incorporated. . * Hall, Edith, ''The return of Ulysses: a cultural history of Homer's Odyssey'', London: I.B. Tauris. . . * Hard, Robin, ''The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology"'', Psychology Press, 2004, . * Hesiod, ''

Theogony The ''Theogony'' () is a poem by Hesiod (8th–7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogy, genealogies of the Greek gods, composed . It is written in the Homeric Greek, epic dialect of Ancient Greek and contains 1,022 lines. It is one ...

'', in ''The 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
* Hesiod, '' The Shield.

. Other Fragments. Edited and translated by Glenn W. Most''.

Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a monographic series of books originally published by Heinemann and since 1934 by Harvard University Press. It has bilingual editions of ancient Greek and Latin literature, ...

503. Cambridge, MA:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

, 2007, . *

, ''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
* ''Homeric Hymn to Demeter (2)'', in ''The 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
* Hyginus, '' Fabulae'' in ''Apollodorus' ''Library'' and Hyginus' ''Fabulae'': Two Handbooks of Greek Mythology, Translated, with Introductions by R. Scott Smith and Stephen M. Trzaskoma'', Hackett Publishing Company, 2007. . * Merkelbach, R., and M. L. West, ''Fragmenta Hesiodea'',

Clarendon Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

Oxford, 1967. . * Scholia to Lycophron's ''Alexandra'', marginal notes by Isaak and Ioannis Tzetzes and others from the Greek edition of Eduard Scheer (Weidmann 1881)
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Greek text available on Archive.org * Smith, William; '' Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', London (1873)
"Calypso"
* Van Nortwick, Thomas (2009). ''The unknown Odysseus: alternate worlds in Homers Odyssey.'' Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. . * West, M. L. (1966), ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press. .

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Calypso (Mythology) Children of Atlas Odyssean gods Suicides in Greek mythology Textiles in folklore Mythological rapists Women of Hermes Oceanids Children of Helios Women of Odysseus Nereids