Calypso (mythology)
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Calypso (Greek: Καλυψώ Kalypsō) was a nymph in Greek mythology, who lived on the the island of Ogygia, where she kept Odysseus prisoner for a number of years. She is generally said to be the daughter of the Titan Atlas.[1]
Perhaps the same or different Calypsos, are mentioned by Hesiod as one of the Oceanid daughters of Tethys and Oceanus,[2] and Pseudo-Apollodorus as one of the Nereid daughters of Nereus and Doris.[3]
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The Odyssey
Calypso is remembered most for her role in Homer's Odyssey, in which she imprisons the fabled Greek hero Odysseus on her island in order to make him her immortal husband. According to Homer, Calypso kept Odysseus hostage at Ogygia for seven years,[4] while Pseudo-Apollodorus says five years[5] and Hyginus says one.[6] Odysseus, however, wants to return home to his beloved wife Penelope. His patron goddess Athena asks Zeus to order the release of Odysseus from the island, and Zeus sends Hermes to tell Calypso to set Odysseus free.
Homer does not mention any children by Calypso. By some accounts, which come after the Odyssey, Calypso bore Odysseus a son Latinus[7] though Circe is usually given as Latinus' mother.[8] Other accounts Calypso she bore Odysseus two children, Nausithous and Nausinous.[9]
Name
The origins of Calypso's name are uncertain. Καλύπτειν (kalyptein, "to cover", from which apocalypse is also derived) suggests that Calypso may originally have been a death goddess.[10] The spelling of Calypso music reflects a later folk-etymological assimilation with the mythological name[11] and is not otherwise related to the goddess.
Other appearances
Calypso appears in the "Percy Jackson & the Olympians" series in the fourth book The Battle of the Labyrinth, in which Percy washes up on Ogygia's shore and is cared for by Calypso. Initially, Calypso doesn't want to tell Percy that he has a choice between staying with her and being immortal, or, go and save his friends, but reluctantly does. However, although Percy cares about Calypso he leaves, but claims that she would always be his biggest "what if". In the fifth book "The Last Olympian" Percy wishes that all demigods be claimed and that "friendly titans", such as Calypso, ought to be released.
Calypso also appears in the earth-bound human form of an Obeah witch called Tia Dalma in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.
Notes
- ↑ Homer, Odyssey, 1.14, 1.50; Apollodorus, Library [1]. She is sometimes referred to as Atlantis (Ατλαντίς), which means the daughter of Atlas, see the entry Ατλαντίς in Liddell & Scott, and also Hesiod, Theogony, 938.
- ↑ Hesiod, Theogony 359
- ↑ Apollodorus, Library 1.2.7
- ↑ Homer, Odyssey 7.259
- ↑ Apollodorus, Epitome 7.24
- ↑ Hyginus, Fabulae 125
- ↑ Apollodorus, Epitome 7.24
- ↑ Hesiod, Theogony 1011
- ↑ See Hesiod, Theogony 1019, Sir James George Frazer in his notes to Apollodorus, Epitome 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".
- ↑ Online Etymology Dictionary
- ↑ Wiktionary: calypso
References
- Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996, ISBN 9780631201021. "Calypso" p. 86
- Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Calypso"
External links
Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). "Calypso". Encyclopædia Britannica (Eleventh ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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