7.240-286

τὴν δ᾽ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη πολύμητις Ὀδυσσεύς·

"ἀργαλέον, βασίλεια, διηνεκέως ἀγορεῦσαι

κήδε᾽, ἐπεί μοι πολλὰ δόσαν θεοὶ οὐρανίωνες·

τοῦτο δέ τοι ἐρέω ὅ μ᾽ ἀνείρεαι ἠδὲ μεταλλᾷς.

Ὠγυγίη τις νῆσος ἀπόπροθεν εἰν ἁλὶ κεῖται·

ἔνθα μὲν Ἄτλαντος θυγάτηρ, δολόεσσα Καλυψὼ245

ναίει ἐυπλόκαμος, δεινὴ θεός· οὐδέ τις αὐτῇ

μίσγεται οὔτε θεῶν οὔτε θνητῶν ἀνθρώπων.

ἀλλ᾽ ἐμὲ τὸν δύστηνον ἐφέστιον ἤγαγε δαίμων

οἶον, ἐπεί μοι νῆα θοὴν ἀργῆτι κεραυνῷ

Ζεὺς ἔλσας ἐκέασσε μέσῳ ἐνὶ οἴνοπι πόντῳ.250

ἔνθ᾽ ἄλλοι μὲν πάντες ἀπέφθιθεν ἐσθλοὶ ἑταῖροι,

αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ τρόπιν ἀγκὰς ἑλὼν νεὸς ἀμφιελίσσης

ἐννῆμαρ φερόμην· δεκάτῃ δέ με νυκτὶ μελαίνῃ

νῆσον ἐς Ὠγυγίην πέλασαν θεοί, ἔνθα Καλυψὼ

ναίει ἐυπλόκαμος, δεινὴ θεός, ἥ με λαβοῦσα255

ἐνδυκέως ἐφίλει τε καὶ ἔτρεφεν ἠδὲ ἔφασκε

θήσειν ἀθάνατον καὶ ἀγήραον ἤματα πάντα·

ἀλλ᾽ ἐμὸν οὔ ποτε θυμὸν ἐνὶ στήθεσσιν ἔπειθεν.

ἔνθα μὲν ἑπτάετες μένον ἔμπεδον, εἵματα δ᾽ αἰεὶ

δάκρυσι δεύεσκον, τά μοι ἄμβροτα δῶκε Καλυψώ·260

ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε δὴ ὀγδόατόν μοι ἐπιπλόμενον ἔτος ἦλθεν,

καὶ τότε δή μ᾽ ἐκέλευσεν ἐποτρύνουσα νέεσθαι

Ζηνὸς ὑπ᾽ ἀγγελίης, ἢ καὶ νόος ἐτράπετ᾽ αὐτῆς.

πέμπε δ᾽ ἐπὶ σχεδίης πολυδέσμου, πολλὰ δ᾽ ἔδωκε,

σῖτον καὶ μέθυ ἡδύ, καὶ ἄμβροτα εἵματα ἕσσεν,265

οὖρον δὲ προέηκεν ἀπήμονά τε λιαρόν τε.

ἑπτὰ δὲ καὶ δέκα μὲν πλέον ἤματα ποντοπορεύων,

ὀκτωκαιδεκάτῃ δ᾽ ἐφάνη ὄρεα σκιόεντα

γαίης ὑμετέρης, γήθησε δέ μοι φίλον ἦτορ

δυσμόρῳ· ἦ γὰρ ἔμελλον ἔτι ξυνέσεσθαι ὀιζυῖ270

πολλῇ, τήν μοι ἐπῶρσε Ποσειδάων ἐνοσίχθων,

ὅς μοι ἐφορμήσας ἀνέμους κατέδησε κέλευθον,

ὤρινεν δὲ θάλασσαν ἀθέσφατον, οὐδέ τι κῦμα

εἴα ἐπὶ σχεδίης ἁδινὰ στενάχοντα φέρεσθαι.

τὴν μὲν ἔπειτα θύελλα διεσκέδασ᾽· αὐτὰρ ἐγώ γε275

νηχόμενος τόδε λαῖτμα διέτμαγον, ὄφρα με γαίῃ

ὑμετέρῃ ἐπέλασσε φέρων ἄνεμός τε καὶ ὕδωρ.

ἔνθα κέ μ᾽ ἐκβαίνοντα βιήσατο κῦμ᾽ ἐπὶ χέρσου,

πέτρῃς πρὸς μεγάλῃσι βαλὸν καὶ ἀτερπέι χώρῳ·

ἀλλ᾽ ἀναχασσάμενος νῆχον πάλιν, ἧος ἐπῆλθον280

ἐς ποταμόν, τῇ δή μοι ἐείσατο χῶρος ἄριστος,

λεῖος πετράων, καὶ ἐπὶ σκέπας ἦν ἀνέμοιο.

ἐκ δ᾽ ἔπεσον θυμηγερέων, ἐπὶ δ᾽ ἀμβροσίη νὺξ

ἤλυθ᾽. ἐγὼ δ᾽ ἀπάνευθε διιπετέος ποταμοῖο

ἐκβὰς ἐν θάμνοισι κατέδραθον, ἀμφὶ δὲ φύλλα285

ἠφυσάμην· ὕπνον δὲ θεὸς κατ᾽ ἀπείρονα χεῦεν."

    Odysseus tells how he left Kalypso's island, reached Scheria, and was helped by Nausicaa.

    In response to the queen, Odysseus does not reveal his identity, crafting a polite but cleverly evasive reply. He leads with a lengthy recap of his adventures with Calypso and subsequent encounter with Nausicaa on the beach, presumably exciting to the royal couple but telling us nothing we don’t already know (cf. 6.170–77).

    read full essay

    He makes sure to lay on fulsome praise for the princess, how poised and well-mannered she was when meeting him, especially for one so young! This last detail is important. When dealing with Nausicaa on the beach, Odysseus walked a careful line, complimenting her on her beauty and so stirring her interest to win her over but avoiding any overtly sexual signals that would frighten her. The strategy worked and she has enthusiastically delivered him to the palace. Now she is safely tucked away, and Odysseus has a different challenge, to ingratiate himself with her parents without giving away any information about himself until he is ready to do so. Thus, he adopts an almost parental attitude toward Nausicaa that works in his favor in two ways, reassuring her parents that he is no predator and indirectly praising them for raising their daughter so well. Finally, he throws in, almost casually, as an afterthought, that Nausicaa gave him the clothes that Arete has recognized. Nothing untoward has happened, they may rest assured.

    From a naturalistic point of view, Odysseus’ success at evading any mention of his identity seems plausible—the description of his adventures goes on long enough that they might not notice right away, especially if they are won over by his flattery. The real test, of course, is whether the poem’s audience, as listeners hearing the story roll by in the moment, would have found the omission glaring and that we cannot judge definitively from this distance. In any event, from our perspective as students of Homer’s storytelling after the fact, there is much here to think about. The fact that Odysseus withholds his identity for now is crucial to the poem’s larger thematic structure. While the story can be seen as a linear progression, following Odysseus’s journey from Troy to Ithaka, the dominant narrative rhythm of the poem is a series of circular, recursive movements, tracing the hero’s arrival in a new place as an anonymous stranger, his attempts to learn as much as he can about the locals as he can without revealing who he is until he feels safe, and finally the climactic moment when he or someone else reveals his name. Each time the pattern repeats, from the time the stranger is reborn in a new place until the hero Odysseus is revealed, the poet builds an ever more subtle meditation on the riddles of human identity, centered on the polarity of glory and namelessness. With the triumphant homecoming of Odysseus, which affirms that he has fully reassumed the roles that symbolize his true identity, king in Ithaka, husband of Penelope, father of Telemachus, and son of Laertes, the poet brings the story circling around for the last time (see essay on Book 6.211–38). Arete’s question could not be more important, but it comes too early, before the hero can learn what he must to risk revealing himself.

    Alkinous is so taken with the stranger’s self-portrait that he is unable to contain himself:

    αἲ γάρ, Ζεῦ τε πάτερ καὶ Ἀθηναίη καὶ Ἄπολλον,
    τοῖος ἐὼν οἷός ἐσσι, τά τε φρονέων ἅ τ᾽ ἐγώ περ,
    παῖδά τ᾽ ἐμὴν ἐχέμεν καὶ ἐμὸς γαμβρὸς καλέεσθαι
    αὖθι μένων· οἶκον δέ κ᾽ ἐγὼ καὶ κτήματα δοίην,
    εἴ κ᾽ ἐθέλων γε μένοις·

    Oh Father Zeus and Athena and Apollo, how I wish
    that you, being as you are and thinking the same as I do,
    could have my daughter as a wife and be called my son-in-law,
    and remain here. I would give you a home and possessions,
    if you should wish to stay.

    Odyssey 7.311–15

    The king is willing to give his daughter away to someone whose name he does yet know, an enthusiastic gesture of hospitality if ever there was one, perhaps sending a chill down Odysseus’s spine. Alkinous goes on to guarantee safe passage home for Odysseus, a promise that will prove costly to the Phaeacians. Poseidon bears a grudge against Odysseus for harming his son Polyphemus, and the Phaeacians will pay the penalty:

    βῆ ῥ᾽ ἴμεν ἐς Σχερίην, ὅθι Φαίηκες γεγάασιν.
    ἔνθ᾽ ἔμεν᾽· ἡ δὲ μάλα σχεδὸν ἤλυθε ποντοπόρος νηῦς
    ῥίμφα διωκομένη· τῆς δὲ σχεδὸν ἦλθ᾽ ἐνοσίχθων,
    ὅς μιν λᾶαν ἔθηκε καὶ ἐρρίζωσεν ἔνερθε
    χειρὶ καταπρηνεῖ ἐλάσας·

    [Poseidon] went off to Scheria, where the Phaeacians live
    and waited there. The seagoing ship came near,
    skimming along, and the Earthshaker came near to her
    and turned her into stone, rooting her to the bottom
    with a stroke from the flat of his hand.

    Odyssey 13.160–64

    The stone ship will sit blocking the harbor of the Phaeacians, presumably cutting them off from contact with others, hardening their isolation yet further.

    The Phaeacians are only one of many societies that suffer from their acquaintance with Odysseus. Love for Odysseus makes Calypso, immortal nymph, long for something she cannot have. The spark of amorous excitement that Nausicaa feels when she meets the stranger on the beach is snuffed out abruptly when the hero moves on. Polyphemus, whose circumscribed but orderly existence allows him to live alone, is left helpless when Odysseus blinds him. Aeolus loses control of the winds, the task allotted to him by the gods, when he agrees to help the Greeks. The Sun God loses his cattle. By the time he reaches home, Odysseus has lost his entire crew. Not for nothing does Autolycus give his grandson the name, “man of trouble.” Though the poem’s dominant rhetoric urges us to accept everything that the hero does to reach home as necessary to the restoration of right order, he leaves a trail of collateral damage along the way.

    Homer’s deft portrait of Alkinous, created with a few telling speeches, carries more weight than its often-comic tone would suggest. Impulsive, generous to a fault, and easily swayed by events of the moment, the king seems to lack the requisite regal solemnity. To his flightiness the poet contrasts the quiet self-possession of Arete, who asks the right questions and maintains a queenly reserve. As we have seen, she will be the character on which Homer will build his impressive portrait of Penelope at the end of the poem, while Antinous seems to prefigure the deficit in masculine authority that the beggar will find in Ithaka. The evening comes to a close and Arete sends the stranger to bed with a telling command: ὄρσο … ὦ ξεῖνε (342).

     

    Further Reading

    Austin, N. 1972. “Name Magic in the Odyssey.” California Studies in Classical Philology 5: 1–9.

    Dimock, G. 1965. “The Name of Odysseus.” Hudson Review 9: 52–70.

    Van Nortwick, T. 2008. The Unknown Odysseus: Alternate Worlds in Homer’s Odyssey, 47–50. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

     

    241  ἀργαλέον: understand ἐστι.

    243  ἀνείρεαι: 2nd sing. pres. mid./pass. indic. > ἀνέρομαι.

    248  ἐφέστιον: “to her hearth,” or as a predicate with ἐμὲ, “to be her guest.”

    249  μοι: dative of possession, with νῆα.

    250  ἔλσας: masc. nom. sing. aor. act. ptc. > εἴλω. Either “hindering” or, in an unusual sense for the verb, “striking” (for the latter possibility, see LSJ εἴλω D).

    251  ἀπέφθιθεν: 3rd pl. aor. pass. indic. > ἀποφθίνω, with an active intransitive meaning.

    253  φερόμην: unaugmented impf.

    256  ἔφασκε: “kept saying,” iterative impf.

    257  θήσειν: “that she would make …,” aor. infin. > τίθημι. Infinitive in the accusative and infinitive construction of indirect discourse, with the accusative omitted because the subject of the infinitive is the same as the subject of the main verb. The verb τίθημι can take an object (με, carried over from line 255) and a predicate accusative “to make (acc.) (acc.)” (Smyth 1613).

    257  ἤματα πάντα: “for all my days,” accusative of extent of time.

    259  μένον: unaugmented impf.

    260  δεύεσκον: unaugmented 1st sing. iterative impf. > δεύω.

    261  ἐπιπλόμενον: “revolving,” “coming around,” neut. nom. sing. pres. mid. ptc. > ἐπιπέλομαι.

    263  Ζηνὸς ὑπ᾽ ἀγγελίης , ἢ …: “(either) by a messenger of Zeus, or …,” giving possible explanations for Calypso’s decision to let Odysseus go.

    263  νόος … αὐτῆς: “her own mind.”

    264  πέμπε: unaugmented 3rd sing. impf. The object of the verb, με, is omitted.

    264  ἔδωκε: the indirect object, μοι, is omitted.

    265  ἕσσεν: 3rd sing. aor. act. indic. > ἔννυμι. The verb takes a double accusative, “to clothe (acc. of person) in (acc.).” As with πέμπε in line 264, the accusative of person, με, is omitted.

    267  πλέον: unaugmented impf.

    268  ἐφάνη: 3rd sing. aor. act. indic. > φαίνω, with neuter plural subject.

    269  μοι: dative of possession.

    270  δυσμόρῳ: agreeing with μοι.

    272  κατέδησε κέλευθον: “stopped me in my tracks” (LSJ καταδέω A.II).

    273  οὐδέ τι: “not at all.”

    274  εἴα: 3rd sing. impf. act. indic. > ἐάω. The subject is κῦμα, the object (με) is omitted.

    274  ἁδινὰ: adverbial neut. acc. pl. (Smyth 1606).

    274  στενάχοντα: acc. modifying the omitted object (με) of εἴα.

    275  τὴν: i.e., Odysseus’s raft (σχεδίη).

    275  διεσκέδασ(ε): 3rd sing. aor. act. indic. > διασκεδάννυμι.

    276  τόδε λαῖτμα: “this sea here.” Imagine Odysseus pointing in the direction of the sea.

    276  διέτμαγον: “cut through,” 1st sing. aor. act. indic. > διατμήγω.

    276  ὄφρα: “until.”

    277  ἐπέλασσε: 3rd sing. aor. act. indic. > πελάζω. With two singular subjects, ἄνεμός τε καὶ ὕδωρ, but technically agreeing only with the nearer subject.

    278  κέ μ᾽ … βιήσατο: “would have broken me,” κε + aor., indicating unrealized past potential (Smyth 1784).

    279  πέτρῃς: fem. dat. pl.

    280  νῆχον: unaugmented impf.

    280  ἧος: “until” (= ἕως).

    281  τῇ: “where.”

    281  ἐείσατο: “seemed,” 3rd sing. aor. mid./pass. indic. > εἴδομαι.

    282  ἐπὶ σκέπας: “sheltered from,” with genitive.

    283  ἐκ … ἔπεσον: “I fell down,” “I fell (to my knees),” tmesis > ἐκπίπτω.

    283  ἐπὶ …/ ἤλυθ(ε): “came on,” tmesis > ἐπέρχομαι.

    285  κατέδραθον: 1st sing. aor. act. indic. > καταδαρθάνω.

    285  ἀμφὶ: “around (me).”

    286  κατ᾽ … χεῦεν: “poured down,” tmesis > καταχέω.

    ἀπαμείβομαι ἀπαμείψομαι ἀπημειψάμην ἀπημείφθην: to reply, answer 240

    πρόσφημι πρόσφησω προσέφησα: to speak to, address

    πολύμητις –ιος: of many counsels

    Ὀδυσσεύς –έως ὁ: Odysseus, king of Ithaca, hero of the Odyssey

    ἀργαλέος –α –ον: hard to endure or deal with, difficult

    βασίλεια –ας ἡ: queen, princess

    διηνεκής –ές: continuous, unbroken; (adv.) from beginning to end, fully

    ἀγορεύω ἀγορεύσω ἠγόρευσα ἠγόρευκα ἠγόρευμαι ἠγορεύθην: to speak, say

    κῆδος –ους τό: care, thought (for others); anxiety, worry, pain, grief

    Οὐρανίωνες –ων οἱ: the heavenly ones, the gods above

    ἐρῶ εἴρηκα ἐρρήθην: to say, tell, speak

    ἀνέρομαι ἀνερήσομαι ἀνηράσθην ἀνήρασμαι : to enquire of, question

    ἠδέ: and

    μεταλλάω μεταλλήσω μετέλλησα: to search after other things

    Ὠγυγία –ας ἡ: Ogygia, a mythical island in the Mediterranean, the abode of Calypso

    ἀπόπροθε: from far off, at a distance

    ἅλς ἁλός ὁ: salt (m.); sea (f.)

    Ἄτλας –αντος ὁ: Atlas, the father of Calypso, a god who knows the depths of the sea and holds the pillars that keep heaven and earth asunder 245

    δολόεις –εσσα –εν: subtle, wily

    Καλυψώ –οῦς ἡ: Calypso, a goddess, daughter of Atlas

    ναίω – – – – –: dwell, inhabit, be situated

    ἐϋπλόκαμος –ον: fair-haired

    θνητός –ή –όν: mortal

    δύστηνος –ον: wretched, unhappy, unfortunate, disastrous

    ἐφέστιος (Ion. ἐπίστιος) –ον: at one's own fireside, at home

    οἷος –α –ον: (such a kind) as; for οἷός τε see οἷος III.2

    θοός –ή –όν: swift

    ἀργής –ῆτος: bright, glancing

    κεραυνός –οῦ ὁ: a thunderbolt

    Ζεύς Διός ὁ: Zeus 250

    εἴλω εἰλήσω εἴλησα ––– εἴλημαι εἰλήθην: to roll up, pack, shut in, corral

    κεάζω κεάσσω ἐκέασσα – – ἐκεάσθην: to split, cleave

    οἶνοψ –οπος: wine-coloured, wine-dark

    πόντος –ου ὁ: sea, open sea

    ἀποφθίνω ἀποφθίσω ἀπέφθισα/ἀπέφθιθον ἀπέφθικα ἀπέφθιμαι –––: to perish utterly, die away

    ἐσθλός –ή –όν: good

    ἑταῖρος –ου ὁ: comrade, companion

    ἀτάρ (or αὐτάρ): but, yet, consequently

    τρόπις –εως ἡ: keel (of a ship)

    ἀγκάς: in the arms

    ἀμφιέλισσα (fem. only): curved on both sides, concave (of ships) 

    ἐννῆμαρ: for nine days

    μέλας μέλαινα μέλαν: black, dark, obscure

    Ὠγυγίη –ης ἡ: Ogygia, a fabulous island, the residence of Calypso

    πελάζω πελάσω ἐπέλασα ––– ––– ἐπελάσθην: (trans.) to bring, carry, conduct (to an indicated place); (intrans.) to draw near, approach

    Καλυψώ –οῦς ἡ: Calypso, a goddess, daughter of Atlas

    ναίω – – – – –: dwell, inhabit, be situated 255

    ἐϋπλόκαμος –ον: fair-haired

    ἐνδυκέως: thoughtfully, carefully

    φιλέω φιλήσω ἐφίλησα πεφίλημαι ἐφιλήθην: to love, hold dear; to entertain as a guest

    ἠδέ: and

    φάσκω impf. ἔφασκον ––– ––– ––– –––: to say, affirm, think, deem

    ἀθάνατος –ον: immortal, deathless; (plur.) the gods

    ἀγήραος –ον: unagaing, undecaying

    ἦμαρ –ατος τό: day

    στῆθος –ους τό: breast, chest; (pl.) heart, spirit

    ἑπταέτης –ες: of seven years

    ἔμπεδος –ον: firm-set, steadfast, constant, unchanged; (in neuter as adverb) firmly, steadily

    εἷμα –ατος τό: clothing

    δάκρυον –ου τό: a tear 160

    δεύω δεύσω ἔδευσα ––– δέδευμαι ἐδεύθην: to wet, drench

    ἄμβροτος –ον: immortal, divine

    Καλυψώ –οῦς ἡ: Calypso, a goddess, daughter of Atlas

    ὀγδόατος –η –ον: the eighth

    ἐπιπέλομαι ––– ––– ––– ––– –––: to come to

    ἐποτρύνω ἐποτρυνῶ ἐπώτρυνα: to urge on, extort; (mid.) hasten on with 

    νέομαι ––– ––– ––– ––– –––: to return (often in present with future sense), go home, go

    Ζεύς Διός ὁ: Zeus

    ἀγγελία –ας ἡ: a message, tidings, news

    νόος νόου ὁ: mind, perception

    σχεδία –ας ἡ: a raft, float

    πολύδεσμος –ον: fastened with many bonds

    σῖτος –ου ὁ: grain; bread 265

    μέθυ –υος τό: wine, mead

    ἄμβροτος –ον: immortal, divine

    εἷμα –ατος τό: clothing

    ἕννυμι ἕσσω ἕσσα: clothe, put on clothing

    οὖρος –ου ὁ: a fair wind

    προίημι προήσω προῆκα προεῖκα προεῖμαι προείθην: to send ahead; to shoot

    ἀπήμων –ον gen. –ονος: unharmed, unhurt; doing no harm; favorable

    λιαρός –ά –όν: warm

    ἦμαρ –ατος τό: day

    ποντοπορεύω ποντοπορεύσω ποντοπόρευσα: to pass over the sea

    ὀκτωκαιδέκατος: eighteenth

    σκιόεις –εσσα –εν: shady, shadowy

    γαίη –ης ἡ: land, region, district

    γηθέω γηθήσω ἐγήθησα γέγηθα ––– –––: to rejoice, be glad

    φίλος –η –ον: friend; loved, beloved, dear

    ἦτορ τό: the heart

    δύσμορος –ον: ill-fated, ill-starred 270

    σύνειμι συνέσομαι ––– ––– ––– –––: be with (incl. be wife of, study with)

    ὀϊζύς: sorrow, grief, distress, hardship

    ἐπόρνυμι ἐπόρσω ἐπῶρσα: to stir up, arouse, excite

    Ποσειδῶν (or Ποσειδάων) –ῶνος ὁ: Poseidon

    ἐνοσίχθων –ονος ὁ: earth-shaker (epithet of Poseidon)

    ἐφορμάω ἐφορμήσω ἐφώρμησα ἐφώρμηκα ἐφώρμημαι ἐφωρμήθην: to stir up, rouse against; to be eager, desire

    ἄνεμος –ου ὁ: wind

    καταδέω καταδεήσω κατεδέησα καταδεδέηκα καταδεδέημαι κατεδεήθην: to bind, take prisoner, convict, cast a spell on

    κέλευθος –ου ἡ: path, with neuter plural κέλευθα

    ὀρίνω ὀρινῶ ὤρινα: to stir, raise, agitate

    ἀθέσφατος –ον: beyond even a god's power to express; ineffable, aweful; too much

    κῦμα –ατος τό: wave

    σχεδία –ας ἡ: a raft, float

    ἀδινός –ή –όν: close, thick; (neut. plur.) vehemently

    στενάχω ––– ––– ––– ––– –––: to sigh, groan, wail

    θύελλα –ης ἡ: storm, eruption 275

    διασκεδάννυμι διασκεδῶ διεσκέδασα ––– διεσκέδασμαι διεσκεσάσθην: to scatter abroad, scatter to the winds, disperse

    ἀτάρ (or αὐτάρ): but, yet, consequently

    νήχω νήξομαι ἐνηξάμην: to swim

    λαῖτμα –ατος τό: the depths of the sea

    διατμήγω διατμήξω διέτμηξα/διέτμαγον – – διετμάγην: to cut in twain; to transverse

    ὄφρα: while; until; so that; ὄφρα … τόφρα, while … for so long

    γαίη –ης ἡ: land, region, district

    πελάζω πελάσω ἐπέλασα ––– ––– ἐπελάσθην: (trans.) to bring, carry, conduct (to an indicated place); (intrans.) to draw near, approach

    ἄνεμος –ου ὁ: wind

    ἐκβαίνω ἐκβήσομαι ἐκέβην ἐκβέβηκα ––– –––: to disembark

    βιάω βιώσομαι ἐβίωσα/ἐβίων βεβίωκα βεβίωμαι ἐβιώθην: to constrain

    κῦμα –ατος τό: wave

    χέρσος –ου ἡ: dry land, land

    πέτρη –ης ἡ: rock, cliffs, shelf of rock

    ἀτερπής –ές: unpleasing, joyless, melancholy

    χῶρος –ου ὁ: place, a piece of ground

    ἀναχάζομαι ––– ἀνεχασσάμην: to make to recoil, force back 280

    νήχω νήξομαι ἐνηξάμην: to swim

    ἐπέρχομαι ἔπειμι ἐπῆλθον ἐπελήλυθα ––– –––: to approach, arrive; to encounter, come up against, attack

    τῃ (dat. fem. of ὁ): here, there

    εἴδομαι εἴσομαι εἰσάμην: to be visible, appear; to seem; to know, understand

    χῶρος –ου ὁ: place, a piece of ground

    λεῖος –α –ον: smooth; (of places or terrain) flat, even

    πέτρη –ης ἡ: rock, cliffs, shelf of rock

    σκέπας –ους τό: a covering, shelter

    ἄνεμος –ου ὁ: wind

    θυμηγερέων –ον: gathering breath, collecting oneself

    ἀμβρόσιος [–α] –ον: immortal, divine; divinely beautiful, excellent

    ἀπάνευθε: far, remote; far from, separately from (+ gen.)

    Διιπετής –ές: fallen from Zeus

    ἐκβαίνω ἐκβήσομαι ἐκέβην ἐκβέβηκα ––– –––: to disembark 285

    θάμνος –ου ὁ/ἡ: a bush, shrub

    καταδαρθάνω καταδαρθανῶ κατέδαρθον καταδεδάρθηκα – κατεδάρθην: to fall asleep

    φύλλον –ου τό: a leaf

    ἀφύσσω ἀφύξω ἤφυσα: to draw (liquid from a vessel); (mid.) to gather

    ὕπνος –ου ὁ: sleep, sleepiness

    ἀπείρων –ον: without experience, ignorant; boundless, countless, inextricable

    χέω χέω ἔχεα or ἔχευα κέχυκα κέχυμαι ἐχύθην: to pour, shed

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    Suggested Citation

    Thomas Van Nortwick and Rob Hardy, Homer: Odyssey 5–12. Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Dickinson College Commentaries, 2024. ISBN: 978-1-947822-17-7 https://dcc.dickinson.edu/homer-odyssey/vii-240-286