"πρώτη δὲ ψυχὴ Ἐλπήνορος ἦλθεν ἑταίρου·

οὐ γάρ πω ἐτέθαπτο ὑπὸ χθονὸς εὐρυοδείης·

σῶμα γὰρ ἐν Κίρκης μεγάρῳ κατελείπομεν ἡμεῖς

ἄκλαυτον καὶ ἄθαπτον, ἐπεὶ πόνος ἄλλος ἔπειγε.

τὸν μὲν ἐγὼ δάκρυσα ἰδὼν ἐλέησά τε θυμῷ,55

καί μιν φωνήσας ἔπεα πτερόεντα προσηύδων·

‘ Ἐλπῆνορ, πῶς ἦλθες ὑπὸ ζόφον ἠερόεντα;

ἔφθης πεζὸς ἰὼν ἢ ἐγὼ σὺν νηὶ μελαίνῃ.’

ὣς ἐφάμην, ὁ δέ μ᾽ οἰμώξας ἠμείβετο μύθῳ·

‘διογενὲς Λαερτιάδη, πολυμήχαν᾽ Ὀδυσσεῦ,60

ἆσέ με δαίμονος αἶσα κακὴ καὶ ἀθέσφατος οἶνος.

Κίρκης δ᾽ ἐν μεγάρῳ καταλέγμενος οὐκ ἐνόησα

ἄψορρον καταβῆναι ἰὼν ἐς κλίμακα μακρήν,

ἀλλὰ καταντικρὺ τέγεος πέσον· ἐκ δέ μοι αὐχὴν

ἀστραγάλων ἐάγη, ψυχὴ δ᾽ Ἄϊδόσδε κατῆλθε.65

νῦν δέ σε τῶν ὄπιθεν γουνάζομαι, οὐ παρεόντων,

πρός τ᾽ ἀλόχου καὶ πατρός, ὅ σ᾽ ἔτρεφε τυτθὸν ἐόντα,

Τηλεμάχου θ᾽, ὃν μοῦνον ἐνὶ μεγάροισιν ἔλειπες·

οἶδα γὰρ ὡς ἐνθένδε κιὼν δόμου ἐξ Ἀίδαο

νῆσον ἐς Αἰαίην σχήσεις ἐυεργέα νῆα·70

ἔνθα σ᾽ ἔπειτα, ἄναξ, κέλομαι μνήσασθαι ἐμεῖο.

μή μ᾽ ἄκλαυτον ἄθαπτον ἰὼν ὄπιθεν καταλείπειν

νοσφισθείς, μή τοί τι θεῶν μήνιμα γένωμαι,

ἀλλά με κακκῆαι σὺν τεύχεσιν, ἅσσα μοι ἔστιν,

σῆμά τέ μοι χεῦαι πολιῆς ἐπὶ θινὶ θαλάσσης,75

ἀνδρὸς δυστήνοιο καὶ ἐσσομένοισι πυθέσθαι.

ταῦτά τέ μοι τελέσαι πῆξαί τ᾽ ἐπὶ τύμβῳ ἐρετμόν,

τῷ καὶ ζωὸς ἔρεσσον ἐὼν μετ᾽ ἐμοῖς ἑτάροισιν.’

ὣς ἔφατ᾽, αὐτὰρ ἐγώ μιν ἀμειβόμενος προσέειπον·

‘ταῦτά τοι, ὦ δύστηνε, τελευτήσω τε καὶ ἔρξω.’80

νῶι μὲν ὣς ἐπέεσσιν ἀμειβομένω στυγεροῖσιν

ἥμεθ᾽, ἐγὼ μὲν ἄνευθεν ἐφ᾽ αἵματι φάσγανον ἴσχων,

εἴδωλον δ᾽ ἑτέρωθεν ἑταίρου πόλλ᾽ ἀγόρευεν.

ἦλθε δ᾽ ἐπὶ ψυχὴ μητρὸς κατατεθνηυίης,

Αὐτολύκου θυγάτηρ μεγαλήτορος Ἀντίκλεια,85

τὴν ζωὴν κατέλειπον ἰὼν εἰς Ἴλιον ἱρήν.

τὴν μὲν ἐγὼ δάκρυσα ἰδὼν ἐλέησά τε θυμῷ·

ἀλλ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ὣς εἴων προτέρην, πυκινόν περ ἀχεύων,

αἵματος ἆσσον ἴμεν, πρὶν Τειρεσίαο πυθέσθαι.

ἦλθε δ᾽ ἐπὶ ψυχὴ Θηβαίου Τειρεσίαο90

χρύσεον σκῆπτρον ἔχων, ἐμὲ δ᾽ ἔγνω καὶ προσέειπεν·

‘διογενὲς Λαερτιάδη, πολυμήχαν᾽ Ὀδυσσεῦ,

τίπτ᾽ αὖτ᾽, ὦ δύστηνε, λιπὼν φάος ἠελίοιο

ἤλυθες, ὄφρα ἴδῃ νέκυας καὶ ἀτερπέα χῶρον;

ἀλλ᾽ ἀποχάζεο βόθρου, ἄπισχε δὲ φάσγανον ὀξύ,95

αἵματος ὄφρα πίω καί τοι νημερτέα εἴπω.’

    Odysseus meets the ghosts of Elpenor, Antikleia, and Teiresias.

    As usual, Homer makes us wait for the big encounter with Teiresias. First, we meet the ghost (ψυχή) of Elpenor, his unburied body moldering on Circe’s island. He begs Odysseus for burial and we hear the story of his death again (cf. 10.352–60). With these verses, the poet forges a link between Books 10, 11 and 12, giving a reason for the Greeks to return to Circe’s island. Elpenor is in a special category of ψυχή. He cannot yet cross over into the underworld because his body remains unburied, so he retains his memory, which will disappear when he enters. The other ψύχαι must drink the blood from the ditch to regain their memories and then only temporarily. (The exception here is Teiresias, who retains his prophetic powers even in the underworld.) Odysseus, true to his heroic status, can grant temporary human consciousness to the dead. The results will not always be happy for them.

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    The language of Elpenor’s request recalls another famous supplication:

    ‘λίσσομ᾽ ὑπὲρ ψυχῆς καὶ γούνων σῶν τε τοκήων
    μή με ἔα παρὰ νηυσὶ κύνας καταδάψαι Ἀχαιῶν,
    ἀλλὰ σὺ μὲν χαλκόν τε ἅλις χρυσόν τε δέδεξο
    δῶρα τά τοι δώσουσι πατὴρ καὶ πότνια μήτηρ,
    σῶμα δὲ οἴκαδ᾽ ἐμὸν δόμεναι πάλιν, ὄφρα πυρός με
    Τρῶες καὶ Τρώων ἄλοχοι λελάχωσι θανόντα.

    I beg you by your life, your knees, and your parents,
    do not leave me by the ships for the dogs of the Achaeans to eat,
    but you take the abundant bronze and gold there,
    gifts that my father and mother will give you,
    and let my body go back home again, so the Trojans
    and their wives can give me my portion of the fire.

    Iliad 22.338–43

    Mortally wounded and seconds from death, Hector hopes for a hero’s burial at Troy. Achilles brushes this plea for civility aside with a withering reply, then proceeds to kill Hector and drag his corpse around the walls of Troy as a trophy. The emotion raised in us by this brutality is reflected in the reactions of Hector’s parents and especially his wife, who loses consciousness at the sight, a symbolic death of her own (Il. 22.466–74). So begins a long meditation in the poem on the meaning of human life and death, focused on the treatment of Hector’s corpse, which will only end in the last scene of the Iliad, when his body is finally returned to Troy. In spite of the similar language in these two passages (cf. Od. 11.66–68, 73; Il. 22.355, 358), Elpenor’s delayed burial has a different impact than Hector’s. The Greeks will bury him properly when they return from the underworld, an occasion prompting relatively little emotion in the characters and in us. Achilles’abuse of Hector’s corpse is painful because we feel that such a noble hero deserves better; Elpenor, by contrast, receives a hero’s burial in spite of his feckless lack of self-control.

    Next comes the ghost of Odysseus’s mother Antikleia, prompting a flood of tears from the hero and a potentially fraught encounter seems imminent, but Odysseus once again shows his self-control, denying his mother access to the blood until he can interview Teiresias. The prophet finally approaches, puzzled: Why has Odysseus come to see this cheerless place full of dead people? He advances to drink blood from the ditch so he can tell the hero “unerring truths” (96). This is the first appearance of Teiresias in extant Greek literature and we cannot know if earlier versions, now lost, of any of the stories about him that appear after the Odyssey lie in the background of this portrait. His blindness, which is noted without comment in Book 10 (492), is explained in two later stories. In the Hellenistic author Callimachus (c. 250 BCE), we hear of the young Teiresias being blinded as punishment for accidently seeing Athena bathing (Callimachus, Hymn 5). In a story first appearing in a fragment of Hesiod (fr. 275), perhaps from the 7th century BCE and in its complete form in the Library of Apollodorus 3.6.7, which probably dates from the 2nd century BCE (see also Ovid’s Metamorphoses 3.316–88), Teiresias comes upon a snake while walking through the woods and hits it with a stick. He is instantly changed from a man to a woman. Some years later, she walks through the woods again, hits the same snake, and is changed back into a man. His unique dual perspective makes Teiresias the ideal judge for settling a quarrel between Jupiter and Juno over which gender has more pleasure during sex. He votes for women and Juno strikes him blind. As compensation, Jupiter gives him the gift of prophecy.

    If Sophocles knew Hesiod’s version of the snake story, the gender ambiguity resulting from the encounters in the woods would play an important role in Oedipus Tyrannus (427 BCE). There the prophet is summoned from Delphi by Oedipus to help the Thebans escape the plague that has descended on the city in the wake of the former king Laius’s death. Much of the dramatic power of the scene between Oedipus and the prophet comes from the contrast of the king’s hyper-masculine bullying and Teiresias’ inward, mysterious knowledge, which the Greeks would have associated with the feminine gender. We will return to this aspect of Teiresias’ character when thinking about the overall impact of Odysseus’ trip to the underworld. Finally, we note one more antecedent for Teiresias’s role in the story, the sage Utnapishtim, whom Gilgamesh travels across the Waters of Death to consult about how to avoid the definitive trait of all humans, mortality (Epic of Gilgamesh XI).

     

    Further Reading

    Dimock, G. 1989. The Unity of the Odyssey, 140–144. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.

    Heubeck, A. and Hoekstra, A. ed. 1989. A Commentary on Homer’s Odyssey, vol. II, Books IX–XVI, 73–74. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Morrison, J. 2003. A Companion to Homer’s Odyssey, 104–106. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

    Reinhardt, K. 1942. “The Adventures in the Odyssey.” In Schein, S. 1996. Reading the Odyssey. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 110–116.

    Van Nortwick, T. 2008. The Unknown Odysseus: Alternate Worlds in Homer’s Odyssey, 58–60. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press

     

    52  ἐτέθαπτο: plupf. pass. > θάπτω.

    53  ἐν Κίρκης μεγάρῳ: ἐν μεγάρῳ Κίρκης.

    54  πόνος ἄλλος: “another task.”

    54  ἔπειγε: unaugmented impf. > ἐπείγω.

    55  τὸν: “him” (i.e., Elpenor).

    55  δάκρυσα…ἐλέησά τε: unaugmented aors.

    56  προσηύδων: 1st sing. impf. > προσαυδάω.

    58  ἔφθης πεζὸς ἰὼν: “you came faster on foot” (lit., “you were faster coming by foot”). 

    58  ἔφθης: > φθάνω, with supplementary participle (Smyth 1873, 2096).

    61  ἆσέ: 3rd person sing. aor. > ἀάω.

    61  δαίμονος αἶσα κακὴ: “the evil decree of some god.”

    61  ἀθέσφατος: “too much,” “an overabundance of” (lit., “unspeakable”).

    62  καταλέγμενος: “having lain down to rest,” > καταλέχομαι (LSJ) / καταλέγω1 (Cunliffe).

    62  οὐκ ἐνόησα: “I did not think to…,” with infinitive καταβῆναι.

    63–65  cp. 10.558–60.

    63  ἐς: “on,” = εἰς.

    64  ἐκ…ἀστραγάλων: “from my spine.” The preposition ἐκ can be separated by one or more words from its noun (ἐκ LSJ Β).

    65  ἐάγη: aor. > ἄγνυμι.

    66  τῶν ὄπιθεν…οὐ παρεόντων, πρός τ᾽ ἀλόχου καὶ πατρός…Τηλεμάχου: take all these genitives as governed by the preposition πρός, “in the name of."

    66  τῶν ὄπιθεν…οὐ παρεόντων: “(in the name of) those left behind…by those not present…”

    70  σχήσεις: “you will steer” > ἔχω (LSJ II.8).

    71  ἐμεῖο: = ἐμοῦ; genitive with μνήσασθαι.

    72  μή…καταλείπειν: infinitive used as an imperative (Monro 241).

    73  μή…γένωμαι: clause of fearing (Smyth 2221).

    73  τοί: “to you.”

    74  κακκῆαι: = κατακῆαι, aor. infin. > κατακαίω; infinitive used as an imperative (Monro 241).

    74  ἅσσα μοί ἐστι: ἅσσα is Ionice for ἅτινα, “whatever,” and μοί is a dative of possession.

    75  μοι: “for me,” dative of advantage (Smyth 1481).

    75  χεῦαι: aor. infin. > χέω, infinitive used as an imperative (Monro 241).

    76  ἀνδρὸς δυστήνοιο: modifying σῆμα in line 75.

    76  ἐσσομένοισι: “for those to come,” “for future generations” (lit., “for those who will be”). fut. ptc. dep.

    76  πύθεσθαι: infinitive of purpose, aor. > πυνθάνομαι.

    77  τελέσαι πῆξαί τ᾽: aorist infinitives ( > τελέω and > πήγνυμι) used as imperatives (Monro 241).

    78  τῷ: “with which” (i.e., the oar).

    78  ζωὸς…ἐὼν: “while I was alive.”

    78  ἔρεσσον: "I used to row," unaugmented impf., indicating customary past action.

    81  νῶϊ: “we two,” dual > ἐγώ.

    81  ἀμειβομένω: dual ptc.

    82  ἄνευθεν: “on my side” (lit., “apart”).

    82  ἐφ᾽: ἐπί, with dative, “over.”

    83  ἀγόρευεν: unaugmented 3rd sing. impf.

    84  ἐπὶ: “then,” “next.”

    84  κατατεθνηυίης: “dead.” fem. gen. sing. pf. ptc > καταθνήσκω.

    86  τὴν: “whom.”

    86  ἰὼν: “when I went,” pres. ptc > εἶμι.

    87  cp. line 55

    87  δάκρυσα…ἐλέησα: unaugmented 1st sing. aors. > δακρύω and > ἐλεέω.

    88  ἀλλ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ὣς: “but even so…not…,” “but not even so.”

    88  εἴων: εἴαον; 1st sing. impf. > ἐάω.

    88  προτέρην: “sooner,” “first of all.” Understand the adjective as agreeing with “her” (Anticlea) as the obj. of εἴων.

    88  πυκινόν: adverbial.

    89  ἆσσον: “closer to,” with genitive.

    89  ἴμεν: infin. > εἶμι.

    89  Τειρεσίαο: genitive of source with πυθέσθαι. This line is a repetition of line 50.

    90  ἐπὶ: “then,” “next.”

    91  ἔγνω: 3rd sing. aor > γιγνώσκω.

    93  αὖτ᾽: “now,” “this time”; αὖτε expresses “impatience or remonstrance” (Cunliffe).

    94  ὄφρα ἴδῃ: purpose clause.

    94  ἴδῃ: 2nd sing. aor. mid. subj. > εἶδον.

    95  ἀποχάζεο: pres. mid. imperat. > ἀποχάζομαι.

    95  βόθρου: genitive of separation, as if preceded by ἀπό, implied by the prefix of the verb.

    95  ἄπισχε: "hold (your sword) at a distance," that is, "get your sword out of my way."

    96  αἵματος: gen., with the verb πίνω, “to drink of.”

    96  ὄφρα πίω…εἴπω: purpose clause.

    Ἐλπήνωρ –ορος ὁ: Elpēnor, a companion of Odysseus

    ἑταῖρος –ου ὁ: comrade, companion

    πω: up to this time, yet

    θάπτω θάψω ἔθαψα ––– τέθαμμαι ἐτάφην: bury

    χθών χθονός ἡ: the earth, ground

    εὐρυόδεια (fem. only): with broad, open ways

    Κίρκη –ης ἡ: Circe, the enchantress, daughter of Helius, sister of Aeētes, dwelling in the isle of Aeaea

    μέγαρον –ου τό: a large room, hall, feast-hall

    καταλείπω καλλείψω κάλλιπον καταλέλοιπα καταλέλειμμαι κατελείφθην: to leave behind

    ἄκλαυτος –ον: unlamented

    ἄθαπτος –ον: unburied

    ἐπείγω ἐπείξομαι ἤπειξα ––– ἤπειγμαι ἐπείχθην: to press hard; (pass.) to be in a hurry

    δακρύω δακρύσω ἐδάκρυσα δεδάκρυκα δεδάκρυμαι –––: to cry 55

    ἐλεέω ἐλεήσω ἠλέησα – ἠλέημαι ἠλεήθην: to have pity on, show mercy to

    μιν: (accusative singular third person pronoun) him, her, it; himself, herself, itself

    φωνέω φωνήσω ἐφώνησα πεφώνηκα πεφώνημαι ἐφωνήθην: to make a sound, speak

    πτερόεις πτερόεσσα πτερόεν: winged

    προσαυδάω προσαυδήσω προσηύδησα προσηύδηκα προσηύδημαι προσηυδήθην: to speak to, address, accost

    ζόφος –ου ὁ: darkness; zone of darkness, (as a compass direction) west

    ἠερόεις –εσσα –εν: hazy, murky

    φθάνω φθήσομαι ἔφθασα (or ἔφθην) ––– ––– –––: to do something first or before someone else, outstrip

    πεζός –ή –όν: on foot

    μέλας μέλαινα μέλαν: black, dark, obscure

    οἰμώζω οἰμώξομαι ᾤμωξα ––– ––– –––: to wail aloud, lament

    ἀμείβω ἀμείψω ἤμειψα ἤμειφα ἤμειμμαι ἠμείφθην: to respond, answer; to exchange; (mid.) to take turns, alternate; to change, place, pass

    μῦθος –ου ὁ: spoken thing, speech, plan, story

    διογενής –ές: sprung from Zeus (epithet of Odysseus) 60

    Λαερτιάδης –ου ὁ: son of Laertes (Odysseus)

    πολυμήχανος –ον: full of resources, inventive, ever-ready

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

    ἀάω ἀάσω ἄασα – – ἀάσθην: to disturb, upset, deceive, harm

    αἶσα –ης ἡ: share, portion

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

    οἶνος –ου ὁ: wine

    Κίρκη –ης ἡ: Circe, the enchantress, daughter of Helius, sister of Aeētes, dwelling in the isle of Aeaea

    μέγαρον –ου τό: a large room, hall, feast-hall

    καταλέγω καταλέξω κατέλεξα κατείλοχα κατείλεγμαι κατελέχθην: to recount, tell at length and in order; (mid.) καταλέχομαι to lie down

    νοέω νοοῦμαι ––– ––– ––– –––: perceive, observe, think

    ἄψορρος –ον: backward; (adv.) in response

    καταβαίνω καταβήσομαι κατέβην καταβέβηκα ––– –––: step down, go down

    κλῖμαξ –ακος ἡ: ladder, staircase

    καταντικρύ: straight down (+gen.)

    τέγος –ους τό: a roof

    αὐχήν –ένος ὁ: the neck, throat

    ἀστράγᾰλος –ου ὁ: one of the neck-vertebrae 65

    ἀγνύω/ἄγνυμι ἄξω ἔαξα ἔαγα: to break, smash

    Ἀΐδης –ου ὁ: Hades

    κατέρχομαι κατελεύσομαι/κάτειμι κατῆλθον κατελήλυθα ––– –––: to go down, descend; to go towards the shore

    ὄπι(σ)θε(ν): from behind, behind, afterward, hereafter; adv. or prep. +gen.

    γουνάζομαι γουνάσομαι γουνασάμεσθα: to clasp by the knees: implore

    ἄλοχος –ου ἡ: wife

    τυτθός [–ή] –όν: little, small

    Τηλέμαχος –ου ὁ: Telemachus, the son of Odysseus and Penelope

    μέγαρον –ου τό: a large room, hall, feast-hall

    ἐνθένδε: from here

    κίω – – – – –: go, go away

    δόμος –ου ὁ: house, home

    ᾍδης –ου ὁ: Hades

    Αἰαίη: (adj.) Aeaean, sister of Aeetes (of Circe); (subst.) Aeaea, the island of Circe 70

    εὐεργής –ές: well-wrought, well-made

    ἄναξ –ακτος ὁ: ruler, lord

    κέλομαι κελήσομαι ἐκελησάμην ἐκεκλόμην: command, urge on, exhort, call to

    ἄκλαυτος –ον: unlamented

    ἄθαπτος –ον: unburied

    ὄπι(σ)θε(ν): from behind, behind, afterward, hereafter; adv. or prep. +gen.

    καταλείπω καλλείψω κάλλιπον καταλέλοιπα καταλέλειμμαι κατελείφθην: to leave behind

    νοσφίζομαι νοσφιῶ ἐνόσφισα ––– νενόσφισμαι ἐνοσφίσθην: to turn one's back upon

    μήνῑμα –ατος τό: a cause of wrath

    κατακαίω κατακαύσω κατέκαυσα κατακέκαυμαι κατεκαύθην: burn completely

    τεῦχος –ους τό: arms

    σῆμα –ατος τό: a sign, mark, token

    χέω χέω ἔχεα or ἔχευα κέχυκα κέχυμαι ἐχύθην: to pour, shed 75

    πολιός –ή –όν: white

    θίς θινός ὁ: shore, beach

    δύστηνος –ον: wretched, unhappy, unfortunate, disastrous

    τελέω τελῶ or τελέσω ἐτέλεσα τετέλεκα τετέλεσμαι ἐτελέσθην: to finish, complete, carry out

    πήγνυμι πήξω ἔπηξα ––– πέπηγμαι ἐπάγην: to stick, implant, fix

    τύμβος –ου ὁ: a sepulchral mound, cairn, barrow

    ἐρετμόν –οῦ τό: oar

    ζωός (Ion. ζώς) –ή –όν: alive, living

    ἐρέσσω ἐρέσω ἤρεσα ––– ––– –––: to row

    ἑταῖρος –ου ὁ: comrade, companion

    ἀτάρ (or αὐτάρ): but, yet

    μιν: (accusative singular third person pronoun) him, her, it; himself, herself, itself

    ἀμείβω ἀμείψω ἤμειψα ἤμειφα ἤμειμμαι ἠμείφθην: to respond, answer; to exchange; (mid.) to take turns, alternate; to change, place, pass

    προσεῖπον (aor. 2 of προσαγορεύω and προσφωνέω); Εp. προσέειπον: to speak to one, address, accost

    δύστηνος –ον: wretched, unhappy, unfortunate, disastrous 80

    ἔρδω ἔρξω ἔρξα ἔοργα ––– –––: to do

    ἀμείβω ἀμείψω ἤμειψα ἤμειφα ἤμειμμαι ἠμείφθην: to respond, answer; to exchange; (mid.) to take turns, alternate; to change, place, pass

    στυγερός –ά –όν: hated, abominated, loathed; chilling

    ἧμαι (or κάθημαι) ––– ––– ––– ––– –––: sit

    ἄνευθε: apart, far off; without (+ gen.)

    φάσγανον –ου τό: a sword

    ἴσχω ––– ––– ––– ––– –––: to hold; to hold back, check, restrain

    εἴδωλον –ου τό: an image, a phantom

    ἑτέρωθεν: from the other side

    ἑταῖρος –ου ὁ: comrade, companion

    ἀγορεύω ἀγορεύσω ἠγόρευσα ἠγόρευκα ἠγόρευμαι ἠγορεύθην: to speak, say

    καταθνῄσκω καταθανοῦμαι κατέθανον κατατέθνηκα ––– –––: to die

    Αὐτόλυκος –ου ὁ: father of Anticlea, grandfather of Odysseus 85

    μεγαλήτωρ –ορος: great - hearted, proud

    Ἀντίκλεια –ας ἡ: Anticlia, daughter of Autolycus, wife of Laertes and mother of Odysseus

    ζωή –ῆς ἡ: life

    καταλείπω καλλείψω κάλλιπον καταλέλοιπα καταλέλειμμαι κατελείφθην: to leave behind

    Ἴλιος –ου ἡ: Troy, Ilion

    δακρύω δακρύσω ἐδάκρυσα δεδάκρυκα δεδάκρυμαι –––: cry

    ἐλεέω ἐλεήσω ἠλέησα – ἠλέημαι ἠλεήθην: have pity on, show mercy to

    πυκ(ι)νός –ή –όν: thick, bushy, dense; prudent, wise, smart, shrewd

    ἀχεύω (or ἀχέω), aor. 2 ἤκαχε, pf. pass. ἀκάχημαι: to be afflicted, be grieved

    ἆσσον: nearer, very near

    Τειρεσίας –ου ὁ: Tiresias, a seer of Thebes

    Θηβαῖος –η/–α –ον: Theban 90

    Τειρεσίας –ου ὁ: Tiresias, a seer of Thebes

    χρύσεος –η –ον: golden, gold-inlaid

    σκῆπτρον –ου τό: a staff

    προσεῖπον (aor. 2 of προσαγορεύω and προσφωνέω); Εp. προσέειπον: to speak to one, address, accost

    διογενής –ές: sprung from Zeus (epithet of Odysseus)

    Λαερτιάδης –ου ὁ: son of Laertes (Odysseus)

    πολυμήχανος –ον: full of resources, inventive, ever-ready

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

    τίπτε: why? (τί ποτε)

    αὖτε: in turn, moreover, still, again, on the other hand

    δύστηνος –ον: wretched, unhappy, unfortunate, disastrous

    φάος –ους τό: light, daylight

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

    νέκυς –υος τό: dead body, corpse

    ἀτερπής –ές: unpleasing, joyless, melancholy

    χῶρος –ου ὁ: place, a piece of ground

    ἀποχάζομαι ἀπεχάσομαι ἀπεχασάμην: to withdraw from 95

    βόθρος –ου ὁ: hole or pit dug in the ground

    ἀπίσχω/ἀπέχω ἀποσχήσω/ἀφέξω ἀπέσχον ἀπέσχηκα ἀπέσχημαι ἀπεσχέθην: to keep apart, keep off (+ gen.); (mid.) to restrain oneself, abstain

    φάσγανον –ου τό: a sword

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

    νημερτής –ές: unerring, infallible

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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/xi-51-96