"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.’
notes
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.
read full essay
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.
vocabulary
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