"τὸν δὲ μὲτ᾽ εἰσενόησα βίην Ἡρακληείην,
εἴδωλον· αὐτὸς δὲ μετ᾽ ἀθανάτοισι θεοῖσι
τέρπεται ἐν θαλίῃς καὶ ἔχει καλλίσφυρον Ἥβην,
παῖδα Διὸς μεγάλοιο καὶ Ἥρης χρυσοπεδίλου.
ἀμφὶ δέ μιν κλαγγὴ νεκύων ἦν οἰωνῶν ὥς,605
πάντοσ᾽ ἀτυζομένων· ὁ δ᾽ ἐρεμνῇ νυκτὶ ἐοικώς,
γυμνὸν τόξον ἔχων καὶ ἐπὶ νευρῆφιν ὀιστόν,
δεινὸν παπταίνων, αἰεὶ βαλέοντι ἐοικώς.
σμερδαλέος δέ οἱ ἀμφὶ περὶ στήθεσσιν ἀορτὴρ
χρύσεος ἦν τελαμών, ἵνα θέσκελα ἔργα τέτυκτο,610
ἄρκτοι τ᾽ ἀγρότεροί τε σύες χαροποί τε λέοντες,
ὑσμῖναί τε μάχαι τε φόνοι τ᾽ ἀνδροκτασίαι τε.
μὴ τεχνησάμενος μηδ᾽ ἄλλο τι τεχνήσαιτο,
ὃς κεῖνον τελαμῶνα ἑῇ ἐγκάτθετο τέχνῃ.
ἔγνω δ᾽ αὖτ᾽ ἔμ᾽ ἐκεῖνος, ἐπεὶ ἴδεν ὀφθαλμοῖσιν,615
καί μ᾽ ὀλοφυρόμενος ἔπεα πτερόεντα προσηύδα·
‘διογενὲς Λαερτιάδη, πολυμήχαν᾽ Ὀδυσσεῦ,
ἆ δείλ᾽, ἦ τινὰ καὶ σὺ κακὸν μόρον ἡγηλάζεις,
ὅν περ ἐγὼν ὀχέεσκον ὑπ᾽ αὐγὰς ἠελίοιο.
Ζηνὸς μὲν πάϊς ἦα Κρονίονος, αὐτὰρ ὀιζὺν620
εἶχον ἀπειρεσίην· μάλα γὰρ πολὺ χείρονι φωτὶ
δεδμήμην, ὁ δέ μοι χαλεποὺς ἐπετέλλετ᾽ ἀέθλους.
καί ποτέ μ᾽ ἐνθάδ᾽ ἔπεμψε κύν᾽ ἄξοντ᾽· οὐ γὰρ ἔτ᾽ ἄλλον
φράζετο τοῦδέ γέ μοι κρατερώτερον εἶναι ἄεθλον·
τὸν μὲν ἐγὼν ἀνένεικα καὶ ἤγαγον ἐξ Ἀίδαο·625
Ἑρμείας δέ μ᾽ ἔπεμψεν ἰδὲ γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη.’
ὣς εἰπὼν ὁ μὲν αὖτις ἔβη δόμον Ἄϊδος εἴσω,
αὐτὰρ ἐγὼν αὐτοῦ μένον ἔμπεδον, εἴ τις ἔτ᾽ ἔλθοι
ἀνδρῶν ἡρώων, οἳ δὴ τὸ πρόσθεν ὄλοντο.
καί νύ κ᾽ ἔτι προτέρους ἴδον ἀνέρας, οὓς ἔθελόν περ,630
Θησέα Πειρίθοόν τε, θεῶν ἐρικυδέα τέκνα·
ἀλλὰ πρὶν ἐπὶ ἔθνε᾽ ἀγείρετο μυρία νεκρῶν
ἠχῇ θεσπεσίῃ· ἐμὲ δὲ χλωρὸν δέος ᾕρει,
μή μοι Γοργείην κεφαλὴν δεινοῖο πελώρου
ἐξ Ἀίδεω πέμψειεν ἀγαυὴ Περσεφόνεια.635
αὐτίκ᾽ ἔπειτ᾽ ἐπὶ νῆα κιὼν ἐκέλευον ἑταίρους
αὐτούς τ᾽ ἀμβαίνειν ἀνά τε πρυμνήσια λῦσαι.
οἱ δ᾽ αἶψ᾽ εἴσβαινον καὶ ἐπὶ κληῖσι καθῖζον.
τὴν δὲ κατ᾽ Ὠκεανὸν ποταμὸν φέρε κῦμα ῥόοιο,
πρῶτα μὲν εἰρεσίῃ, μετέπειτα δὲ κάλλιμος οὖρος."640
notes
Odysseus sees the ghost of Heracles, who complains about his labors. Odysseus breaks off his search for other dead heroes and returns to his ship.
Conclusion: A Different Kind of Katabasis
Given the unusual nature of Odysseus’s heroism and the story it animates, sending his hero to the underworld creates unusual challenges for the poet, who cannot aim his narrative toward the same goal as he would if telling a tragic story (see Introduction, para. 4). Confronting death and the implications of that experience, the central event in a tragic katabasis, will not carry the same weight in a comic narrative. How then, was the episode to be shaped?
read full essay
Homer sets the scene at the edge of the underworld, with the hero and his crew “smothered,” κεκαλυμμένοι (15) in darkness, already a sign that the episode will feature feminine forces threatening to Odysseus and his crew. The requisite rituals performed, the poet brings forth the ghost of Elpenor, who begs his captain to give his corpse a proper burial back on Circe’s island. With this opening, Homer creates the narrative ring that will mark the boundaries of his episode, with Circe at the beginning and end. Putting off Antikleia until he can interview Teiresias, Odysseus reaffirms that he has already made the break with his mother’s nurture that marks a mature male in Greek hero stories. He is not in the midst of an evolving journey of self-discovery, as are many tragic heroes. His mission aims at restoration, not the acceptance of limits.
Next comes Teiresias, whom Circe has named as the keeper of information crucial to a successful homecoming. The prophet does deliver one piece of advice about the return trip—stay away from the cattle belonging to Helios—but the most important news is about how Odysseus can die a peaceful death. This kind of discovery is entirely in keeping with the goals of a traditional katabasis: knowledge, and often self-knowledge, that the hero could only gain in the underworld. By settling up with the sea, the medium for his wanderings, Odysseus can quiet the restless curiosity that has driven him. This window—for the hero and for us—into Odysseus’ fundamental nature is important part of his exchange with Teiresias. The rest of the strategizing about his return voyage can wait until he meets Circe again.
The catalogue of heroines sounds celebratory at first, but on closer inspection is more cautionary. After the first group of “fortunate” women who have been abducted by the gods, many of the other heroines portend danger for Odysseus, appearing elsewhere in stories that highlight the kind of threat that feminine forces have posed to the hero all along the way. Their potentially dangerous power in turn makes a natural segue to the interlude in Scheria, where Arete takes the lead in speaking to Odysseus, upstaging Alkinous once again, as she did when Odysseus first arrived on the island of the Phaeacians.
The end of the interlude takes us to the heart of the katabasis, where Homer’s innovative use of the traditional episode becomes clear. In the encounters with Agamemnon, Achilles, and Ajax, with their focus on the powerlessness of the once mighty heroes of the Iliad, the poet drives home his point: To save the royal family and kingdom in Ithaka, Odysseus must forsake the tragic obsession with kleos at any cost. He must instead survive, no matter what it costs him and those around him (in the latter case, their lives). Both Agamemnon and Achilles put it succinctly: Do not be like me. Control, of oneself and others, especially women, must be the primary goal. Ajax and the famously excessive Herakles show the dire consequences of failing to control one’s appetites, for revenge, for glory. The underworld is always a useful laboratory for a storyteller, where the true consequences of a hero’s acts in the world of the living, however that world is portrayed in the story, are tested against the ultimate reality that awaits all mortals. In the world of the Odyssey, only heroes like Odysseus can ultimately triumph. It is fitting that Odysseus can reanimate the twittering ghosts in Hades, so they can talk to him. He is all about living on, however that can happen.
The smothering darkness, Antikleia’s prominent appearance, the catalogue of women, the enfeebled heroes from the Iliad (and perhaps the sexual ambiguity of Teiresias), all signal that the underworld, as the Greeks would have seen it, is a feminized milieu, a land of women. This is not a place where heroes can win kleos, claiming a place in the stories that live on after death. Like the island of Calypso, Hades exists in a kind of stasis, out of time. For Odysseus in particular, Hades is his mother’s home, whereas his mission is to restore his father’s home in Ithaka, something Achilles cannot do for Peleus. In this sense, the underworld episode repeats a dominant theme in the return story of Odysseus, as a masculine hero penetrates a feminized milieu and effects the release of Odysseus: Hermes invades Calypso’s island and gets Odysseus released; Odysseus then arrives on Scheria as an anonymous stranger, works his way into the good graces of the effete—and in the view of the Greeks, femininized—Phaeacians with his athletic prowess and beguiling storytelling, and wins a ride home to Ithaka; he visits the island of Polyphemus, enters the womblike cave as “Nobody,” wields the phallic stake and emerges as Odysseus; with the help of Hermes, he avoids becoming another of Circe’s pet animals, then enters Hades, a feminized realm, and emerges unscathed; finally, Odysseus, in disguise, will penetrate the royal palace in Ithaka, a chaotic place lacking in masculine authority, and release the true version of himself by killing the suitors.
Further Reading
Bassi, K. 1999. “Nostos, Domos, and the Architecture of the Ancient Stage.” South Atlantic Quarterly 98, 415–449.
602 αὐτὸς δὲ: “but he himself” (as opposed to his εἴδολον).
605 οἰωνῶν ὥς: a simile. Understand ὥς κλαγγὴ οἰωνῶν.
606 ἐοικώς: “resembling,” perf. pct. ἔοικα takes a dat.
607 γυμνὸν: "unsheathed"
608 δεινὸν: adverbial
608 βαλέοντι: “someone shooting,” dat. with ἐοικώς
609 οἱ ἀμφὶ: in Homer, ἀμφί can follow the word it modifies without change of accent.
610 χρύσεος … τελαμών: in apposition to σμερδαλέος ἀορτὴρ ("an awe-inspiring strap, namely..."). ἀορτὴρ is a generic strap, while τελαμών is specifically a baldric (a heavy strap for carrying a sword or shield).
610 ἵνα: “where,” “on which.”
610 τέτυκτο: “were fashioned,” sing. verb with neut. pl. subj. ἔργα.
613 μὴ … μηδ᾽ ἄλλο τι τεχνήσαιτο: optative of wish. With the double negative, either "May he make nothing else" or "May he not make anything else."
613 τεχνησάμενος: “the one who…,” substantive.
614 ὃς: “he who …”
614 ἐγκάτθετο: “designed,” “devised,” > ἐγκατατίθημι.
618 δείλ(ε): “wretched man,” vocative.
619 ὅν περ: “the very one which…,” “just as …”
619 ὀχέεσκον: “used to…,” iterative impf., unaugmented > ὀχέω.
620 ἦα: 1st sing. impf. > εἰμί.
622 δεδμήμην: “had been brought into subjection to,” with dat. 1st sing. pluperf. pass. > δαμάζω.
622 ἐπετέλλετ(ο): “imposed (acc.) upon (dat.).”
623 ἐνθάδ(ε): i.e., to the underworld.
623 ἀξοντ(α): fut. pct. expressing purpose, > ἄγω (Monro 244).
623 ἄλλον: with τί and ἄεθλον (“any other labor”). The accusatives, with the infin. εἶναι in 624, are in indir. discourse introduced by φράζετο.
624 φράζετο: “he thought.”
624 τοῦδέ: gen. of comparison.
625 τὸν: i.e., the dog (Cerberus).
625 ἀνένεικα: 1st sing. aor. > ἀναφέρω.
626 Ἑρμείας: = Ἑρμῆς, nom. sing.
628 εἴ … ἔλθοι: “in the hope that …,” εἴ + opt., optative of wish (Monro 312; Smyth 2354).
629 τὸ πρόσθεν: “in the past.”
630 κ᾽ … ἴδον: “I would have seen …,” κε (ἄν) + aor. indic. expressing past potential (Monro 324).
632 ἐπὶ … ἀγείρετο: “were gathered,” tmesis > ἐπαγείρω.
632 ἔθνε(α): “crowds,” the neut. pl. subj. of the sing. verb.
633 θεσπεσίῃ: probably “inhuman” rather than specifically “divine" (LSJ θεσπέσιος II).
633 ᾕρει: 3rd sing. impf. > αἰρέω.
634 μὴ … πέμψειεν: clause of fearing.
634 δεινοῖο πελώρου: in apposition to Γοργείην (“the Gorgon head, the fearsome monster’s”). A gen. such as this can stand in apposition to a possessive adjective, as here, where Γοργείην = τοῦ Γοργοῦς (Smyth 978).
637 ἀνά … πρυμνήσια λῦσαι: “to cast off the stern.”
639 τὴν: i.e., the ship.
639 φέρε: unaugmented impf.
639 κῦμα ῥόοιο: “the flow of the current.”
640 εἰρεσίη … οὖρος: in apposition to κῦμα.
vocabulary
εἰσνοέω εἰσνοήσω εἰσενόησα εἰσνενόηκα εἰσνενόημαι εἰσενοήθην: to perceive, remark
βίη –ης dat. βίηφι ἡ: violence, force
Ἡράκλειος [–α] –ον: of Hercules
εἴδωλον –ου τό: an image, a phantom
ἀθάνατος –ον: immortal, deathless; (plur.) the gods
τέρπω τέρψω ἔτερψα ––– ––– ἐτάρφθην/ἐτέρφθην: to delight; (mid./pass.) to have one's full of
θαλία –ας ἡ: abundance, plenty, good cheer
καλλίσφυρος –ον: beautiful-ankled
Ἥβη –ης ἡ: Hebe, daughter of Zeus and Hera, spouse of Heracles
Ζεύς Διός ὁ: Zeus
Ἥρα –ας (Ion. Ἥρη) ἡ: Hera
χρυσοπέδιλος –ον: gold-sandalled
μιν: (accusative singular third person pronoun) him, her, it; himself, herself, itself 605
κλαγγή –ῆς ἡ: any sharp sound
νέκυς –υος τό: dead body, corpse
οἰωνός –οῦ ὁ: a large bird, bird of prey
πάντοσε: every way, in all directions
ἀτύζω – – – – –: to be scared, panic-stricken; to flee in a panic
ἐρεμνός –ή –όν: black, dark
γυμνός –ή –όν: naked, unarmed, unsheathed
τόξον –ου τό: bow
νευρά –ᾶς ἡ: a sinew, bow string
ὀϊστός –οῦ ὁ: an arrow
παπταίνω παπτανῶ ἐπάπτηνα ––– ––– –––: to look earnestly, gaze
σμερδαλέος –α –ον: dreadful
ἕ: him, her, it; himself, herself, itself
στῆθος –ους τό: breast, chest; (pl.) heart, spirit
ἀορτήρ –ῆρος ὁ: a strap, belt
χρύσεος –η –ον: golden, gold-inlaid 610
τελαμών –ῶνος ὁ: a sword-belt, shield-strap
θέσκελος –ον: marvellous, wondrous
τεύχω τεύξω ἔτευξα τέτευχα τέτυγμαι ἐτύχθην: to make, build, prepare, fasten; to bring about
ἄρκτος –ου ἡ: a bear
ἀγρότερος –α –ον: wild
ὗς (or σῦς) ὑός (or συός) ὁ/ἡ: swine, hog; (f.) sow
χαροπός –ή –όν: glad-eyed, bright-eyed
λέων λέοντος ὁ: lion
ὑσμίνη –ης ἡ: a fight, battle, combat
φόνος –ου ὁ: murder, slaughter, corpse
ἀνδροκτασία –ας ἡ: slaughter of men
τεχνάομαι τεχνήσομαι ἐτεχνησάμην ––– τετέχνημαι ἐτεχνήθην: to make by art, to execute skilfully
τεχνάομαι τεχνήσομαι ἐτεχνησάμην ––– τετέχνημαι ἐτεχνήθην: to make by art, to execute skilfully
τελαμών –ῶνος ὁ: a sword-belt, shield-strap
ἑός ἑή ἑόν: his, her, own
ἐγκατατίθεμαι ἐγκαταθήσω ἐγκατέθηκα ἐγκατατέθεικα/ἐγκατατέθηκα ἐγκατατέθειμαι/ἐγκατάκειμαι ἐγκατετέθην: to design, invent
αὖτε: in turn, moreover, still, again, on the other hand 615
ὀλοφύρομαι ὀλοφυροῦμαι ὠλοφυράμην – – ὠλοφύρθην: to lament, wail; pity
πτερόεις πτερόεσσα πτερόεν: winged
προσαυδάω προσαυδήσω προσηύδησα προσηύδηκα προσηύδημαι προσηυδήθην: to speak to, 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
ἆ: ah!
δειλός –ή –όν: wretched, unfortunate, miserable; base, cowardly, vile
μόρος –ου ὁ: fate, destiny, death
ἡγηλάζω/ἡγέομαι ἡγήσομαι ἡγησάμην – ἥγημαι ἡγήθην: to lead, endure
ὀχέω ὀχήσω ὤκχησα ὠχήθην: to uphold, sustain, endure
αὐγή –ῆς ἡ: the light of the sun, sunlight
Ζεύς Διός ὁ: Zeus 620
Κρονίων –ωνος ὁ: son of Cronus
ἀτάρ (or αὐτάρ): but, yet
ὀϊζύς: sorrow, grief, distress, hardship
ἀπειρέσιος –ον: boundless, immense, countless
χείρων –ον: worse, meaner, inferior
φώς φωτός ὁ: man
δαμάζω δαμάσω ἐδάμασα δεδάμακα δεδάμασμαι/δέδμημα ἐδαμάσθην/ἐδμήθην: to overpower, tame, conquer, subdue
ἐπιτέλλω ἐπέτειλα: to enjoin, lay command or order upon, charge, impose
ἆθλος –ου ὁ: contest, test of strength, task
ἐνθάδε: to here, to there
κύων κυνός ὁ/ἡ: dog
κρατερός –ά –όν: strong, powerful, mighty
ἆθλος –ου ὁ: contest, test of strength, task
ἀναφέρω ἀνοἴσω ἀνήνεγκα ἀνενήνοχα ἀνενήνεγμαι ἀνηνέχθην: to bring up, bring back, uphold 625
ᾍδης –ου ὁ: Hades
Ἑρμῆς (or Ἑρμείας) –οῦ ὁ: Hermes, herm
ἰδέ: and
γλαυκῶπις –ιδος: gleaming - eyed
Ἀθήνη –ης ἡ: Athena
αὖθις: again, in turn
δόμος –ου ὁ: house, home
Ἀΐδης –ου ὁ: Hades
εἴσω (or ἔσω): in, into, inside
ἀτάρ (or αὐτάρ): but, yet
αὐτοῦ: at the very place, here, there
ἔμπεδος –ον: firm-set, steadfast, constant, unchanged; (in neuter as adverb) firmly, steadily
ἥρως ἥρωος ὁ: hero, warrior
πρόσθεν: before, in front of
ὄλλυμι ὀλῶ ὤλεσα (or ὠλόμην) ὀλώλεκα (or ὄλωλα) ––– –––: to demolish, kill; to lose, suffer the loss of (+ acc.); (mid.) to die, perish, be killed 630
Θησεύς –έως ὁ: Theseus, Theseus, national hero of Athens and Attica
Πειρίθοος –ου ὁ: Pirithous, son of Ixīon (or Zeus) and Dia, king of the Lapithae, a friend of Theseus
ἐρικυδής –ές: very famous, glorious, splendid
ἀγείρω ἀγερῶ ἤγειρα ἀγήγερμαι ἠγέρθην: gather, collect
μυρίος –α –ον: numberless, infinite
νεκρός –οῦ ὁ: corpse
ἠχή –ῆς ἡ: a sound
θεσπέσιος [–α] –ον: divine; prodigious, extraordinary, supernatural; deafening
χλωρός –ά –όν: greenish-yellow; pale
δέος –ους τό: fear
Γόργειος –α –ον: of the Gorgon
πέλωρον –ου τό: a monster, prodigy
Ἀΐδης –ου ὁ: Hades 635
ἀγαυός –ή –όν: illustrious, noble
Περσεφόνη –ης ἡ: Persephone, Proserpine
κίω – – – – –: go, go away
ἑταῖρος –ου ὁ: comrade, companion
ἀναβαίνω ἀναβήσομαι ἀνέβην ἀναβέβηκα ––– –––: to board, go up
πρυμνήσια –ων τά: mooring cables (of a ship)
αἶψα: rapidly, speedily, suddenly
εἰσβαίνω (Ion. ἐσβαίνω) εἰσβήσομαι εἰσέβην εἰσβέβηκα ––– –––: to go into
κληΐς κληῖδος ἡ: bolt; (pl.) oarlocks
καθίζω (Ion. κατίζω) καθιῶ (Ion. κατίσω) καθῖσα/ἐκάθισα (or κατῖσα) κεκάθικα: to sit down; to set, place
Ὠκεανός –οῦ ὁ: Oceanus
κῦμα –ατος τό: wave
ῥόος –ου ὁ: a stream, flow, current
εἰρεσίη –ης ἡ: rowing 640
μετέπειτα: afterwards, thereafter
κάλλιμος –ον: beautiful
οὖρος –ου ὁ: a fair wind