"ὣς φάτ᾽, ἐγὼ δ᾽ ἀναχασσάμενος ξίφος ἀργυρόηλον

κουλεῷ ἐγκατέπηξ᾽. ὁ δ᾽ ἐπεὶ πίεν αἷμα κελαινόν,

καὶ τότε δή μ᾽ ἐπέεσσι προσηύδα μάντις ἀμύμων·

‘νόστον δίζηαι μελιηδέα, φαίδιμ᾽ Ὀδυσσεῦ·100

τὸν δέ τοι ἀργαλέον θήσει θεός· οὐ γὰρ ὀίω

λήσειν ἐννοσίγαιον, ὅ τοι κότον ἔνθετο θυμῷ

χωόμενος ὅτι οἱ υἱὸν φίλον ἐξαλάωσας.

ἀλλ᾽ ἔτι μέν κε καὶ ὣς κακά περ πάσχοντες ἵκοισθε,

αἴ κ᾽ ἐθέλῃς σὸν θυμὸν ἐρυκακέειν καὶ ἑταίρων,105

ὁππότε κε πρῶτον πελάσῃς ἐυεργέα νῆα

Θρινακίῃ νήσῳ, προφυγὼν ἰοειδέα πόντον,

βοσκομένας δ᾽ εὕρητε βόας καὶ ἴφια μῆλα

Ἠελίου, ὃς πάντ᾽ ἐφορᾷ καὶ πάντ᾽ ἐπακούει.

τὰς εἰ μέν κ᾽ ἀσινέας ἐάᾳς νόστου τε μέδηαι,110

καί κεν ἔτ᾽ εἰς Ἰθάκην κακά περ πάσχοντες ἵκοισθε·

εἰ δέ κε σίνηαι, τότε τοι τεκμαίρομ᾽ ὄλεθρον,

νηί τε καὶ ἑτάροις. αὐτὸς δ᾽ εἴ πέρ κεν ἀλύξῃς,

ὀψὲ κακῶς νεῖαι, ὀλέσας ἄπο πάντας ἑταίρους,

νηὸς ἐπ᾽ ἀλλοτρίης· δήεις δ᾽ ἐν πήματα οἴκῳ,115

ἄνδρας ὑπερφιάλους, οἵ τοι βίοτον κατέδουσι

μνώμενοι ἀντιθέην ἄλοχον καὶ ἕδνα διδόντες.

ἀλλ᾽ ἦ τοι κείνων γε βίας ἀποτίσεαι ἐλθών·

αὐτὰρ ἐπὴν μνηστῆρας ἐνὶ μεγάροισι τεοῖσι

κτείνῃς ἠὲ δόλῳ ἢ ἀμφαδὸν ὀξέι χαλκῷ,120

ἔρχεσθαι δὴ ἔπειτα λαβὼν ἐυῆρες ἐρετμόν,

εἰς ὅ κε τοὺς ἀφίκηαι οἳ οὐκ ἴσασι θάλασσαν

ἀνέρες, οὐδέ θ᾽ ἅλεσσι μεμιγμένον εἶδαρ ἔδουσιν·

οὐδ᾽ ἄρα τοί γ᾽ ἴσασι νέας φοινικοπαρῄους

οὐδ᾽ ἐυήρε᾽ ἐρετμά, τά τε πτερὰ νηυσὶ πέλονται.125

σῆμα δέ τοι ἐρέω μάλ᾽ ἀριφραδές, οὐδέ σε λήσει·

ὁππότε κεν δή τοι συμβλήμενος ἄλλος ὁδίτης

φήῃ ἀθηρηλοιγὸν ἔχειν ἀνὰ φαιδίμῳ ὤμῳ,

καὶ τότε δὴ γαίῃ πήξας ἐυῆρες ἐρετμόν,

ῥέξας ἱερὰ καλὰ Ποσειδάωνι ἄνακτι,130

ἀρνειὸν ταῦρόν τε συῶν τ᾽ ἐπιβήτορα κάπρον,

οἴκαδ᾽ ἀποστείχειν ἔρδειν θ᾽ ἱερὰς ἑκατόμβας

ἀθανάτοισι θεοῖσι, τοὶ οὐρανὸν εὐρὺν ἔχουσι,

πᾶσι μάλ᾽ ἑξείης. θάνατος δέ τοι ἐξ ἁλὸς αὐτῷ

ἀβληχρὸς μάλα τοῖος ἐλεύσεται, ὅς κέ σε πέφνῃ135

γήρᾳ ὕπο λιπαρῷ ἀρημένον· ἀμφὶ δὲ λαοὶ

ὄλβιοι ἔσσονται. τὰ δέ τοι νημερτέα εἴρω.’

    Teiresias tells Odysseus about his future.

    Teiresias drinks the blood and gets right down to business. Poseidon hates Odysseus for blinding his son Polyphemus, so reaching home will be challenging no matter what. But he and his remaining crew have a chance to get safely back to Ithaka, if and only if they “control [their] desires” (105) and refrain from slaughtering the cattle sacred to Helios, who “sees all and hears all” (119), on the island of Thrinakia. If they do not, they and their ship will all be destroyed. If somehow Odysseus escapes alone, he will make it back much later in a stranger’s ship and will find there the arrogant suitors eating up his food and wooing his wife. He will, however, succeed in killing them all by force or trickery. Poseidon’s animus and the cattle of the sun are not news to us. Both appear in the first seventy lines of the poem (1.6–9, 68–79). The suitors’ fatal lack of self-control on Thrinakia is the only part of the adventures included in the poem’s introductory proem (1.1–11). Though Zeus declares in Book 5 that Athena has already arranged Odysseus’s triumph over the suitors (5.22–27), Teiresias now confirms it. We arrive next at the heart of the encounter, as the prophet reveals to Odysseus how and when he will die.

    read full essay

    The hero’s trip to the underworld (katabasis) appears in various forms from stories all over the world. The particulars of each version may vary, but some elements persist. Because the hero is able to look death in the face and return to the world of the living, he is marked as extraordinary by any measure. The knowledge he gains is rare and precious, both universal and often deeply personal to him. After his friend Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh travels across the Waters of Death to the Land of Dilmun to consult Utnapishtim about how he can escape death. The sage, himself the only mortal to have escaped death, tells him bluntly that there is no escape for anyone else: All mortals must die. After failing several tests set by Utnapishtim to illustrate this fundamental truth, Gilgamesh returns to his kingdom, resigned to accept that he is defined as human by the inevitability of death (Epic of Gilgamesh X–XI). Achilles too must learn to accept that he is mortal, despite his divine mother Thetis’s fervent desire to exempt him from his fate. His katabasis is entirely internal, into a private hell created by his own arrogance. He can only reemerge and achieve some measure of peace when he accepts the death of his friend Patroclus and by implication his own mortality by releasing the corpse of Hector to Priam at the end of the poem (Iliad, Books 19–24). Virgil’s Aeneas travels to the underworld to consult his father Anchises about how to complete his mission and found a new home for himself and the Trojans exiled from their home by the Greeks. Anchises shows him the future, the part he will play in the eventual founding of Rome. The deep truth Aeneas learns about himself is that he will be one of the countless number of people whose lives and personal happiness will be sacrificed to make way for the founding of the Roman Empire (Aen. 6.679–892).

    What Odysseus learns from Teiresias seems to fit the traditional pattern. Knowing when and how you will die is knowledge denied to ordinary mortals. The journey that will precede his death maps other aspects of his character. Traveling inland until he meets people who have no knowledge of the sea, then planting his oar and sacrificing to Poseidon signals a final settling up with the sea god and his domain. Like the one that Odysseus will plant on the funeral mound of Elpenor (12.8–15), this oar marks a burial, in this case of the part of him that needs to wander. When he can let go of the sea, the external site for his restless wanderings, he can quiet the centrifugal part of himself and finally find peace at home among those who love him.

    The symbolism of the sea in this prophecy offers us a rare glimpse inside the character of Odysseus. His heroic reputation, with all the imperatives that accompany it, is defined in the poem by his assuming various predetermined roles, king, husband, father, son. The rhetoric of the return story, which Athena seems to have arranged beforehand (5.21–27; 24.478–80, see Introduction, para. 2), demands that Odysseus do whatever is necessary to reassume these roles, which he relinquished when he left for Troy. By doing so, he will return the kingdom in Ithaka to its proper order and, by implication, become the person he once was and is destined to be. The internal workings of his psyche, our modern gauge for measuring character, are hidden behind the requirements of these roles. Because he must always be on guard against threats to his return, he maintains a distance from others, closed off.

    But the Odyssey, like all the works that have endured in our imagination, finds a way to expand our understanding of its dominant perspective. The wider world beyond Athena’s closed vision of the heroic kingdom in Ithaka finds expression in the people and places that Odysseus encounters while an anonymous stranger. These two perspectives exist side-by-side during Odysseus’s stay with his faithful swineherd Eumeaus in Books 14–16, before entering the palace to deal with the suitors (see Introduction, para. 23–25). Athena has transformed Odysseus into a wrinkled old beggar, so Eumaeus does not recognize his master. We see the encounter that follows with a kind of double vision. As the two men share their experiences, we learn that Eumaeus reveres Odysseus, but is pessimistic about him being able to return alive to Ithaka. When that happy event occurs, we can be sure that the relationship between Eumaeus and Odysseus will be one of servant and master, with all the distance those roles imply. At the same time, as the beggar and the swineherd exchange stories—in the former case fictional, but often very close to what we know of Odysseus—a warm bond forms, unencumbered by considerations of class, just two old guys who live on the periphery of power sharing their lives. Though the nature of the Odyssey as a comic narrative requires a hero who is closed off from others, the structure of the story offers us a peek into parts of Odysseus that the role of hero demands be kept hidden in order to ensure his survival.

     

    Further Reading

    Dimock, G. 1989. The Unity of the Odyssey, 144–148. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.

    Heubeck, A. and Hoekstra, A. ed. 1989. A Commentary on Homer’s Odyssey, vol. II, Books IX–XVI, 84–86. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Tracy, S. 1990. The Story of the Odyssey, 68–70. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Van Nortwick, T. 1992. Somewhere I Have Never Travelled: The Second Self and the Hero’s Journey in Ancient Epic, 28–32. New York: Oxford University Press.

     

    98  κουλεῷ: dat., with compound verb, as if preceded by ἐν, implied by the prefix of the verb έγκατέπηξα ( > ἐγκαταπήγνυμι).

    100  δίζηαι: 2nd sing. pres. dep. > δίζημαι.

    101  τὸν: “it” (i.e., νόστον).

    101  τοι: “for you”; dative of interest.

    101  θήσει: “will make (acc.) (acc.),” fut. > τίθημι.

    101  οὐ…ὀΐω: “I don’t suppose…,” 1st pres. act. > οἴομαι, introducing indirect discourse.

    102  λήσειν ἐννοσίγαιον: "...that you will escape the notice of the Earthshaker..." indirect discourse after ὀΐω, with an implied σε as the accusative in the accusative and infinitive construction. 

    102  λήσειν: fut. infin. > λανθάνω.

    102  ὅ: “who,” rel. pron., referring to ἐννοσίγαιον (i.e., Poseidon).

    102  τοι: “against you,” dative of disadvantage (Smyth 1481).

    102  ἔνθετο: 3rd sing. aor. mid. > ἐντίθημι.

    102  θυμῷ, locative dat. (dative of place where).

    103  οἱ: “his”; dative of possession.

    103  υἱὸν: Polyphemus, the Cyclops.

    104  ἀλλ᾽ ἔτι…καὶ ὣς: “but still … even so.”

    104  κε … ἵκοισθε, ἄι κ᾽ ἐθέλῃς: “You would arrive…, if you are willing….” Mixed conditional: the protasis of a future more vivid (αἴ κε [ = ἐάν] + subj.) and the apodosis of a future less vivid (κε [ = ἄν] + opt.).

    105  καὶ ἑταίρων: “and those (i.e., the θυμοί) of your companions.” ἑταίρων is a possessive genitive modifying θυμόν.

    106  ὁππότε κε…: “whenever…”; a general temporal clause.

    106  πελάζῃς: “bring (acc.) near to (dat.)”; subjunctive in the general temporal clause.

    108  εὕρητε: 2nd pl. aor. subj. > εὑρίσκω, in a general temporal clause. A shift from the 2nd singular of πελάζῃς (the subject is Odysseus) to the 2nd plural (the subject is Odysseus and his companions).

    109  ἐφορᾷ: 3rd sing. > ἐφοράω.

    110  τὰς: “them” (i.e., the cattle).

    110  εἰ … ἐάᾳς … τε μέδηαι, … κεν … ἵκοισθε: the same construction as the mixed conditional in lines 104–5.

    110  ἐάᾳς: pres. subj. > ἐάω.

    110  μέδηαι: 2nd sing. pres. act. subj. > μέδομαι, “be mindful of,” + gen.

    112  εἰ δε κε σίνηαι, … τεκμαίρομ(αι): present general conditional. Understand βόας (the cattle of the Sun) as the object of σίνηαι.

    112  τοι: dative of disadvantage (Smyth 1481).

    113  νηΐ τε καὶ ἑτάροις: dative of disadvantage (Smyth 1481).

    113  δ᾽ εἴ πέρ κεν ἀλύξῃς, … νεῖαι: “but even if…”; εἰ κεν (ἐάν) introduces the protasis of a future more vivid conditional.

    113  ἀλύξῃς: aor. subj. > ἀλύσκω.

    114  νεῖαι: 2nd sing. fut. dep. > νέομαι.

    114  ὀλέσας ἄπο: tmesis and anastrophe; aor. ptc. > ἀπόλλυμι.

    115  δήεις: “you will find,” 2nd sing. pres. > δήω, with a future sense.

    115  ἐν: with οἴκῳ.

    116  τοι: “your,” dative of possession.

    118  ἦ τοι: “in fact.” τοι, here, is the particle.

    118  (ἐ)κείνων γε βίας: “their acts of violence.” γε provides emphasis.

    118  ἀποτίσεαι: “you will exact the price for” (+ acc.). 2nd pl. fut. mid. > ἀποτίνω.

    119  ἐπὴν…κτείνῃς: ἐπεὶ ἄν + subj., future temporal clause (Smyth 2401).

    121  ἔρχεσθαι: infin. used as an imperat. (Monro 241).

    122  εἰς ὅ κε: “until” (Smyth 2383C), introducing a temporal clause with the subjunctive (ἀφίκηαι).

    122  τοὺς … ἀνέρες: the object of the verb ἀφίκηαι and antecedent of the relative pronoun οἵ.

    122  ἀφίκηαι: “come to.” 2nd sing. aor. subj., in a temporal clause.

    123  ἅλεσσι: “with salt,” > ἅλς.

    123  μεμιγμένον: pf. ptc. > μίγνυμι.

    124  τοὶ: “they.”

    125  τά: neut. pl. rel. pron.

    125  πέλονται: “are,” with a predicate nominative.

    126  ἔρεω: = ἐρῶ.

    126  λήσει: fut. > λανθάνω. The subject is σῆμα.

    127  ὁππότε κεν …: “whenever …,” general temporal clause with subjunctive (φήῃ: 3rd sing. aor.).

    127  τοι ξυμβλήμενος: “encountering you.” aor. mid. ptc. > συμβάλλω, and dative with compound verb (Smyth 1545).

    128  ἔχειν: infinitive in indirect disourse introduced by φήῃ. Understand σε as the accusative in the accusative and infinitive construction.

    129  γαίῃ: dative of place (Monro 145; Smyth 1531).

    129  πήξας: nom. sing. aor. act. ptc. > πήγνυμι.

    130  ῥέξας: nom. sing. aor. act. ptc. > ῥέζω.

    131  συῶν τ᾽ ἐπιβήτορα: "mounter of sows," "who mates with sows," gen. pl. > σῦς.

    132  ἀποστείχειν ἔρδειν θ᾽: infinitives used as imperatives (Monro 241).

    133  τοὶ: “who,” rel. pron.

    134  πᾶσι: modifying θεοῖσι.

    134  τοι … αὐτῷ: “to you yourself.”

    134  ἐξ ἁλὸς: “(far) from the sea.”

    135  τοῖος … ὅς κε … πέφνῃ: “of the sort that kills….” τοῖος … ὅς form a correlative pair (“such…as…”), and ὅς κε introduces as general relative clause with the subjunctive (Monro 282).

    135  πέφνῃ: aor. subj. > φένω, a defective verb.

    136  ὕπο: “under,” anastrophe.

    136  ἀμφὶ: “around (you)”

    137  ἔσσονται: 3rd pl. fut. indic. > εἰμί.

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

    ξίφος –ους τό: sword

    ἀργυρόηλος –ον: silver-studded

    κολεόν –οῦ τό: a sheath, scabbard

    ἐγκαταπήγνυμι ἐγκαταπήξω ἐγκατέπηξα ἐγκαταπέπηγα ἐγκαταπέπηγμαι ἐγκατεπάγην: to thrust firmly in

    κελαινός –ή –όν: black, dark, murky

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

    μάντις –εως ὁ: prophet

    ἀμύμων –ον: blameless, noble, excellent

    νόστος –ου ὁ: return (home) 100

    δίζημαι διζήσομαι ἐδιζησάμην: to seek out, look for

    μελιηδής –ές: honey-sweet

    φαίδιμος –ον: shining

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

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

    ἐννοσίγαιος –ου ὁ: earth-shaker (epithet of Poseidon)

    κότος –ου ὁ: a grudge, rancour, wrath

    ἐντίθημι ἐνθήσω ἐνέθηκα ἐντέθεικα/ἐντέθηκα ἐντέθειμαι/ἔγκειμαι ἐνετέθην: to put in

    χώομαι χώσομαι ἐχωσάμην – κέχωσμαι ἐχώσθην: to be angry, indignant

    ἕ: him, her, it; himself, herself, itself

    ἐξαλαόω ἐξαλαώσω ἐξηλάωσα: to blind utterly

    ἱκνέομαι ἵξομαι ἱκόμην ––– ἷγμαι –––: to come, reach

    ἐρύκω ἐρύξω ἔρυξα/ἤρυξα/ἐρύκακον/ἠρύκακον: to keep in, hold back, keep in check, curb, restrain 105

    ἑταῖρος –ου ὁ: comrade, companion

    ὁπότε: when

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

    εὐεργής –ές: well-wrought, well-made

    Θρινακίη –ης ἡ: Thrinacia, a fabulous island, the pasture of the cattle of the Sun

    προφεύγω προφευξοῦμαι/προφεύξομαι προέφυγον προπέφευγα: to flee forwards, flee away; to escape

    ἰοειδής –ές: violet-colored, purple

    πόντος –ου ὁ: sea, open sea

    βόσκω βοσκήσω ἐβόσκησα βεβόσκηκα βεβόσκημαι ἐβοσκήθην: (act.) to feed; (mid.) to feed oneself; (trans.) to feed someone

    ἴφιος –α –ον: stout, fat

    μῆλον –ου τό: sheep or goat; (plur.) flock

    ἐφοράω (or ἐπορῶ) ἐπόψομαι ἐπεῖδον ἐφεόρακα/ἐφεώρακα ἐπῶμμαι/ἐφεόραμαι/ἐφεώραμαι ἐπώφθην: to oversee, observe, survey

    ἐπακούω ἐπακούσομαι ἐπήκουσα ἐπακήκοα ––– –––: to listen, hear

    ἀσῐνής –ές: unhurt, unharmed 110

    νόστος –ου ὁ: return (home)

    μέδομαι μεδήσομαι μεδησάμην: to provide for, think on, be mindful of

    Ἰθάκη –ης ἡ: Ithaca, the home of Odysseus, an island on the West coast of Greece

    ἱκνέομαι ἵξομαι ἱκόμην ––– ἷγμαι –––: to come, reach

    σίνομαι σινήσομαι ἐσινάμην σέσιμμαι: to do harm

    τεκμαίρομαι τεκμαροῦμαι ἐτεκμηράμην: to ordain, settle upon; to foretell

    ὄλεθρος –ου ὁ: ruin, destruction, death

    ἑταῖρος –ου ὁ: comrade, companion

    ἀλύσκω ἀλύξω ἤλυξα ––– ––– –––: to flee from, shun, avoid, forsake

    ὀψέ: late; too late; at last

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

    ὄλλυμι ὀλῶ ὤλεσα (or ὠλόμην) ὀλώλεκα (or ὄλωλα) ––– –––: to demolish, kill; to lose, suffer the loss of (+ acc.); (mid.) to die, perish, be killed

    ἑταῖρος –ου ὁ: comrade, companion

    ἀλλότριος –α –ον: belonging to another 115

    δήω – – – – –: to find, meet with

    πῆμα –ατος τό: suffering, misery, calamity, woe, bane; cause of suffering

    ὑπερφίαλος –ον: mighty, very strong; arrogant, haughty

    βίοτος –ου ὁ: life, sustenance, livelihood

    κατέδω/κατεσθίω κατέδομαι κατέφαγον κατεδήδοκα κατεδήδεμαι/κατεδήδεσμαι κατηδέσθην: to eat up, devour

    μνάομαι (Ion. μνῶμαι) μέμνημαι μεμνήσομαι ἐμνήσθην: be mindful of; woo

    ἀντίθεος –η –ον: godlike

    ἄλοχος –ου ἡ: wife

    ἕδνον –ου τό: a wedding-gift

    τοι: let me tell you, surely

    βίη –ης dat. βίηφι ἡ: violence, force

    ἀποτίνω ἀποτείσω/ἀποτίσω ἀπέτεισα/ἀπέτισα ἀποτέτεικα/ἀποτέτικα ἀποτέτεισμαι/ἀποτέτισμαι ἀποετείσθην/ἀποετίσθην: to pay off, atone; (mid.) to avenge

    ἀτάρ (or αὐτάρ): but, yet

    ἐπήν = ἐπεὶ ἄν: when, after

    μνηστήρ –ῆρος ὁ: suitor

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

    τεός –ή –όν: = σός, 'your'

    κτείνω κτενῶ ἔκτεινα ἀπέκτονα ––– –––: kill 120

    δόλος –ου ὁ: scheme, plot, deception, trickery

    ἀμφαδόν: publicly, openly, without disguise

    χαλκός –οῦ ὁ: bronze, copper, weapon

    εὐήρης –ες: well-fitted

    ἐρετμόν –οῦ τό: oar

    ἅλς ἁλός ὁ: salt (m.); sea (f.)

    εἶδαρ –ατος τό: food

    ἔδω ἔδομαι ἤδα ἔδηδα ἐδήδοται ἠδέσθην: to eat

    ἄρα: now, then, next, thus

    φοινικοπάρῃος (–α) –ον: red-cheeked

    εὐήρης –ες: well-fitted 125

    ἐρετμόν –οῦ τό: oar

    πτερόν –οῦ τό: wing

    πέλω ––– ἔπλον ––– ––– –––: to be (the aor. has pres. signif.)

    σῆμα –ατος τό: a sign, mark, token

    ἐρῶ εἴρηκα ἐρρήθην: to say, tell, speak

    ἀριφραδής –ές: easy to be known, very distinct, manifest

    ὁπότε: when

    συμβάλλω συμβαλῶ συμέβαλον συμβέβληκα συμβέβλημαι συμεβλήθην: to throw together, meet, unite

    ὁδίτης –ου ὁ: a wayfarer, traveller

    ἀθηρηλοιγός –οῦ ὁ: winnowing-fan

    φαίδιμος –ον: shining

    ὦμος ὤμου ὁ: shoulder

    γαίη –ης ἡ: land, region, district

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

    εὐήρης –ες: well-fitted

    ἐρετμόν –οῦ τό: oar

    ῥέζω ῥέξω ἔρρεξα – – ἐρρέχθην: to do, accomplish; to offer (sacrifice) 130

    ἰερόν –οῦ τό: temple

    Ποσειδῶν (or Ποσειδάων) –ῶνος ὁ: Poseidon

    ἄναξ –ακτος ὁ: ruler, lord

    ἀρνειός –οῦ ὁ: ram, wether (3-year old ram)

    ταῦρος –ου ὁ: bull

    ὗς (or σῦς) ὑός (or συός) ὁ/ἡ: swine, hog; (f.) sow

    ἐπιβήτωρ –ορος ὁ: one who mounts

    κάπρος –ου ὁ: the boar, wild boar

    οἴκαδε: homeward

    ἀποστείχω ἀποστείξω ἀπέστιχον: to go, come, walk, proceed

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

    ἑκατόμβη –ης ἡ: an offering of a hundred oxen

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

    εὐρύς –εῖα –ύ: broad

    ἑξῆς: one after another, in order, in a row

    ἅλς ἁλός ὁ: salt (m.); sea (f.)

    ἀβληχρός –ά –όν: weak, feeble 135

    τοῖος –α –ον: quality, such, such-like

    φένω ––– ἔπεφνον: to strike, wound; slay

    γῆρας –ως τό: old age

    λιπαρός –ά –όν: oily, shiny with oil; pleasant

    ἀρημένος -η -ον: beaten, oppressed, prostrate, worn out

    ὅλβιος –α –ον: happy, blest, blessed

    νημερτής –ές: unerring, infallible

    εἴρω ἐρῶ εἶπον εἴρηκα εἴρημαι ἐρρήθην: to speak, tell; to command

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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-97-137