"ἔνθ᾽ ἦ τοι Μίνωα ἴδον, Διὸς ἀγλαὸν υἱόν,

χρύσεον σκῆπτρον ἔχοντα, θεμιστεύοντα νέκυσσιν,

ἥμενον, οἱ δέ μιν ἀμφὶ δίκας εἴροντο ἄνακτα,570

ἥμενοι ἑσταότες τε κατ᾽ εὐρυπυλὲς Ἄϊδος δῶ.

τὸν δὲ μετ᾽ Ὠρίωνα πελώριον εἰσενόησα

θῆρας ὁμοῦ εἰλεῦντα κατ᾽ ἀσφοδελὸν λειμῶνα,

τοὺς αὐτὸς κατέπεφνεν ἐν οἰοπόλοισιν ὄρεσσι

χερσὶν ἔχων ῥόπαλον παγχάλκεον, αἰὲν ἀαγές.575

καὶ Τιτυὸν εἶδον, Γαίης ἐρικυδέος υἱόν,

κείμενον ἐν δαπέδῳ· ὁ δ᾽ ἐπ᾽ ἐννέα κεῖτο πέλεθρα,

γῦπε δέ μιν ἑκάτερθε παρημένω ἧπαρ ἔκειρον,

δέρτρον ἔσω δύνοντες, ὁ δ᾽ οὐκ ἀπαμύνετο χερσί·

Λητὼ γὰρ ἕλκησε, Διὸς κυδρὴν παράκοιτιν,580

Πυθώδ᾽ ἐρχομένην διὰ καλλιχόρου Πανοπῆος.

καὶ μὴν Τάνταλον εἰσεῖδον κρατέρ᾽ ἄλγε᾽ ἔχοντα

ἑστεῶτ᾽ ἐν λίμνῃ: ἡ δὲ προσέπλαζε γενείῳ·

στεῦτο δὲ διψάων, πιέειν δ᾽ οὐκ εἶχεν ἑλέσθαι·

ὁσσάκι γὰρ κύψει᾽ ὁ γέρων πιέειν μενεαίνων,585

τοσσάχ᾽ ὕδωρ ἀπολέσκετ᾽ ἀναβροχέν, ἀμφὶ δὲ ποσσὶ

γαῖα μέλαινα φάνεσκε, καταζήνασκε δὲ δαίμων.

δένδρεα δ᾽ ὑψιπέτηλα κατὰ κρῆθεν χέε καρπόν,

ὄγχναι καὶ ῥοιαὶ καὶ μηλέαι ἀγλαόκαρποι

συκέαι τε γλυκεραὶ καὶ ἐλαῖαι τηλεθόωσαι·590

τῶν ὁπότ᾽ ἰθύσει᾽ ὁ γέρων ἐπὶ χερσὶ μάσασθαι,

τὰς δ᾽ ἄνεμος ῥίπτασκε ποτὶ νέφεα σκιόεντα.

καὶ μὴν Σίσυφον εἰσεῖδον κρατέρ᾽ ἄλγε᾽ ἔχοντα

λᾶαν βαστάζοντα πελώριον ἀμφοτέρῃσιν.

ἦ τοι ὁ μὲν σκηριπτόμενος χερσίν τε ποσίν τε595

λᾶαν ἄνω ὤθεσκε ποτὶ λόφον: ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε μέλλοι

ἄκρον ὑπερβαλέειν, τότ᾽ ἀποστρέψασκε κραταιίς·

αὖτις ἔπειτα πέδονδε κυλίνδετο λᾶας ἀναιδής.

αὐτὰρ ὅ γ᾽ ἂψ ὤσασκε τιταινόμενος, κατὰ δ᾽ ἱδρὼς

ἔρρεεν ἐκ μελέων, κονίη δ᾽ ἐκ κρατὸς ὀρώρει.600

    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,” pf. ptc. > ἔοικα; takes a dative.

    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,” singular verb with neuter plural subject 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,” voc.

    619  ὅν περ: “the very one which…,” “just as …”

    619  ὀχέεσκον: “used to…,” unaugmented iterative impf. > ὀχέω.

    620  ἦα: 1st sing. impf. > εἰμί.

    622  δεδμήμην: “had been brought into subjection to,” 1st sing. plupf. pass. > δαμάζω, with dative.

    622  ἐπετέλλετ(ο): “imposed (acc.) upon (dat.).”

    623  ἐνθάδ(ε): i.e., to the underworld.

    623  ἀξοντ(α): fut. ptc. > ἄγω, expressing purpose (Monro 244).

    623  ἄλλον: with τί and ἄεθλον (“any other labor”). The accusatives, with the infinitive εἶναι in 624, are in indirect discourse introduced by φράζετο.

    624  φράζετο: “he thought.”

    624  τοῦδέ: genitive 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 neuter plural subject of the singular 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 genitive 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.

    τοι: let me tell you, surely

    Μίνως –ω ὁ: Minos

    Ζεύς Διός ὁ: Zeus

    ἀγλαός –ή –όν: splendid, shining, bright

    χρύσεος –η –ον: golden, gold-inlaid

    σκῆπτρον –ου τό: a staff

    θεμιστεύω θεμιστεύσω ἐθεμίστευσα: to render justice; to govern, command (+ gen.)

    νέκυς –υος τό: dead body, corpse

    ἧμαι (or κάθημαι) ––– ––– ––– ––– –––: sit 570

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

    ἄναξ –ακτος ὁ: ruler, lord

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

    εὐρυπυλής –ές: with broad gates

    Ἀΐδης –ου ὁ: Hades

    δῶμα –ατος τό: house (often in plural)

    Ὠρίων –ωνος ὁ: Orīon, the mighty hunter, beloved of Eos

    πελώριος –ον: gigantic, colossal, prodigious, monstrous

    εἰσνοέω εἰσνοήσω εἰσενόησα εἰσνενόηκα εἰσνενόημαι εἰσενοήθην: to perceive, remark

    θήρ θηρός ὁ: wild animal

    ὁμοῦ: together, at the same place or time

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

    ἀσφόδελος –η –ον: asphodel, filled with asphodels

    λειμών –ῶνος ὁ: grassland, meadow, field

    καταφένω ––– κατέπεφνον: to kill, slay

    οἰοπόλος –ον: traversed by sheep

    ῥόπαλον –ου τό: a club, cudgel 575

    παγχάλκεος –ον: all-brazen, all-brass

    ἀαγής –ές: unbroken, not to be broken, hard, strong

    Τιτυός –οῦ ὁ: Tityus, a giant, the son of Gaea, punished in Hades

    Γαίη –ης ἡ: Gaia

    ἐρικυδής –ές: very famous, glorious, splendid

    δάπεδον –ου τό: surface, pavement, floor

    πλέθριον or πέλεθρον –ου τό: wrestling-ground

    γύψ γυπός ὁ: a vulture

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

    ἑκάτερθε: on each side, on either hand

    πάρημαι (properly perf. pass. of παρίζω): to be seated beside

    ἧπαρ –ατος τό: the liver

    κείρω κερῶ ἔκειρα κέκαρκα κέκαρμαι ἐκέρθην: to cut

    δέρτρον –ου τό: intestines, bowels

    εἴσω (or ἔσω): in, into, inside

    δὐω δύσω έδυσα/ἔδυν δέδυκα δέδυμαι εδύθην: plunge in, go into, sink

    ἀπαμύνω ἀπαμυνῶ ἀπήμυνα: to keep off, ward off

    Λητώ –οῦς ἡ: Leto (Latona), mother of Apollo and Artemis 580

    ἑλκέω ἑλκήσω ἥλκωσα: to carry off, abduct

    κυδρός –ά –όν: glorious, illustrious, noble

    παράκοιτις –ιος ἡ: a wife, spouse

    Πυθώδε: to Pytho

    καλλίχορος –ον: with beautiful places

    Πανοπεύς –έως ὁ: Panopeus, a city in Phocis

    μήν: verily, truly, then

    Τάνταλος –ου ὁ: Tantalus, son of Zeus, and father of Pelops, a king of Sipylus, who revealed the secrets of the gods, and was punished in Hades

    εἰσοράω εἰσόψομαι εἰσεῖδον εἰσεόρακα/εἰσεώρακα/εἰσόπωπα εἰσεόραμαι/εἰσεώραμαι/εἰσῶμμαι εἰσώφθην: to look into, look upon, view, behold

    κρατερός –ά –όν: strong, powerful, mighty

    ἄλγος –ους τό: pain

    λίμνη (λίμνα) –ης ἡ: pool, swamp

    προσπλάζω – – – – –: to come near, approach

    γένειον –ου τό: chin

    στεῦμαι – – – – –: to press forward

    διψάω διψήσω ἐδίψησα δεδίψηκα: to be thirsty

    ὁσάκις: as many times as, as often as 585

    κύπτω κύψω ἔκυψα κέκυφα: to bend forward, stoop down

    γέρων –οντος ὁ: old man

    μενεαίνω – – – – –: to desire earnestly

    τοσάκις: so many times, so often

    ἀναβρόχω ἀναβρόξω ἀνέβροξα: to gulp back

    γαίη –ης ἡ: land, region, district

    μέλας μέλαινα μέλαν: black, dark, obscure

    καταζαίνω καταζανῶ κατήζηνα: to dry up

    δένδρον –ου τό: tree

    ὑψιπέτηλος –ον: with high foliage, towering

    κράς –ατός τό: head, top, highest point

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

    καρπός –οῦ ὁ: fruit (of the earth), produce

    ὄγχνη –ης ἡ: a pear-tree

    ῥοιά –ᾶς ἡ: pomegranate; pomegranate tree (see ῥόα)

    μηλέα –ας ἡ: an apple-tree

    ἀγλαόκαρπος –ον: bearing beautiful

    συκῆ –ῆς ἡ: fig tree 590

    γλυκύς γλυκεῖα γλυκύ: sweet, pleasant

    ἐλαία –ας ἡ: the olive-tree

    τηλεθάω – – – – –: (in the pres. partic.) blooming, flourishing

    ὁπότε: when

    ἰθύω ἰθύσω ἴθυσα: to reach, go straight, press right on

    γέρων –οντος ὁ: old man

    μάσσω μάξω ἔμαξα μέμαχα μέμαγμαι ἐμάχθην: to handle, touch

    ἄνεμος –ου ὁ: wind

    ῥίπτω ῥίζψω ἔρριψα ἔρριμμαι ἐρρίφθην: to throw, cast, hurl

    νέφος –ους τό: a cloud

    σκιόεις –εσσα –εν: shady, shadowy

    μήν: verily, truly, then

    Σίσυφος –ου ὁ: Sisyphus, son of Aeolus, father of Glaucus, and founder of Ephyra (Corinth), renowned for craft and wiles

    εἰσοράω εἰσόψομαι εἰσεῖδον εἰσεόρακα/εἰσεώρακα/εἰσόπωπα εἰσεόραμαι/εἰσεώραμαι/εἰσῶμμαι εἰσώφθην: to look into, look upon, view, behold

    κρατερός –ά –όν: strong, powerful, mighty

    ἄλγος –ους τό: pain

    λᾶας –ου ὁ: stone

    βαστάζω βαστάσω ἐβάστασα ––– ––– –––: to lift, lift up, raise

    πελώριος –ον: gigantic, colossal, prodigious, monstrous

    τοι: let me tell you, surely 595

    σκηρίπτομαι – – – – –: to support oneself

    ἀνύω or ἄνω ἀνύσω ἤνυσα ἤνυκα ἤνυσμαι ἠνύσθην: to accomplish, finish

    ὠθέω ὤσω ἔωσα (or ὦσα) ἔωκα ἔωσμαι ἐώσθην: to thrust, push, shove, force onwards

    λόφος –ου ὁ: crest, summit

    ἄκρον –ου τό: summit, peak, point

    ὑπερβάλλω ὑπερβαλῶ ὑπειρέβαλον ὑπερβέβληκα ὑπερβέβλημαι ὑπερεβλήθην: to push over

    ἀποστρέφω ἀποστρέψομαι ἀπεστρέψα ἀπέστροφα ἀπέστραμμαι ἀπεστράφην: to turn back, roll back

    κραταιίς –ίδος ἡ: mighty force

    αὖθις: again, in turn

    πέδονδε: to the ground, earthwards

    κυλίνδω ἐκύλισα κεκύλισμαι ἐκυλίσθην: to roll, roll along; to wallow

    ἀναιδής –ές: shameless

    ἀτάρ (or αὐτάρ): but, yet

    ἄψ: back

    ὠθέω ὤσω ἔωσα (or ὦσα) ἔωκα ἔωσμαι ἐώσθην: to thrust, push, shove, force onwards

    τιταίνω – – – – –: to stretch; to set out

    ἱδρώς –ῶτος ὁ/ἡ: sweat

    ῥέω ῥυήσομαι ––– ἐρρύηκα ––– ἐρρύην: to flow, run, stream 600

    μέλος –ους τό: a limb

    κονία –ας ἡ: dust, a cloud of dust

    κράς –ατός τό: head, top, highest point

    ὄρνυμι ὄρσω ὦρσα ὄρωρα ὀρώρεμαι –––: to stir up, move; (mid.) to rise, get up

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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-567-600