Mythology of the Iliad and the Odyssey (10 page)

Once the sailors had drained their bowls of potion, Circe drew out her witch’s wand, touched the men, and transformed all of them, except Eurylochus, into pigs. She herded them, squealing and crying, into pigpens. But they kept their human brains, so they were aware of the terrible fate which had befallen them.

Eurylochus ran back to the ship in panic to tell Odysseus what had happened to the rest of the crew. He could hardly speak, because he was so horrified by the disaster.

Odysseus grabbed his bronze sword and slung his bow and arrows over his shoulder. “Lead me back the same way you came, Eurylochus.”

“No, captain, let us escape while we can. You will never bring any of those men back alive,” Eurylochus answered.

Odysseus told Eurylochus to stay behind at the ship, and set out alone to rescue his men. On the way, he met Hermes, who gave him an herb that would protect him from Circe’s charms.

“Take this herb, Odysseus. Without it, you will be trapped here, just like the rest of your men,” warned Hermes. “My herb will protect you from Circe’s drugged wine. Then, when she brings out her wand, draw your sword and rush at her as if you are going to stab her. She will be so frightened that she will try to convince you to fall in love with her. Make her promise that she will release your crew and not do you any harm.”

Odysseus approached the palace and shouted out to Circe. At once, she opened the gleaming palace doors and welcomed him inside. She led Odysseus to an ornately carved chair and mixed her potion in a golden bowl, stirring in her poison. But because of Hermes’ magic herb, Odysseus did not fall prey to the poison.

“Who are you?” cried Circe in astonishment. “No other man has ever withstood my potion.”

“I am mighty Odysseus, one of the Achaean warriors who won the Trojan War. Now you must turn those pigs back into my men.”

When Odysseus was reunited with this crew, Circe treated them all to a sumptuous feast. She was such a wonderful hostess that they ended up staying with her for an entire year.

But finally, Odysseus’ men reminded him of their need to return home to Ithaca. Circe told Odysseus what he had to do to safely reach Ithaca. First, he had to cross the River Ocean and sail beyond the western edge of the world to visit with the prophet Tiresias in the Underworld. There, he would have to sacrifice a ram and some sheep and fill a pit with their blood to attract the ghosts in the Underworld, all of whom craved blood.

Odysseus did as Circe instructed him. When Tiresias appeared, Odysseus offered him a cup of blood. Then the prophet looked into the future and predicted what would happen next to Odysseus.

“Royal Odysseus, you seek a smooth journey home, but Poseidon, whose son you blinded, will make it hard for you,” said Tiresias. “And beware the danger awaiting you on the island where the sacred cattle of the Sun live.” These beasts were the most beautiful cattle in the world. According to Tiresias, if Odysseus’ men harmed the cattle, they would be killed, and Odysseus would not return home for many years.

Tiresias continued on in his gloomy fashion. “When you do arrive home, you will find many troublemakers residing at your palace. But you will banish them and restore order.”

After Tiresias finished speaking, many other ghosts came to drink blood and talk with Odysseus. He spoke with his mother, who had died of loneliness waiting for him to return. She told him that his wife, Penelope, still waited for him. Odysseus tried to embrace his mother. But because she was a ghost, his arms passed right through her. Heroes such as Patroclus and Achilles also approached Odysseus. But Ajax, still jealous that Odysseus had received Achilles’ armor, refused to speak a single word to Odysseus.

More and more of the dead clustered around Odysseus, wanting to speak with him. Suddenly, he was hemmed in by thousands of ghosts, raising eerie, unearthly cries. As mighty as he was, Odysseus felt terror. He fled to his ship and urged his men to cast off at once. Mighty rowing and a fair wind sped them on their way, away from the kingdom of the dead and toward Ithaca.

Q:
Where did Odysseus go after he left the Cyclopes?

A:
He stopped at the Land of the Winds. King Aeolus gave him a leather bag that contained the strongest, most dangerous winds. He warned Odysseus not to open the bag, but some of his crew did anyway. The winds were released and drove the ship to the land of the Laestrygonians.

Q:
Where did Circe live?

A:
She lived in a palace on the island of Aeaea.

Q:
What were Circe’s powers and how did Odysseus escape them?

A:
She was a witch who gave Odysseus’ men a drugged potion and turned them into pigs. Hermes gave Odysseus an herb which protected him from Circe’s powers. Odysseus drank her potion unharmed, which no man had ever done before.

Q:
Then what did Odysseus do?

A:
He forced Circe to turn his crew back into men, and they stayed there for a year.

Q:
What did Circe tell Odysseus he needed to do in order to return home?

A:
He had to go to the Underworld to meet with the prophet Tiresias.

Q:
What happened when Odysseus visited the Underworld?

A:
He sacrificed a ram and some sheep and filled a pit with their blood, because that was what the ghosts of the Underworld craved. Tiresias then appeared and told him not to eat any of the cattle on the Island of the Sun. Odysseus also visited with the ghosts of his mother and Achilles.

The tradition of xenia, hospitality shown to guests, played an important part in how Odysseus and his men were driven to the land of Circe. According to Professor Barry Powell, “Aeolus feasts Odysseus and his men and gives him a special gift in accordance with the customs of xenia—a sealed cow-hide bag that contained the dangerous winds—which he warns him not to untie under any conditions.”
⁵
The men, of course, untie the bag when Odysseus is asleep, release the winds, and drive the ships back to Aeolus. Powell noted that Aeolus offered them no further hospitality: “Observing that they must be bitterly hated by the gods to have suffered such a fate, Aeolus gruffly orders them away.”
⁶

Opening the bag of winds, according to Powell, was “another instance of the motif of the folktale prohibition.”
⁷
Writers Kevin Osborn and Dana L. Burgess agreed:

Historian Michael Grant noted that the
Odyssey
, contrary to the
Iliad
, has many links to folktales:

In this tale, Odysseus and his crew sailed back to Aeaea where Circe, the sorceress, used her magical powers to find out about three deadly dangers that lay ahead: the Sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis. First, Odysseus had to steer his ship safely by the Sirens, who lured unsuspecting sailors to their deaths. Then, he would encounter Scylla, a six-headed monster, and Charybdis, a deadly whirlpool. If he and his crew made it safely through these dangers, they would land on the Island of the Sun. Circe told Odysseus that no matter how hungry he and his men were, none of them should touch the cattle of the Sun. Anyone who touched them would never return home.

The tales of the Sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis are based on stories well-known to Homer’s listeners. The hero Jason and his crew, the Argonauts, faced these same dangers in a Greek myth that is older than the
Iliad
and the
Odyssey
.
¹
In the twelfth book of the
Odyssey,
knowledge of Jason’s voyage and his adventures is assumed.

A key theme of this tale is that of a fantastic journey. It retells many fantastic and amazing adventures that Odysseus faced. The stories of Circe and the Cyclops are other stories with this theme.

The nymph, Calypso, who appears in this myth, represents other divine and mortal women who fell in love with Odysseus. Most of them, including Calypso, tried to entrap him, often by trickery. Faced with the temptations these women presented, such as beauty and luxurious living, the mighty hero ultimately resisted the love of all the women other than his wife.

The love of Odysseus for his wife and son plays an important part in this tale. Although at first he enjoyed the relaxing life on Calypso’s island, especially after ten years of war, Odysseus longed deeply for Penelope and Telemachus. This longing led to his ultimate release from Calypso’s island.

The Sirens sang high, thrilling songs that bewitched sailors and caused them to crash their ships into the rocks. They were surrounded by the whitened bones of their many victims. To prevent his crew from hearing the Sirens’ voices, Odysseus cut a circular chunk of beeswax into pieces, softened the pieces, and plugged the ears of his crew members with the wax. But Odysseus wanted to hear the songs of the Sirens, so he commanded his men, “Bind me hand and foot and tie me to the mast, for I want to hear the music of these maidens. But I dare not take a chance of having our last remaining ship crash into the cliffs, so I must be lashed to the mast. No matter how hard I urge you, do not release me until we are safely out of reach of the Sirens.”

As the ship drew near to the Sirens, they burst into song. “Come closer to us, famous Odysseus,” they sang. “Moor your ship near our coast so that you can listen to our sweet songs forever.”

Odysseus strained against the ropes that bound him to the mast. He signaled frantically to his crew to set him free, but they followed Odysseus’ command and refused to release him. They flung themselves against the oars and rowed harder and harder until the voices of the Sirens faded away. When the crew felt that they were out of danger, they removed the wax in their ears and loosed Odysseus’ bonds.

No sooner had they escaped from the Sirens when Odysseus spied waves booming against another set of cliffs. The passageway between them was so narrow that it seemed impossible to pass through. In a cave on the higher cliff lived Scylla, a long-necked monster with six dogs’ heads and twelve feet. When ships passed by, she stretched out her feet and grabbed sailors from their decks. She tore them to pieces with her many sharp teeth so that they died a terrible death.

Below the cliff directly opposite Scylla lived Charybdis, a deadly whirlpool, that sucked in the water of the passageway three times a day. Then, she spit it out in towering spouts. When a ship entered the whirling spiral, none on board survived. Sometimes, a lucky ship would pass over the whirlpool when she was calm, but the chances of this happening were rare. Odysseus decided that sailing near Charybdis meant certain death for everyone on the ship, so he sailed closer to Scylla. Still, even though his crew rowed furiously, Scylla snatched and ate six of the men.

By this time, Odysseus’ sailors had been rowing for weeks without food and were starving. They landed on the Island of the Sun to rest. Odysseus made them swear that they would leave the cattle untouched. At first, they caught fish and hunted game. But their increasing hunger drove the men to a foolish action. When Odysseus went to sleep, the men could not resist killing and roasting several of the cattle. When Odysseus awoke, he was horrified, for he knew his men would be punished. After the ship set sail again, Zeus took revenge. He sent a thunderbolt which destroyed the ship and sent it spinning to the bottom of the ocean, carrying everyone but Odysseus to their deaths.

For nine days, Odysseus drifted on the sea by clinging to the mast and keel, or bottom, of his ship. On the tenth day, he washed ashore on Ogyia, the island home of the beautiful nymph, Calypso. The long-haired nymph nursed him back to health and fell in love with Odysseus in the process. She planned to keep him with her forever. Without a ship, Odysseus could not escape her island. Calypso plied Odysseus with fine food and drink to tempt him to stay with her. She offered him immortality and eternal youth. She made life so comfortable for him that he stayed on her island for seven years and did not do a single day’s work the entire time. Yet although Calypso begged him to stay with her, Odysseus could not forget Penelope. He began to feel sharp pangs of loneliness for his home and family.

Poseidon, who did not want Odysseus to reach home, rejoiced in the hero’s homesickness. However, Athena decided it was time for Odysseus to receive his wish: to see his wife and son again. Athena waited until Poseidon was occupied somewhere else. Then, she visited Zeus and asked him to command Calypso to let Odysseus go.

Zeus sent his messenger, Hermes, to tell Calypso to release Odysseus. Hermes strapped on his golden, winged sandals and flew over the waves to Calypso’s island. He entered the cave where the nymph with the lovely braids made her home. With a breathtaking voice, she sang as she wove colorful cloths at her loom deep inside the cave.