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Welcome to the Hillsdale College Online Courses podcast. I'm Jeremiah Regan.
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And I'm Juan Davalos. We're back with the Odyssey, lecture number three, Calypso.
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So in lecture three, Professor Whalen takes us through the Odyssey, books five and six. When we meet Odysseus, he is not at the height of his heroic glory. He is a captive now of seven years of the goddess Calypso, a beautiful, immortal goddess who offers Odysseus her hand in marriage. She wishes for him to be her husband, but he resists. He is faithful to Penelope, he longs to go home, and he is stuck in this difficult situation until the messenger God Hermes arrives with a command to Calypso to let Odysseus go to resume his journey home.
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Like you mentioned, when we meet Odysseus, he is at his lowest, and it reminded me of the beginning of the Divine Comedy when we meet Dante, he is at his lowest also. And I appreciate these heroic journeys when we meet the heroes at their lowest, because I think we get to identify with that hero better when we see them at their lowest and the journey that they're going to go through and the things that they're going to learn through that journey and the virtue that is developed through that suffering.
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That's right. Though don't mistake Homer for a sentimental modern. We have many depictions of heroes who are too humanized, they're brought too low, they're shown to be too frail. They're really not heroic, even at this low point. And it is a low point when Calypso questions Odysseus and says, hey, aren't I more beautiful than your wife? Why don't you want to marry me? He responds, ah, great goddess. Worldly. Odysseus answered, don't be angry with me, please. All that you say is true. How well I know. Look at my wise Penelope. She falls far short of you. Your beauty, stature. She is mortal after all. And you, you never age or die. Nevertheless, I long. I pine all my days to travel home and see the dawn of my return. So even in this temptation, immortality. The most beautifully formed woman, because she's not immortal, she's a goddess he still desires. He has the fortitude to be faithful to his wife and seek to return to her. So, yes, even a hero can be laid low. And yet he gives us something to admire, even in his travails.
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This is a beautiful course, and I encourage you to go watch the course because the online courses team did a fantastic job in creating an environment that displays that beauty Jeremiah, I believe this is one of the biggest sets that we.
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It's the biggest set.
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The biggest set that we. And how big was was it?
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So we're 50ft wide, 30ft deep and about 20ft tall.
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Yeah, it's an incredible set. We actually have some Statues that were
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3D printed of Athena and Heracles.
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That's right.
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There was supposed to be a statue of a hoplite, but there was an error in the computer file and the statue was coming out to be 12 or 13ft tall when it was supposed to be seven. So it was too big and we had to abandon him. But the rest of the set worked out pretty nicely.
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So I encourage you to go to Hillsdale Edu course. That's Hillsdale Edu Course, so you can enjoy also not just the great lecture by Dr. Whalen, but also the beauty that goes along with the set design and the different images that has been put together for the course.
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Now let's turn to Professor Whalen, who is quite a handsome guy himself, as you'll know if you tune in and watch the course with lecture three of the Odyssey. Calypso.
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In this lecture we are going to cover books five and six of the Odyssey. It is in these books that we finally meet Odysseus, the man of twists and turns. We will see him escape from Calypso's island, Ogyja, and begin his re entry into human society. Book five begins with Hermes coming to Calypso and telling her that she must allow Odysseus to escape. So Hermes skimmed the crests on endless crests. But once he gained that island, worlds apart, up from the deep blue sea he climbed to dry land and strode on till he reached the spacious cave where the nymph with lovely braids had made her home. And he found her there. Inside, a great fire blazed on the hearth, and the smell of cedar cleanly split and. And sweetwood burning bright wafted a cloud of fragrance down the island. Deep inside she sang the goddess Calypso, lifting her breathtaking voice as she glided back and forth before her loom, her golden shuttle weaving. Thick luxuriant woods grew round the cave. Alders and black poplars, pungent cypress too. And there birds roosted, folding their long wings. Owls and hawks and the spread beaked ravens of the sea. Black skimmers who make their living off the waves. And round the mouth of the cavern trailed a vine laden with clusters bursting with ripe grapes. Four springs in a row, bubbling clear and cold, running side by side, took channels left and right. Soft Meadows spreading round were starred with violets, lush with beds of parsley. Why, even a deathless God who came upon that place would gaze in wonder a heart entranced with pleasure. Hermes the guide, the mighty giant killer, stood there spellbound. Now, there are several interesting things that we should observe about this description of Calypso's island, where Odysseus has been trapped for seven years. First of all, Calypso lives in a cave. It's not even a house that she lives in. And the cave is representative of the larger natural order of the island. What we hear about the island is that it has many natural splendors. There are woods, these different trees, there are birds, there are wild grapes that are bursting there. There seems to be plenty of food, but it's. It's simply natural. We have springs, flowers, herbs. But also the island seems to be uncultivated. There aren't things built on it. There isn't horticulture, it seems. There's simply natural splendors. It's a simple, uncultivated natural beauty on the island. I'll come back to this point later in lecture eight, as this setting has significance that we cannot yet understand. We have to proceed farther in our narrative before we understand the full significance. But I want to note this. Now, here we see a life of ease, of peace, of simplicity. That's all part of Ogidja, and it is represented to us as worlds apart. So Hermes has to fly far across the ocean. Now, it is so beautiful that even a God is spellbound by the sight. It's beautiful, but simple and natural. In total isolation, it's represented to us as sitting on the edge of the world. Now, after gazing at these splendors for a while, taking delight in them, Hermes comes to Calypso and he gives her Zeus's command that she must allow Odysseus to escape. Calypso is quite frustrated. She says that even though she offered Odysseus immortality along with being her husband, she's frustrated that he always yearns to be back in Ithaca, that he yearns for his old wife. And she also expresses frustration with the behavior of the gods, that they have their dalliances with different mortals, but she's not allowed to keep Odysseus on her island. Despite these complaints, however, Calypso ascends to the order of the gods. Hermes leaves and Calypso comes to Odysseus on the beach, where we see him for the first time in our narrative. With that, the powerful giant killer sped away the queenly nymph sought out the great Odysseus, the commands of Zeus still ringing in her ears and found him there on the headland, sitting, still weeping, his eyes never dry, his sweet life flowing away with the tears he wept for his foiled journey home since the nymph no longer pleased in the nights. True, he'd sleep with her in the arching cave. He had no choice. Unwilling lover alongside lover, all too willing. But all his days he'd sit on the rocks and beaches wrenching his heart with sobs and groans and anguish, gazing out over the barren sea through blinding tears. It's an interesting depiction of Odysseus here when we first see him. It's not quite the depiction of the heroic man that we might imagine. This is the man who sacked Troy. He sits here on the beach, weeping day after day. This is not Odysseus at his best. This is not Odysseus the triumphant sacker of Troy. This isn't Odysseus the raider of cities. This is Odysseus the captured, weeping hero. Now, this is important for our work, the Odyssey as a whole, because what we will see is that Odysseus, when we first meet him, is at the very bottom of his fortunes. He's stranded, he's a prisoner, he's alone, he's isolated. He's living apart from the whole world, except for Calypso. And so the movement of the Odyssey, the movement of the work as a whole will be a movement from isolation to reintegration, from solitude to marriage and political community. A movement from the edge of things, the edge of the known world, from a wilderness into the center of a full and flourishing human life and human community. Now Calypso comes to Odysseus and she relates the message from the gods. She says, despite her frustrations, she will allow him to build a raft and to escape from her island. But it's here that Calypso offers one final test for Odysseus. It's very interesting to see how Odysseus interacts with Calypso, this goddess who has offered him immortality in marriage. She says to him, so then, royal son of Laertes, Odysseus, man of exploits, still eager to leave at once and hurry back to your own home, your beloved native land. Good luck to you. Even so, farewell. But if you only knew down deep what pains are fated to fill your cup. Before you reach that shore, you'd stay right here, preside in our house with me and be immortal much as you long to see your wife, the One you pine for all your days. And yet I just might claim to be nothing less than she, neither in face nor figure. Hardly right, is it, for mortal woman to rival immortal goddess? How in build, in beauty. This is a delicate moment for Odysseus. This is an immortal, a goddess who's questioning Odysseus on why he wants to return to his home. And the question is a serious one. She says, after all, how can a mortal woman, Penelope, your wife, compete with me, an immortal goddess? How in build and beauty? I think also in fact, Calypso is alluding to the indubitable fact that Penelope must have aged. Calypso is offering immortality here and she is an immortal. But Penelope, Odysseus has been gone for 20 years. She's got to be older. She can't have the build and beauty of an immortal. It's a delicate moment for Odysseus. He needs to respond to her, explaining himself in some way, maybe justifying himself in some way at the same time not angering Calypso, who's about to let him finally go home. He responds, ah, great goddess, worldly. Odysseus answered, don't be angry with me, please. All that you say is true. How well I know. Look at my wise Penelope, she falls far short of you, your beauty, stature. She is mortal after all. And you, you never age or die. Nevertheless, I long, I pine all my days to travel home and see the dawn of my return. And if a God will wreck me yet again on the wine dark sea, I can bear that too with a spirit tempered to endure. Much have I suffered, labored long and hard by now in the waves and wars. Add this to the total. Bring on the trial. Now Odysseus here in fact is in part playing on his own name. He's one who suffers pain as we talked about before. But his response to Calypso's challenge is quite interesting. He says, yes, yes, Penelope, surely she can't compete with you in build, in beauty. She is mortal after all, and she is aging. But Odysseus is clever and cunning here as well because he tucks in that one detail that is the difference maker between Penelope and Calypso. And that is, he said, look at my wise Penelope, she falls far short of you in beauty and stature. The thing that Penelope has that Calypso doesn't have is wisdom. The word in the Greek that Odysseus uses to describe Penelope here is periphron, Penelope. This is one of Penelope's attributes. And this is a word meaning cunning or intelligent, or as translated here, wise. And so we can see in part and appreciate in part why Odysseus, the man of twists and turns, the man with Metis, is drawn to Penelope rather than Calypso. Calypso is beautiful and immortal, but Penelope has wisdom. She has something intellectual about her. She is periphron Penelope. She has some intellectual quality that is that which really drives Odysseus. It's that which Odysseus really wants to pursue. After this exchange, Odysseus builds his raft and he sails off away from Calypso's island, eventually coming in sight of Scyria, the island of the Phaeacians. Now, as he does this, Poseidon, who is the God of the sea and who is Odysseus's enemy, stirs up a massive hurricane that wrecks Odysseus raft and nearly kills Odysseus. Odysseus desperately swims for days until he finally comes to a place where a current allows him to make his way into the island. But he loses in the process all of the provisions that Calypso had provided him with. And so he comes to shore alive, but barely and without even a shred of clothing. Homer then tells us he set out for the woods and not far from the water found a grove with a clearing all around and crawled beneath two bushy olives sprung from the same root, one olive wild, the other well bred stock. No sodden gusty winds could ever pierce them, nor could the sun's sharp rays invade their depths, nor could a downpour drench them through and through, so dense they grew together, tangling side by side. Odysseus crept beneath them, scraping up at once a good wide bed for himself with both hands. A fine litter of dead leaves had drifted in, enough to cover two men over even three in the wildest kind of winter known to man, long enduring. Great Odysseus overjoyed at the sight, bedded down in the midst and heaped the leaves around him as a man will bury his growing brand in black ashes. Off on a lonely farmstead, no neighbors near to keep a spark alive, no need to kindle fire from somewhere else. So great Odysseus buried himself in leaves and Athena showered sleep upon his eyes. Sleep in a swift wave delivering him from all his pains and labors. Blessed sleep that sealed his eyes at last. And that is how Book five closes. Now this moment is interesting. I want to point out a couple of things. First of all, notice that the two trees that Odysseus crawls Underneath, one is wild and the other is well bred stock seem to be symbolically suggestive. That is, I think Odysseus beds himself under these two olive trees that are representative of these two different parts of Odysseus. Odysseus is partly this wild man coming from the edge of the world back into human society. And on the other hand, he's the king of Ithaca. He's the king coming back to his own. There's a wildness and order to, to Odysseus, the man of twists and turns. At the end of this description, we get a comparison that Homer makes. And this has led later generations of commentators and readers of Homer to call a Homeric simile. That is, it's an extended description asserting a sort of likeness between two things. And Homer writes, he's, he's famous for writing these wonderful and expressive similes. And this is one of the great ones. In the early part of the Odyssey, as a man will bury his glowing brand in black ashes off on a lonely farmstead, no neighbors near, to keep a spark alive, no need to kindle a fire from somewhere else. So great Odysseus buried himself. That simile, it's a comparison using lycra as, as a man will bury his glowing brand to keep the sparklife to bring it back out. This is how Odysseus buries himself underneath the leaves. We have a sense that the spark that Odysseus carries is himself. He has not a single possession, not even a shred of clothing, and yet he's burying himself beneath these leaves as a man might bury embers to keep the fire alive for the next day. And we'll see that Odysseus will emerge in some impressive manner in the next book.
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Foreign. Hello this is Bill Gray, Vice President of Institutional Advancement here at Hillsdale College. Before you skip ahead, I just wanted to give you two things, a message and a request. Here's the message. Thank you. Thanks to listeners like you, faithful, loyal listeners of the Hillsdale College Podcast Network, we achieved our fiscal year end fundraising goal, which means that we'll be able to keep offering amazing podcasts like these in Primus Online courses and so much more. So that's the first thing my message, thank you. The second is a request. And you might think, oh, here he goes, he's going to ask for money. But no, my request to you, loyal listener, is that you keep learning, that you keep sharing the word about the Hillsdale College Podcast Network in Primus Online courses and all of Hillsdale's other educational content. The more people learn, the more equipped they are to defend liberty. Thank you again. And now back to the show.
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So book five concludes with Odysseus beaten down by Poseidon and in a desperate situation, but at the same time having landed on a on an island inhabited by humans. Book 6 begins with the reintroduction of Odysseus into human society. The book begins with Athena coming in disguise, and to a princess of the realm, a young maiden named Nausicaa. Disguised, the bright eyed goddess chided Nausicaa, how could your mother bear a careless girl like you? Look at your fine clothes lying here neglected. With your marriage not far off the day you should be decked in all your glory and offer elegant dresses to those who form your escort. That's how a bride's good name goes out across the world. And it brings her father and queenly mother joy. Come, let's go wash these clothes at the break of day. I'll help you. Lend a hand and the work will fly. You won't stay unwed long. The noblest men in all the country court you now. All Phaeacians, just like you, Phaeacia, born and raised. So come the first thing in the morning, press your kingly father to harness the mules and wagon for you all to carry. Your sashes, dresses, glossy spreads for your bed. It's so much nicer for you to ride than go on foot. The washing pools are just too far from town. So this is Athena's inspiration to Nausicaa to rise in the morning, to gather her clothes and to go off to the washing pools which are by this river where Odysseus has fallen asleep. Now it's interesting that Athena has planted thoughts of marriage here in Nausicaa's. Mind as she inspires her to go in and do her laundry. She speaks of your marriage is not far off. And this is important for what will emerge as Odysseus meets Nausicaa. We see in fact that this really does touch Nausicaa, because when she goes to her father to ask for the cart, he also thinks of marriage. She sort of shyly asks her father for the cart. She doesn't want to mention her thoughts of marriage herself, but Homer tells us so she coaxed, too shy to touch on her hopes for marriage, young warm hopes in her father's presence. But he saw through it all and answered quickly, I won't deny you the mules, my darling girl, I won't deny you anything. So we can see, interestingly, the king, also her father Alcinous, is also thinking of marriage. So Alcinous has marriage on his mind, Nausica has marriage on her mind and she goes down to the pools to wash the clothing. Now, after they wash the clothing, they leave it out to dry and they start to play with a ball and the ball gets overthrown at one point and splashes in the water. And it's this that wakes up Odysseus, the ball. The princess suddenly tossed it to a maid, but it missed the girl. It splashed in a deep swirling pool and they all shouted out. And that woke great Odysseus. He sat up with a start, puzzling, his heart pounding. Man of misery, whose land have I lit on now? What are they here? Violent, savage, lawless or friendly to strangers? God fearing men. Listen, shouting echoing round me. Women, girls, or the nymphs who haunt the rugged mountaintops and the river springs and meadows lush with grass. Or am I really close to people who speak my language? Up with you. See how the land lies. See for yourself. Now. Now notice the antithesis of what Odysseus wonders to himself. We have what are they here? Violent, savage, lawless or friendly to strangers? God fearing men. The friendly to strangers is exercising the virtue of Zenia, of hospitality that we've already discussed. And if you exercise that virtue of hospitality to strangers, then you are a God fearing man, that is, you have piety, you have a proper relation to the laws of the divine. And the antithesis of the hospitable pious man is the violent and savage and lawless man. So we have a sense here of what it is that makes a man lawful and peaceful and ordered, or violent and savage and lawless, and that is piety to the gods and hospitable, friendly to strangers. Now Odysseus creeps out from the bushes and Nausicaa, this young maiden, is there with her servants. And we get another wonderful Homeric simile as Odysseus comes out from his hiding place, muttering, so great. Odysseus crept out of the bushes, stripping off with his massive hand a leafy branch from the tangled olive growth to shield his body, hide his private parts. I always love that detail. Odysseus, the great epic hero, the sacker of cities, here with proper modesty. And out he stalked as a mountain lion, exultant in his power, strides through wind and rain and his eyes blaze and he charges sheep or oxen or chases wild deer, but its hunger drives him on to go for flocks and even to raid the best defended homestead. So Odysseus moved out about to mingle with all those lovely girls, naked now as he was, for the need drove him on a terrible sight. All crusted, caked with brine, they scattered in panic down the jutting beaches. It's a great simile because it changes the way we should understand Odysseus position. On the one hand, Odyssey, Odysseus is here. We have an emphasis. He doesn't even have clothing, so he seems desperate. He's a suppliant, he's a beggar. He needs their help. But the simile changes how we understand him. We see him as a lion coming out of his lair and stalking for prey. He is not the suppliant in the simile, but a predator. And he's coming even to raid the best defended homestead. Well, what homestead would that be? Perhaps the home that we've seen Nausicaa in Alcinous Palace. And so we have a question here. Is Odysseus the suppliant? Or is he predator? And is Nausicaa the one who can grant help to Odysseus? Or is she the prey whom Odysseus is about to devour? Homer goes on to tell us, only Alcinous daughter held fast, for Athena planted courage within her heart, dissolved the trembling of her limbs, and she firmly stood her ground and faced Odysseus torn. Now, should he fling his arms around her knees, the young beauty plead for help or stand back, plead with a winning word, beg her to lead him to the town and lend him clothing. This was the better way, he thought. Plead now with a subtle winning word and stand well back. Don't clasp her knees. The girl might bridle. Yes, I like to ask my students this. Do you think he, he chose correctly here, a huge brine caked, massively strong, naked man diving at this young maiden's knees. I think Odysseus here exercises proper prudence, proper judgment in standing back and pleading with Nausicaa. Now it's interesting, we see him, this is part of his metis, part of his cunning, that he can evaluate different courses of action and choose the best one. And now we see him as suppliant, asking Nausicaa for help. And here too we see that he's very skilled in his speech. Odysseus, even when naked and landing on an island without a single possession, actually has quite a bit at his disposal because it has to do with his mind. He launched in at once endearing, sly and suave. Here I am, at your mercy, Princess. Are you a goddess or a mortal? If one of the gods who rule the skies up there you are Artemis to the life, the daughter of mighty Zeus. I see her now. Just look at your build, your bearing, your lithe, flowing grace. So it's a great beginning for the line, for Odysseus. Are you a goddess or immortal? It's almost like one of those cheap pickup lines, right? But Odysseus comes out of the bushes and asks her this, and he praises her. Then he goes on to say, I have never laid eyes on anyone like you, neither man or woman. We have to take this in context. Odysseus, of course, has seen Helen of Troy, unquestionably the most beautiful woman in the world. So we can see that this is Odysseus using flattery, building up Nausicaa, because he is going to beg her for help. Then Odysseus presents his request for help to Nausicaa. He says, Only yesterday, the 20th day, did I escape the wine, dark sea. Till then the waves and the rushing gales had swept me on from the island of Ogidja. Now some power has tossed me here, doubtless to suffer still more torments on your shores. I can't believe they'll stop long before that. The gods will give me more. Still more compassion, Princess, please you. After all I have suffered, you are the first I've come to. I know no one else. None in your city, none in your land. Show me the way to the town. Give me a rag for cover, just some cloth, some wrapper you carried with you here. And may the good gods give you all your heart desires, husband and house, and lasting harmony too. No finer, greater gift in the world than that when man and woman possess their home, two minds Two hearts that work as one, despair to their enemies, a joy to all their friends, their own best claim to glory. It's a really remarkable request from Odysseus. He's asking for advice and for clothing, but he ends expressing what he understands to be the best gift of the gods. When man and woman possess their home, two minds and two hearts that work together as one, we can see what it is that Odysseus is striving for, what he hopes to accomplish on Ithaca. It's also interesting that Odysseus makes this allusion, saying he prays that the gods will give her what she wants, a husband and a house. Because, as we noted, Athena already planted thoughts of marriage in Nausicaa's mind. Nausicaa thinking about marriage. Her father was thinking about marriage. Now Odysseus comes out and invokes marriage as this highest good, one of the best gifts the gods have to offer. Their own best claim to glory. In fact, for men and women to live in a harmonious marriage, that's despair to enemies and a joy to friends. Now Nausicaa is quite brave. She stands up to Odysseus and she does promise to help him, and she gives him clothing. And Odysseus goes to bathe himself in the river to clean himself up before coming into town. When he completes his bath and puts on the clothing, we get an interesting detail from Athena, Zeus's daughter. Athena made him taller to all eyes, his build more massive now, and down from his brow she ran his curls like thick hyacinth clusters full of blooms, as a master craftsman washes gold over beaten silver. A man, the God of fire and queen Athena, trained in every fine technique and finishes off his latest effort. Handsome work. So she lavished splendor over his head and shoulders now and down to the beach he walked and sat apart, glistening in his glory. Breathtaking, yes. And the princess gazed in wonder, then turned to her maids with lovely braided hair. Listen, my white armed girls, to what I tell you, the gods of Olympus can't be all against this man who's come to mingle among our noble people. At first he seemed appalling, I must say. Now he seems like a God who rules the skies up there. Ah, if only a man like that were called. My husband lived right here, pleased to stay forever. It's a very interesting moment where Athena adorns Odysseus, makes him look godlike. Then Nausicaa is stunned and filled with wonder by his look. And she is thinking even more of marriage. We might wonder at this moment, what does Odysseus have to do to get Nausicaa's help? She's saying, if only a man like that were called my husband. Nausicaa's thinking of marriage and now here is a truly magnificent man come upon her doorstep as a suppliant. What is she to do? Well, she does give Odysseus advice on how to come into the city. She warns him that the Phaeacians are quite wary of strangers, and so she tells him to come to her parents house, the palace, and to ask them for help. And that is how Book six concludes. Odysseus, having escaped from Ogidja and found Nausicaa as a suppliant, is coming to the court of the Phaeacians and King Alcinous with only his wits to help him as he tries to get passage home. It's that we'll look at our next lecture.
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Thank you for listening to this episode of the Hillsdale College Online Courses Podcast. If you want to continue learning, please visit hillsdale.edu course. There you will find over 40 free online courses, including Ancient Christianity, the Genesis Story, Classic Children's Literature, and many more. The courses include additional readings, study guides, fully produced videos. Upon completing a course, you will also get a certificate. All our courses are free because we believe that what you'll learn will enrich your life and that a virtuous citizen is the best defense for liberty. So pursue the education necessary for freedom and happiness at Hillsdale. Edu Course today. That's Hillsdale Edu Course. Thanks for listening.