Calypso's Island
Odysseus Stop 7 of 8
In brief
- Shipwrecked and alone, Odysseus washed ashore on the island of the nymph Calypso, who kept him as her reluctant companion for seven years.
- She offered him immortality and eternal youth if he would stay with her forever, but Odysseus longed only to return home to his wife.
- The gods finally intervened, and Zeus ordered Calypso to release him, though she alone among all his obstacles had asked for nothing in return but his company.
After the destruction of his last ship and the death of his remaining crew, Odysseus washed ashore alone on the remote island of Ogygia, home to the nymph Calypso. She found the exhausted, shipwrecked hero, took him in, and nursed him back to health, and fell deeply in love with him in the process.
Calypso kept Odysseus on her island for seven long years, offering him a life of comfort, her devoted companionship, and something no other power in the story ever offered him outright: immortality and eternal youth, if only he would give up his mortal life and remain with her forever.
Despite the comfort of her company and the extraordinary gift she offered, Odysseus spent his days on the shore staring out at the sea, longing for his wife Penelope and his home in Ithaca, unmoved by the promise of a godlike life spent anywhere else.
It was the goddess Athena, Odysseus's steadfast protector throughout his journey, who finally pleaded his case before Zeus himself, and the king of the gods sent Hermes to order Calypso to let him go. Grieving but obedient, Calypso helped Odysseus build a raft and provisioned it for the journey, setting him free after seven years: the only figure in his entire voyage who ultimately asked for nothing from him but his presence, and lost him anyway.
