Oceanus and TethysSiblingsPleiades, Hyades, Hyas or the Oceanids and the PotamoiConsortOdysseus, HermesChildrenBy some accounts Latinus, by others Nausithous and Nausinous, the Cephalonians
In Greek mythology, Calypso (/kəˈlɪpsoʊ/; Greek: Καλυψώ, "she who conceals")[1] was a nymph who lived on the island of Ogygia, where, according to Homer's Odyssey, she detained Odysseus for seven years. She promised Odysseus immortality if he would stay with her, but Odysseus preferred to return home.
Etymology
The name "Calypso" may derive from the Ancient Greek καλύπτω (kalyptō),[2] meaning "to cover", "to conceal", or "to hide".[3] According to Etymologicum Magnum, her name means "concealing the knowledge" (καλύπτουσα το διανοούμενον, kalýptousa to dianooúmenon), which – combined with the Homeric epithet δολόεσσα (dolóessa, meaning "subtle" or "wily") – justifies the reclusive character of Calypso and her island.
Family
Calypso is generally said to be the daughter of the Titan Atlas.[4] Her mother is mostly unnamed, but Hyginus wrote that it was Pleione, mother of the Pleiades.[5] Hesiod, and the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, mention either a different Calypso or possibly the same Calypso as one of the Oceanid daughters of Tethys and Oceanus.[6] Apollodorus includes the name Calypso in his list of Nereids, the daughters of Nereus and Doris.[7] John Tzetzes makes her a daughter of Helios and the Oceanid nymph Perse, the parents of Circe,[8] perhaps due to her association with Circe; the two goddesses were sometimes confused due to their behaviour and connection to Odysseus.[9] According to a fragment from the Catalogue of Women, Calypso bore the Cephalonians to Hermes[10] as suggested by Hermes' visits to her island in the Odyssey.[11]
Mythology
In Homer's Odyssey, Calypso tries to keep the fabled Greek hero Odysseus on her island to make him her immortal husband, while he also gets to enjoy her sensual pleasures forever. According to Homer, Calypso kept Odysseus prisoner by force at Ogygia for seven years.[12] Calypso enchants Odysseus with her singing as she moves to and fro, weaving on her loom with a golden shuttle.
Odysseus comes to wish for circumstances to change. He can no longer bear being separated from his wife, Penelope, and wants to tell Calypso. He is seen sitting on a headland crying, and at night he is forced to sleep with her against his will.[13] His patron goddess Athena asks Zeus to order the release of Odysseus from the island; Zeus orders the messenger Hermes to tell Calypso to set Odysseus free, for it was not Odysseus's destiny to live with her forever. She angrily comments on how the gods hate goddesses having affairs with mortals.
Calypso provides Odysseus with an axe, drill, and adze to build a boat. Calypso leads Odysseus to an island where he can chop down trees and make planks for his boat. Calypso also provides him with wine, bread, clothing, and more materials for his boat. The goddess then sets wind at his back when he sets sail. After seven years Odysseus has built his boat and leaves Calypso.
Homer does not mention any children by Calypso. By some accounts that came after the Odyssey, Calypso bore Odysseus a son, Latinus,[14] though Circe is usually given as Latinus' mother.[15] In other accounts, Calypso bore Odysseus two children, Nausithous and Nausinous.[16]
The story of Odysseus and Calypso has some close resemblances to the interactions between Gilgamesh and Siduri in the Epic of Gilgamesh in that "the lone female plies the inconsolable hero-wanderer with drink and sends him off to a place beyond the sea reserved for a special class of honoured people" and "to prepare for the voyage he has to cut down and trim timbers."[17]
A fragment from the Catalogue of Women, erroneously attributed to Hesiod, claimed that Calypso detained Odysseus for years as a favour to Poseidon, the sea-god who detested Odysseus for blinding his son Polyphemus.[18]
According to Hyginus, Calypso killed herself because of her love for Odysseus
Eros
Primordial god and personification of Love
Nyx (Orphic & Eleusinian)[3]
Ares and AphroditeSiblingsHarmonia, Phobos, Deimos, and AnterosConsortPsycheChildrenHedoneRoman equivalentCupid, Amor
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In Greek mythology, Eros (UK: /ˈɪərɒs, ˈɛrɒs/, US: /ˈɛrɒs, ˈɛroʊs/;[4] Ancient Greek: Ἔρως, romanized: Érōs, lit. 'Love, Desire') is the Greek god of love and sex. His Roman counterpart was Cupid ("desire").[5] In the earliest account, he is a primordial god, while in later accounts he is described as one of the children of Aphrodite and Ares and, with some of his siblings, was one of the Erotes, a group of winged love gods.
Etymology
The Greek ἔρως, meaning 'desire', comes from ἔραμαι 'to desire, love', of uncertain etymology. R. S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin.[6]
Cult and depiction
Eros appears in ancient Greek sources under several different guises. In the earliest sources (the cosmogonies, the earliest philosophers, and texts referring to the mystery religions), he is one of the primordial gods involved in the coming into being of the cosmos. In later sources, however, Eros is represented as the son of Aphrodite, whose mischievous interventions in the affairs of gods and mortals cause bonds of love to form, often illicitly. Ultimately, in the later satirical poets, he is represented as a blindfolded child, the precursor to the chubby Renaissance Cupid, whereas in early Greek poetry and art, Eros was depicted as a young adult male who embodies sexual power, and a profound artist.[3][7]
A cult of Eros existed in pre-classical Greece, but it was much less important than that of Aphrodite. However, in late antiquity, Eros was worshiped by a fertility cult in Thespiae. In Athens, he shared a very popular cult with Aphrodite, and the fourth day of every month was sacred to him (also shared by Herakles, Hermes and Aphrodite).[8]
Eros was one of the Erotes, along with other figures such as Himeros and Pothos, who are sometimes considered patrons of homosexual love between males.[9] Eros is also part of a triad of gods that played roles in homoerotic relationships, along with Heracles and Hermes, who bestowed qualities of beauty (and loyalty), strength, and eloquence, respectively, onto male lovers.[10]
The Thespians celebrated the Erotidia (Ancient Greek: Ἐρωτίδεια) meaning festivals of Eros