Calypso (mythology)
Encyclopedia
Calypso was a nymph
in Greek mythology
, who lived on the island of Ogygia
, where she detained Odysseus
for a number of years. She is generally said to be the daughter of the Titan
Atlas
.
Hesiod
mentions either different Calypsos or the same Calypso as one of the Oceanid
daughters of Tethys
and Oceanus
, and Pseudo-Apollodorus
as one of the Nereid daughters of Nereus
and Doris
.
's Odyssey
, in which she keeps the fabled Greek
hero Odysseus
on her island so she could make him her immortal husband. According to Homer, Calypso kept Odysseus
hostage at Ogygia
for seven years. while Pseudo-Apollodorus says five years and Hyginus
says one. During this time they sleep together, although Odysseus soon comes to wish for circumstances to change.
Odysseus can not be away from his wife Penelope
any longer and wants to go to Calypso to tell her. His patron goddess Athena
asks Zeus
to order the release of Odysseus from the island, and Zeus sends the messenger Hermes
, to tell Calypso to set Odysseus free, for it was not his destiny to live with her forever. She angrily comments on how the gods hate goddesses having relationships with mortals for this. Then being worried for her not-meant-to-be love Odysseus, Calypso sends him on his way with a boat, wine, and bread. Odysseus tells her he knows she is more beautiful than his wife, but he wants to get home for other reasons.
Homer does not mention any children by Calypso. By some accounts, which come after the Odyssey, Calypso bore Odysseus a son, Latinus
, though Circe
is usually given as Latinus' mother. In other accounts Calypso bore Odysseus two children, Nausithous
and Nausinous
.
of Calypso's name is from καλύπτω (kalyptō), meaning "to cover", "to conceal", "to hide". It is the opposite of apocalypse, meaning to reveal, which suggests that Calypso may have originally been a death goddess. According to Etymologicum Magnum
her name means καλύπτουσα το διανοούμενον, i.e. "concealing the knowledge", which combined with the Homeric epithet δολόεσσα, meaning subtle or wily, justifies the hermetic
character of Calypso and her island.
The spelling of Calypso music
reflects a later folk-etymological assimilation with the mythological name and is not otherwise related to the figure from the Odyssey.
Musically, Jean Michel Jarre
's seventh studio album "Waiting for Cousteau" (dedicated to Jacques Cousteau) featured a three-part ambient work entitled "Calypso". John Denver
's song "Calypso
" as also a tribute to Cousteau and his work. The Suzanne Vega
song "Calypso" from the album Solitude Standing
is based on The Odyssey, namely the part in which Calypso is forced to let Odysseus go.
In literature, Calypso appears in the "Percy Jackson & the Olympians
" series. In the fourth book, The Battle of the Labyrinth
, she has been exiled and trapped on an island because she is Atlas's daughter; she is freed by Percy in the fifth book, The Last Olympian
. Calypso also appears in Tad Williams' Otherland
series.
On screen, Calypso was a nickname given to Dr. Mariah Crawford, Kraven's fiancee, in the 90's animated television series Spiderman
. In the movie series Pirates of the Caribbean
, Calypso is a goddess who was once in love with Davy Jones. She becomes trapped in human form and assumes the name Tia Dalma
.
Nymph
A nymph in Greek mythology is a female minor nature deity typically associated with a particular location or landform. Different from gods, nymphs are generally regarded as divine spirits who animate nature, and are usually depicted as beautiful, young nubile maidens who love to dance and sing;...
in Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
, who lived on the island of Ogygia
Ogygia
Ogygia , is an island mentioned in Homer's Odyssey, Book V, as the home of the nymph Calypso, the daughter of the Titan Atlas, also known as Atlantis in ancient Greek. In Homer's Odyssey Calypso detained Odysseus on Ogygia for 7 years and kept him from returning to his home of Ithaca, wanting to...
, where she detained Odysseus
Odysseus
Odysseus or Ulysses was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
for a number of years. She is generally said to be the daughter of the Titan
Titan (mythology)
In Greek mythology, the Titans were a race of powerful deities, descendants of Gaia and Uranus, that ruled during the legendary Golden Age....
Atlas
Atlas (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Atlas was the primordial Titan who supported the heavens. Although associated with various places, he became commonly identified with the Atlas Mountains in north-west Africa...
.
Hesiod
Hesiod
Hesiod was a Greek oral poet generally thought by scholars to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. His is the first European poetry in which the poet regards himself as a topic, an individual with a distinctive role to play. Ancient authors credited him and...
mentions either different Calypsos or the same Calypso as one of the Oceanid
Oceanid
In Greek mythology and, later, Roman mythology, the Oceanids were the three thousand daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. Each was the patroness of a particular spring, river, sea, lake, pond, pasture, flower or cloud...
daughters of Tethys
Tethys (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Tethys , daughter of Uranus and Gaia was an archaic Titaness and aquatic sea goddess, invoked in classical Greek poetry but not venerated in cult. Tethys was both sister and wife of Oceanus...
and Oceanus
Oceanus
Oceanus ; , Ōkeanós) was a pseudo-geographical feature in classical antiquity, believed by the ancient Greeks and Romans to be the world-ocean, an enormous river encircling the world....
, and Pseudo-Apollodorus
Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)
The Bibliotheca , in three books, provides a comprehensive summary of traditional Greek mythology and heroic legends, "the most valuable mythographical work that has come down from ancient times," Aubrey Diller observed, whose "stultifying purpose" was neatly expressed in the epigram noted by...
as one of the Nereid daughters of Nereus
Nereus
In Greek mythology, Nereus was the eldest son of Pontus and Gaia , a Titan who with Doris fathered the Nereids, with whom Nereus lived in the Aegean Sea. In the Iliad the Old Man of the Sea is the father of Nereids, though Nereus is not directly named...
and Doris
Doris (mythology)
Doris , an Oceanid, was a sea nymph in Greek mythology, whose name represented the bounty of the sea. She was the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys and the wife of Nereus. She was also aunt to Atlas, the titan who was made to carry the sky upon his shoulders, whose mother Clymene was a sister of Doris...
.
The Odyssey
Calypso is remembered most for her role in HomerHomer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
's Odyssey
Odyssey
The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature...
, in which she keeps the fabled Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
hero Odysseus
Odysseus
Odysseus or Ulysses was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
on her island so she could make him her immortal husband. According to Homer, Calypso kept Odysseus
Odysseus
Odysseus or Ulysses was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
hostage at Ogygia
Ogygia
Ogygia , is an island mentioned in Homer's Odyssey, Book V, as the home of the nymph Calypso, the daughter of the Titan Atlas, also known as Atlantis in ancient Greek. In Homer's Odyssey Calypso detained Odysseus on Ogygia for 7 years and kept him from returning to his home of Ithaca, wanting to...
for seven years. while Pseudo-Apollodorus says five years and Hyginus
Hyginus
Hyginus can refer to:People:*Gaius Julius Hyginus , Roman poet, author of Fabulae, reputed author of Poeticon astronomicon*Hyginus Gromaticus, Roman surveyor*Pope Hyginus, also a saint, Bishop of Rome about 140...
says one. During this time they sleep together, although Odysseus soon comes to wish for circumstances to change.
Odysseus can not be away from his wife Penelope
Penelope
In Homer's Odyssey, Penelope is the faithful wife of Odysseus, who keeps her suitors at bay in his long absence and is eventually reunited with him....
any longer and wants to go to Calypso to tell her. His patron goddess Athena
Athena
In Greek mythology, Athena, Athenê, or Athene , also referred to as Pallas Athena/Athene , is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, warfare, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, justice, and skill. Minerva, Athena's Roman incarnation, embodies similar attributes. Athena is...
asks Zeus
Zeus
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
to order the release of Odysseus from the island, and Zeus sends the messenger Hermes
Hermes
Hermes is the great messenger of the gods in Greek mythology and a guide to the Underworld. Hermes was born on Mount Kyllini in Arcadia. An Olympian god, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of the cunning of thieves, of orators and...
, to tell Calypso to set Odysseus free, for it was not his destiny to live with her forever. She angrily comments on how the gods hate goddesses having relationships with mortals for this. Then being worried for her not-meant-to-be love Odysseus, Calypso sends him on his way with a boat, wine, and bread. Odysseus tells her he knows she is more beautiful than his wife, but he wants to get home for other reasons.
Homer does not mention any children by Calypso. By some accounts, which come after the Odyssey, Calypso bore Odysseus a son, Latinus
Latinus
Latinus was a figure in both Greek and Roman mythology.-Greek mythology:In Hesiod's Theogony, Latinus was the son of Odysseus and Circe who ruled the Tyrsenoi, presumably the Etruscans, with his brothers Ardeas and Telegonus...
, though Circe
Circe
In Greek mythology, Circe is a minor goddess of magic , described in Homer's Odyssey as "The loveliest of all immortals", living on the island of Aeaea, famous for her part in the adventures of Odysseus.By most accounts, Circe was the daughter of Helios, the god of the sun, and Perse, an Oceanid...
is usually given as Latinus' mother. In other accounts Calypso bore Odysseus two children, Nausithous
Nausithous
Nausithous or Nausithoös is a name that refers to the following characters in Greek mythology:*The king of the Phaeacians in the generation before Odysseus washed ashore on their home island of Scheria. He was the son of the god Poseidon and a Phaeacian woman named Periboia...
and Nausinous
Nausinous
In Greek mythology, Nausinous or Nausinoös was the son of Odysseus and Calypso.While stranded on Ogygia, Odysseus was forced to become the lover of Calypso. According to Hesiod, this union resulted in two sons, named Nausinous and Nausithous...
.
Name
The etymologyEtymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
of Calypso's name is from καλύπτω (kalyptō), meaning "to cover", "to conceal", "to hide". It is the opposite of apocalypse, meaning to reveal, which suggests that Calypso may have originally been a death goddess. According to Etymologicum Magnum
Etymologicum Magnum
Etymologicum Magnum is the traditional title of a Greek lexical encyclopedia compiled at Constantinople by an unknown lexicographer around 1150 AD. It is the largest Byzantine lexicon and draws on many earlier grammatical, lexical and rhetorical works...
her name means καλύπτουσα το διανοούμενον, i.e. "concealing the knowledge", which combined with the Homeric epithet δολόεσσα, meaning subtle or wily, justifies the hermetic
Hermeticism
Hermeticism or the Western Hermetic Tradition is a set of philosophical and religious beliefs based primarily upon the pseudepigraphical writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus...
character of Calypso and her island.
The spelling of Calypso music
Calypso music
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...
reflects a later folk-etymological assimilation with the mythological name and is not otherwise related to the figure from the Odyssey.
In popular culture
Jacques-Yves Cousteau named his research ship after Calypso.Musically, Jean Michel Jarre
Jean Michel Jarre
Jean Michel André Jarre is a French composer, performer and music producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and New Age genres, and known as an organiser of outdoor spectacles of his music featuring lights, laser displays, and fireworks.Jarre was raised in Lyon by his mother and...
's seventh studio album "Waiting for Cousteau" (dedicated to Jacques Cousteau) featured a three-part ambient work entitled "Calypso". John Denver
John Denver
Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. , known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer/songwriter, activist, and humanitarian. After growing up in numerous locations with his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success...
's song "Calypso
Calypso (song)
"Calypso" is a song written by John Denver in 1975 as a tribute to Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his research ship Calypso. The song was featured on Denver's 1975 album Windsong....
" as also a tribute to Cousteau and his work. The Suzanne Vega
Suzanne Vega
Suzanne Nadine Vega is an American songwriter and singer known for her eclectic folk-inspired music.Two of Vega's songs reached the top 10 of various international chart listings: "Luka" and "Tom's Diner"...
song "Calypso" from the album Solitude Standing
Solitude Standing
Solitude Standing is Suzanne Vega's platinum second album, released in 1987. It is the most popular and critically acclaimed of her career. As can be seen by the CD insert, many of the songs had been written prior to 1987 ....
is based on The Odyssey, namely the part in which Calypso is forced to let Odysseus go.
In literature, Calypso appears in the "Percy Jackson & the Olympians
Percy Jackson & the Olympians
Percy Jackson & the Olympians is a pentalogy of adventure and fantasy fiction books authored by Rick Riordan. The series consists of five books, as well as spin-off titles such as The Demigod Files and Demigods and Monsters. Set in the United States, the books are predominantly based on Greek...
" series. In the fourth book, The Battle of the Labyrinth
The Battle of the Labyrinth
The Battle of the Labyrinth is a 2008 fantasy-adventure novel based on Greek mythology; it is the fourth novel in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series by Rick Riordan...
, she has been exiled and trapped on an island because she is Atlas's daughter; she is freed by Percy in the fifth book, The Last Olympian
The Last Olympian
The Last Olympian is a fantasy-adventure novel based on Greek mythology by Rick Riordan, published on May 5, 2009. It is the fifth and final novel in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series and serves as the direct sequel to The Battle of the Labyrinth...
. Calypso also appears in Tad Williams' Otherland
Otherland
Otherland is a science fiction tetralogy written by Tad Williams and published between 1996 and 2001. The story is set on Earth near the end of the 21st century, probably between 2082 and 2089 , in a world in which...
series.
On screen, Calypso was a nickname given to Dr. Mariah Crawford, Kraven's fiancee, in the 90's animated television series Spiderman
Spider-Man (1994 TV series)
Spider-Man, also known as Spider-Man: The Animated Series, is an American animated series starring the Marvel Comics superhero, Spider-Man. The show ran on Fox Kids from November 19, 1994, to January 31, 1998. The producer/story editor was John Semper, Jr. and production company was Marvel Films...
. In the movie series Pirates of the Caribbean
Pirates of the Caribbean (film series)
Pirates of the Caribbean is a series of fantasy-adventure films directed by Gore Verbinski and Rob Marshall , written by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
, Calypso is a goddess who was once in love with Davy Jones. She becomes trapped in human form and assumes the name Tia Dalma
Tia Dalma
Tia Dalma, played by Naomie Harris, is a fictional character from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and a primary character in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, in which a significant amount of the plot revolves around her and her powers...
.