On the island of Calypso

This island was beautiful! Blue shores brightened it on all sides and thousands of trees covered it. Water flowed everywhere and dewed the place, while flowers filled the air with their fragrance.

The hospitality of Calypso

Here lived the goddess Calypso all alone, in her fairy-tale palace on a hill. After Odysseus had had a good rest, he set out for the hill where the palace was. When he arrived and saw the goddess, he told her of his sufferings, and she had great compassion on him. So she laid a rich table for him and begged him to eat with her

The sorrow of Odysseus

Odysseus, pleased by the kindness of the goddess, was happy to stay with her. Thus the months and years passed, until Odysseus began to long for his home, his wife, his child.

For seven years he had stayed with Calypso. And now he wanted to leave. In vain the goddess begged him to stay, she promised him that she would make him immortal, that he would have all the good things of the world. But Odysseus grew sadder and sadder every day, and the goddess could not see it.

The intervention of Athena

One day the gods, apart from Poseidon, gathered on Mount Olympus. Athena, unable to bear Odysseus' grief, approached her father, Zeus, and said to him: "Father, Odysseus is trapped on the island of Calypso and wants to return to his family. He has been through a lot and deserves to return home."

Zeus thought and replied, "You are right, Athena. I will send Hermes to tell Calypso to let him go free."

Calypso accepts the proposal of the gods

Hermes, the messenger of the gods, flew quickly to the island of Calypso. There, he told her: "Zeus commands you to let Odysseus go and return to his home."

Calypso was sorry, but agreed to let Odysseus go.

Odysseus builds his raft

Calypso announced her decision to Odysseus and he immediately built a raft, loaded it with food and water, said goodbye to the goddess and left.

Meeting with Neptune

It was opened at sea and for the first few days it sailed quietly. But when he was seventeen days old, Neptune saw him and sent a wild storm that caught him, threw him into the sea and broke his raft.

Ino

The raft broke up and Odysseus found himself in the sea. For two days and two nights he swam and was beaten by the waves. On the third day, with the help of a fairy, Lefkothea, he came out onto a beach. He fell asleep on a pile of dry leaves, crushed by fatigue.