Calypso is a mysterious image from ancient Greek mythology. The meaning of the word calypso in the directory of characters and cult objects of Greek mythology Who is calypso
Ancient Greek mythology, which became the ancestor of Hellenic philosophy, gave birth to many gods and mythical creatures. Some of them were loved, others were worshiped out of fear, and there were those that only initiates knew about. Largely thanks to the poems of Homer, information about the diversity of ancient Greek legends and myths has reached our days in a practically unchanged state. The goddess Calypso does not appear in the best light in Homer's stories, although in reality her role in Greek mythology was more significant and important than the ancient poet showed.
Majestic Calypso: who is she?
The Greeks knew how to create a special world in their myths, in which everything was very closely interconnected. They endowed their gods with extraordinary abilities, but at the same time they accepted the fact that higher beings could exhibit purely human weaknesses. That is why the main gods of Greece have so many children from mortal women and goddesses.
Calypso's parentage is attributed to several gods. According to one version, she is the daughter of Atlas and an oceanid, according to another, Ocean can be considered her father. But in any case, Calypso - the pagan goddess of the seas - took a special place among the gods of Olympus. She had many mutually exclusive qualities, which seemed quite natural to the Greeks, considering that Calypso was also a nymph. It was the nymphs who were the most amazing creatures in Greek mythology, able to combine magic and the vulnerability of the human soul.
Meaning of Calypso in Greek Mythology
Scientists are still arguing about the significance of Calypso in the life of the Hellenes. Some experts assign her the role of an ordinary nymph living on a secluded island. But others argue that the topic needs to be looked at much more deeply.
The name that the goddess Calypso received at birth is fraught with a very deep sacred meaning. Translated from Greek, it means “she who hides.” If we analyze all the features of Hellenic mythology, we can safely say that Calypso, the goddess of the seas, was at the same time a deity who controlled death. This explains some of the isolation of her life on a distant and lost island, which is unusual even for nymphs and dryads.
Calypso was endowed with many positive qualities:
- she was strikingly beautiful;
- could turn into a mortal woman;
- was fluent in many musical instruments;
- wove canvases of stunning beauty;
- controlled sea currents and winds;
- All sea inhabitants and many animals on land obeyed her.
Surprisingly, even the main gods of Olympus did not possess such a number of qualities at the same time. Even they could envy such love and reverent awe of the ancient Greeks, which Calypso, the goddess of the seas, evoked. It was they who exiled the beauty to a remote place away from Olympus.
Calypso: mythical goddess and amazing nymph
Ancient Greek mythology clearly separated the main gods of Olympus from lower creatures with divine roots. But the nymphs were something extraordinary. The goddess Calypso was also a nymph, which explained her phenomenal capabilities and abilities.
The word "nymph" is translated from Greek as "maiden". Therefore, it is easy to imagine that the nymphs were young and beautiful maidens, personifying various natural forces. They were an integral part of all living things; without nymphs, flowers and trees would not be able to grow, and rivers would not flow. Islands, valleys, mountains and forests had their own nymphs. The most important and ancient of them were water nymphs. The goddess Calypso belongs to them.
Her origin also determined the future life of the nymph - she was supposed to live in a mysterious island grotto near four springs with the purest water, which symbolized the cardinal directions.
Calypso - goddess of the sea, wielding the power of a nymph
As already mentioned, nymphs were very powerful sorceresses; many natural phenomena were subject to their power. Most water nymphs guarded all sorts of springs gushing from underground. Many such springs had healing powers, so the nymphs began to be credited with the fame of healers. They possessed the secrets of life and death and could even resurrect those people whom they liked very much.
Nymphs knew how to predict fate, and this is not surprising - in ancient times, rivers and springs were used as an aid for fortune telling. Young girls, dreaming of a groom, often climbed the mountains and threw the supposed names of their lovers into the spring. If the piece of paper with the name floated calmly and did not turn over, then the girl was predicted to get married soon. Just as often, the river was the final argument in legal disputes when a bound suspect was thrown into the stormy waters. In the event of his death, it could be argued that the gods administered justice and the man was guilty.
The nymphs were fragile and gentle, but in anger they were capable of depriving a person of reason, which was considered the most cruel punishment in ancient times. Although, having repented of what they had done, in return they gifted the madman with secret knowledge about the nature of things. This is how predictors and soothsayers appeared.
Surprisingly, nymphs were not considered immortal creatures. Their lives were finite, like the nature of which they were a part. Therefore, the nymphs tried to live every day in fun and joy, and did not deny themselves love interests with ordinary men.
Calypso and Odysseus - part of Homer's poem
Homer told the whole world about the goddess of the seas in his Odyssey. He sang Calypso, who saved the hero Odysseus after a shipwreck and led him to his home on the island of Ogigi. There, in a magical grotto, she appeared to him in all her beauty and offered herself to Odysseus as a wife. The navigator refused, but spent seven long years on the island. The goddess Calypso did not let him go and entertained him every evening with dances and chants, hoping to overshadow the memories of his home.
Seven years later, Athena noticed the hero’s disappearance and told Zeus about everything. He quickly found Odysseus and sent a messenger to Calypso with an order to help the brave traveler get home. By this time, the goddess of the sea had given birth to several children from Odysseus and was very much in love with him, but she submitted to the will of Zeus, releasing the hero to his native shores.
Interpretations of the Calypso Myths
Homer only touched on a small portion of the Calypso stories. But what follows is not traced either in the poems or in other sources. Fragmentary information about Calypso is found in various myths and stories. For example, some ancient Greek myths tell that the goddess Calypso was very sad after the departure of Odysseus and a few years later committed suicide.
Other stories say that Odysseus was just one of the heroes who ended up on the island of Ogigi as punishment for the obstinate goddess who once took a not very correct position in the war of the gods and the Titans. Once every thousand years, the beautiful Calypso saves the hero and falls in love with him, but he rejects the goddess, and her heart breaks for a whole thousand years.
At the council, the immortal gods decided that Athena should help Telemachus return to his homeland unharmed and prevent the suitors from attacking him. Hermes must fly to the island of Ogygia and command the nymph Calypso to release Odysseus. The Thunderer immediately sent Hermes to Calypso.
Putting on his winged sandals and taking the staff in his hands, quick as a thought, Hermes rushed from Olympus. Like a sea eagle, he flew over the sea and in the blink of an eye reached Ogygia. This island was beautiful. Plane trees, poplars, pines, cedars and cypresses grew luxuriantly on it. The lawns were covered with lush grass, and the grass was fragrant with lush violets and lilies. Four springs watered the island, and streams ran from them, whimsically meandering between the trees. There was a cool grotto on the island; It was in it that the nymph Calypso lived. The entire grotto was overgrown with grapevines, and ripe grapes hung from them. When Hermes entered the grotto, Calypso was sitting and weaving a blanket with a wondrous pattern with a golden shuttle. Odysseus was not in the grotto. He sat alone on a cliff near the seashore, looking out into the sea. Odysseus shed tears, remembering his native Ithaca. So he spent whole days, sad and lonely.
Seeing Hermes entering, Calypso stood up to meet him. She invited him to sit down and offered him ambrosia and nectar. Having had enough of the food of the gods, Hermes conveyed to the nymph the will of the king of gods and people, Zeus. Calypso was saddened when she learned that she had to part with Odysseus. She wanted to keep him on her island forever and give him immortality. But she could not resist the will of Zeus.
When Hermes left Calypso, she went to the seashore, where the sad Odysseus was sitting, and said to him:
Odysseus, dry your eyes, lament no more. I'm letting you go home. Go, take an ax, chop down trees and make a strong raft. You will set off on it, and I will send you a fair wind. If it pleases the gods, then you will return to your homeland.
Goddess,” Odysseus answered Calypso, “you are not preparing a return to my homeland for me, but something else.” Can I sail across a stormy sea on a fragile raft? After all, even a fast ship does not always cross it safely. No, goddess, I will only decide to board the raft if you give me an unbreakable oath of the gods that you are not plotting to destroy me.
It is true what they say, Odysseus, that you are the smartest and most far-sighted of mortals! - Calypso exclaimed, - I swear to you by the waters of the Styx, I do not want you to die.
Calypso returned with Odysseus to the grotto. There, during the meal, she began to persuade Odysseus to stay. She promised immortality to Odysseus. She said that if only Odysseus knew how many dangers he would have to endure during his journey, he would have stayed with her. But Odysseus’s desire to return to his homeland was too strong; Calypso could not make him forget his native Ithaca and his family with any promises.
The next morning, Odysseus began building the raft. Odysseus worked for four days, cutting down trees, hewing logs, tying them and knocking them down with boards. Finally, the raft was ready, and a mast with a sail was attached to it. Calypso gave Odysseus supplies for the journey and said goodbye to him. Odysseus unfurled the sail, and the raft, driven by a fair wind, went out to sea.
Odysseus had already been sailing for eighteen days, determining his route by the constellations - the Pleiades and Ursa Major. Finally, land appeared in the distance - it was the island of the Phaeacians. At this time, the god Poseidon saw Odysseus’s raft, returning from the Ethiopians. The lord of the seas became angry. He grabbed his trident and struck the sea with it. A terrible storm arose. Clouds covered the sky, winds blew in from all sides. Odysseus was horrified. In fear, he envies even those heroes who died in glory at Troy. A huge wave crashed onto Odysseus's raft and washed him out to sea. Odysseus sank deep into the depths of the sea and forcibly swam out. He was hampered by the clothes given to him at parting by the nymph Calypso. Nevertheless, he caught up with his raft, grabbed it and with great difficulty climbed onto the deck. The winds tossed the raft furiously in all directions. First the fierce Boreas drove it, then Not, then the noisy Eurus played for it, and, after playing, threw it to Zephyra. The waves piled up around the raft like mountains.
The sea goddess Leucothea saw Odysseus in such danger. She took off under the guise of diving from the sea, sat on Odysseus's raft and took on her real form. Turning to him, Leukotea ordered him to take off his clothes, throw himself from the raft into the sea and swim to the shore. The goddess gave Odysseus a wonderful veil that was supposed to save him. Having said this, she took on the image of the diving Leukoteus and flew away. However, Odysseus did not dare to leave the raft. But then the god Poseidon raised a huge mountain, like a mountain, to the wolf and brought it down on Odysseus’s raft. Just as a gust of wind blows a pile of straw in all directions, so the wave scattered the logs of the raft. Odysseus barely had time to grab one of the logs and sit on it. He quickly tore off his clothes, tied himself with Leukotea's blanket, threw himself into the sea and swam to the island. Poseidon saw this and exclaimed:
Well, that's enough for you now! Now sail through the stormy sea until someone saves you. You will now be pleased with me!
Thus exclaiming, Poseidon drove his horses to his underwater palace. Pallas Athena came to the aid of Odysseus. She forbade all winds to blow except Boreas, and began to calm the raging sea.
For two days Odysseus rushed across the stormy sea. Only on the third day did the sea calm down. From the top of the wave, Odysseus saw land not far away and was terribly happy. But when he was already swimming to the shore, he heard the sound of the surf. The waves roared between the coastal cliffs and underwater rocks. The death of Odysseus would have been inevitable, he would have been dashed against the cliffs, but even here Pallas Athena helped him. Odysseus managed to grab onto the rock, and the wave, having flown back, tore him off the rock with force and carried him out to sea. Now Odysseus swam along the shore and began to look for a place where he could swim ashore. Finally, he saw the mouth of the river. Odysseus prayed to the river god for help. God heard him, stopped his current and helped Odysseus get to the shore. A mighty hero came ashore, but the long swim weakened him so much that he fell unconscious to the ground. Odysseus came to his senses with great effort. He took off Leukotea’s blanket and, without turning around, threw it into the water. The blanket quickly floated and returned to the hands of the goddess. Odysseus, to the side of the shore, found two densely overgrown olive trees, under which there was a pile of dry leaves. He buried himself in the leaves to protect himself from the night cold, and the goddess Athena plunged him into a deep sleep.
Calypso Calypso
(Calypso, Καλυψώ). Nymph on the island of Ogygia, to which Odysseus escaped on the wreckage of his ship. She kept Odysseus with her for seven years, wanting to make him her husband and promising him eternal youth. Finally, Zeus sends Hermes to Calypso with orders to release Odysseus.
(Source: “A Brief Dictionary of Mythology and Antiquities.” M. Korsh. St. Petersburg, edition by A. S. Suvorin, 1894.)
CALYPSO(Καλυφώ), in Greek mythology, a nymph, the daughter of the titan Atlas and the oceanid Pleione (according to another version, the daughter of Helios and Perseids), owner of the island of Ogygia, in the Far West. K. kept her for seven years Odyssey, hiding him from the rest of the world, but could not make the hero forget his homeland. On Ogygia, K. lives among beautiful nature, in a grotto entwined with vines. She is a skilled weaver; every day K. appears at the loom in a transparent silver robe. By order of Zeus, transmitted through Hermes, K. is forced to release Odysseus to his homeland; she helps him build a raft and supplies him with everything he needs for the journey. From Odysseus K. had sons: Latina, Nausithoia, Navsinoya, Avsona(Hom. Od. V 13-269; VII 244-266). K.'s name (“she who hides”) indicates her connection with the world of death. Having left K., Odysseus thus defeats death and returns to the world of life.
Lit.: Güntert N., Kalypso, Halle, 1919.
A.T.-G.
(Source: “Myths of the Peoples of the World.”)
Calypso1) nymph, daughter of the titan Atlas and the oceanids Pleione, sister of the Pleiades, Geass and Hyades. Belongs to the older generation of titan gods. Taking the form of a mortal woman, Calypso saved Odysseus after a shipwreck and hid him on her island for seven years in order to make him forget his homeland, give him immortality and eternal youth. But Odysseus sat all the time on the seashore, yearning for his home and his wife. Athena was the first to notice Odysseus' troubles and told Zeus, who then ordered his messenger Hermes to fly to the beautiful nymph and order her to release the captive. Calypso did not dare to disobey the will of Zeus. She taught Odysseus how to build a strong raft, gave him three furs with water, wine and bread, clothes for the journey, and sent a fair wind after him. From the union of Calypso and Odysseus a son, Latinus, was born. // Arnold Böcklin: Odysseus and Calypso
2) Nereid, daughter of Nereus and the oceanids Doris.
(Source: “Myths of Ancient Greece. Dictionary-reference book.” EdwART, 2009.)
Painting by A. Böcklin.
1882.
Basel.
Art Museum.
Synonyms:
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Seven years on the island of Ogygia. The land to which Odysseus was washed up turned out to be an island. It was called Ogygia and belonged to a nymph named Calypso. The island was beautiful, its owner was beautiful. Calypso lived in a grotto entwined with grapevines, ripe bunches of grapes themselves asked to be put into her mouth. Four springs with crystal clear water flowed near this grotto, and dense forests grew around, in which wonderful birds sang songs.
The goddess Odysseus hospitably greeted him; she gave him rich clothes, fed him and gave him plenty to drink. She liked the wanderer so much that she invited Calypso Odysseus to become her husband, promising immortality and eternal youth. Odysseus refused, but remained faithful to his Penelope.
For seven long years Calypso did not let him go, and for all seven years Odysseus went to the shore every day, sat there for hours, looking at the sea, yearning and crying. Finally, the Olympian gods took pity on Odysseus and decided that it was time to return him to his homeland. They sent Hermes to Calypso with the order to release Odysseus.
Wrath of Poseidon. Sad Calypso came to him and said: “I am letting you go home, Odysseus! Build yourself a raft, and I will send a fair wind.” Odysseus was delighted and began cutting down trees for the raft. For four days he worked tirelessly - the raft was ready, a mast with a sail was attached to it, and a fair wind was inflating it. Calypso gave Odysseus supplies for the journey and said goodbye to him forever. Odysseus's raft sailed on the sea for eighteen days. The shore had already appeared ahead, but Poseidon noticed the raft. He became angry: secretly from him, the gods wanted to help Odysseus. Poseidon grabbed the trident and struck the sea with it; Huge waves rose and winds blew in from all sides. An unknown death awaited Odysseus; The fate of the heroes who had fallen with glory at Troy now seemed enviable to him. The waves tossed the raft from side to side; So one of them covered Odysseus - and he ended up in the water. Odysseus would have drowned, but the sea goddess Leucotea saved him - she gave him her wonderful blanket that keeps the man afloat.
Poseidon was pleased: he finally managed to harm the hated hero. He looked around and went down to his underwater palace.
Help from Pallas Athena. At this moment, Pallas Athena came to the aid of Odysseus: she calmed the sea and helped him get to the shore. The hero found a pile of dry leaves there, buried himself in it to protect himself from the night cold, and fell into a deep sleep.
Visiting the Phaeacians. The land that Odysseus landed on was an island. Brave Phaeacian sailors lived on it. From end to end they plied the boundless sea on their ships and always provided assistance to wanderers. They were ruled by King Alcinous and Queen Arete, wise and hospitable. That morning, the royal daughter Nausicaä decided to wash her clothes. She collected it and, together with her friends and slaves, went to the sea. The young maidens washed their clothes, laid them out to dry, and started playing ball. They played merrily; but Athena was invisibly present among them. She hit the ball with her powerful hand and it flew into the sea. All the girls screamed loudly at once, and Odysseus woke up from their scream. Hiding behind the branches, he left the shelter. Mud and algae covered him from head to toe, the girls ran away in fright, only Nausicaä remained in place. Odysseus turned to her: “Oh, beautiful maiden! You are not inferior in beauty to the immortal goddesses! Have pity on me, give me at least some piece of cloth to cover my nakedness! May the gods fulfill all your wishes for this help!”
Nausicaä called the slave girls, ordered them to give Odysseus clothes and feed him, then invited them to follow her. Soon Odysseus found himself in the palace of Alcinous; as if asking for protection, he sat down on the floor by the fireplace. But Alcinous picked him up and sat him down at the table next to him. He promised Odysseus a ship, but in the meantime he arranged a magnificent feast in honor of his arrival. The king saw that Odysseus did not want to give his name, and did not ask him about it.
Odysseus's story. The feast was merry; Then the blind singer Demodocus entered the hall. He sang a song to please the feasters. He sang about the glorious deeds performed by the Greeks near Troy, about the fallen heroes, about the cunning Odysseus and the wooden horse... His guest listened as if spellbound: he remembered his past glory, and tears flowed from his eyes. Alkina noticed them and asked: “Who are you, stranger? Why are you shedding bitter tears? Maybe a friend or relative died near Troy, and you are grieving for them? Odysseus answered him: “I am Odysseus, king of Ithaca. I’ll tell you about what happened to me from the day of the fall of the great Troy.”
Odysseus’s story lasted the whole night: now the king and his guests listened as if spellbound. And the next morning they equipped the ship and loaded rich gifts onto it. He rushed faster than the wind across the sea waves, and at the early dawn of the next day the shores of Ithaca appeared. Odysseus was sleeping when the ship approached his native shores. The Phaeacian sailors carefully carried him to the shore and laid him on the sand. They left all the gifts there and set off on their way back. But Poseidon was angry with them for bringing Odysseus home; The island of the Phaeacians was already close, however, the ship was not destined to sail to it. Poseidon turned this ship into a rock - such was the revenge of the formidable god.
Chapter XII CALYPSO ISLAND
After nine days of wandering, Odysseus was thrown by the waves onto the island of Calypso. This new episode interrupts the linear development of the plot, since the myth of Calypso is, in fact, nothing more than a variant of the myth of Kirk - “redundant” in the poem from the point of view of modern aesthetic criteria (however, about the principles of organizing material in the Odyssey has been said more than once), but very valuable from the point of view of “additional information”.
Calypso is the classic “mistress of death,” and this motif is emphasized in the myth by all possible “symbolic means”; the very name of the goddess means “hiding,” which not only clearly expresses the corresponding idea, but also has certain Indo-European parallels: Hel, the name of the mistress of the underworld in Scandinavian mythology, has the same meaning and apparently comes from the same root.
No less characteristic are the signs of Calypso’s home: she lives in a cave surrounded by a dense forest of “cypresses, alders and poplars”, in which “owls, hawks and crows” are found in abundance; the meadow in front of the cave is dotted with “violets and celery.” All these details give the picture a completely definite tone: not to mention the well-known “mourning symbolism” of the cypress, it can be noted that the poplar was also considered by the Greeks as “a symbol of darkness, grief and tears”; a similar formula, in principle, is applicable to alder, since it was to it - if we trust the authority of Virgil in this matter - that the myth of “the trees mourning the setting sun” was dedicated (in a later reinterpretation, it came down to us as the legend of the “sisters of Phaeton”) .
Let us note that the theme of alder expands the pan-Indo-European context, which we have already outlined in connection with the image of Calypso; Among the “Danish folk songs” translated by Herder, the ballad about the “daughter of the Alder King” who “dances in a green meadow” is of interest in this sense: she invites a knight passing by to join in the dance, and when he (in a not too polite form) refuses, sends a fatal disease on him. This plot, of course, can be understood as a unique version of the myth of Orion, and in the image of the daughter of the Alder King the features of the archaic goddess of death associated with alder are quite clearly distinguished; however, in this case (as in all similar ones) we can talk about “death” only in a purely relative sense; the mention of the “silk shirt bleached in moonlight”, which the daughter of the Alder King offers to the knight in exchange for a dance, is a legitimate and logically consistent development of the already well-known “new clothes” motif.
In connection with what we said above about the specifics of modern European literature, we note that the fate of the ballad translated by Herder turned out to be not without a certain “drama” - the “giant shadow” of Johann Wolfgang Goethe that fell on it diverted the reader’s attention to another, perhaps a more vivid, but also not without some ambiguity, interpretation. Inspired by Herder’s translation, the great poet decided to “read” the classical myth in a “bold and modern” manner: instead of the “daughter of the Alder King”, “the father himself” appears before us, instead of the “knight” - a horseman, “carrying a baby somewhere”; the traditional interaction of female and male characters is thus replaced by “purely male communication”, and the behavior of the Alder King, luring the “baby” to himself, evokes quite close associations with the myth of the abduction of Ganymede. The feeling of some “irregularity” of what is happening is further strengthened by the consideration that the Alder King is, strictly speaking, the god of death, who, unlike the corresponding goddess, “has absolutely nothing to offer of himself”; seducing the “baby”, he refers first to his “daughters”, then to his “mother”, who has “many golden clothes” - however, we do not directly see either the daughters or the mother, and their “alarming absence” gives the whole poem Goethe, I must admit, has a rather sinister connotation.
However, let's return to the description of Calypso's home. The forest around her cave is inhabited, as we remember, by owls, hawks and crows. The connection of these birds with the goddess of death seems quite natural and (in the first two cases) has already been noted by us; As for crows, as a pan-Indo-European parallel we can mention the Irish Queen of the Dead (a similar translation of the name “Morrigan” seems to us quite acceptable), whose nicknames included “Battle Crow.”
We also note that in this context, the “crow” could apparently be understood as a metaphor for the “soul”: when describing the death of Odysseus’s ship, it was said about his dead companions that they rushed along the waves, like crows. This incongruous (since crows, as a rule, do not rush along the waves) metaphor can, however, find a plausible explanation - if we assume that the crows are in the forest at Calypso (it is specifically stated that these are sea crows, which "care about maritime affairs") are none other than the souls of Odysseus’s companions, whose stay on the “island of death” seems - in view of previous events - quite natural.
It should be pointed out that the myth about the “sea ravens” as birds, one way or another associated with the kingdom of death, apparently existed in Celtic mythology: a character named Morvran (“Sea Raven”) was the son of the already mentioned Carridwen ; If we draw an analogy (in our opinion, quite legitimate) between him and the Raven - the Son of the Sea (Bran vab Llur), the master of the Welsh underworld, the symbol of which was the alder, then a rather close and promising in historical and mythological terms rapprochement of the images of Carridwen and Calypso.
The line of “mourning symbolism” we are considering is completed by the description of the meadow in front of Calypso’s cave, “overgrown with violets and celery.” The “melancholic” appearance of the former and the “melancholic” associations associated with the latter (the Hellenes decorated tombstones with celery, which is why even the saying “needs celery” arose - in the sense of “breathing its last”), enhance the gloomy flavor of the surrounding landscape. However, “darkness” is by definition an ambivalent state; on the island of Calypso there reigns a kind of “eternal twilight”, the transition of which into “final darkness” is prevented by a distinct and emphasized presence signs of life: grapevine entwining the entrance to Calypso’s cave (a symbolic complex undoubtedly parallel to the “fig tree growing above the whirlpool”), and four streams flowing from this cave “with clear water” - in the latter case, associations with Kirke’s four servants, daughters, do not seem arbitrary "groves, streams and sacred streams tending to the sea" washed Odysseus from dust and “Soul-consuming fatigue.
Calypso herself, as we noted above, is, in fact, none other than Kirke’s mythological double; in the description of her image there are all the motifs already well known to us: she “sings beautifully”, she is a “weaver”, weaving “new clothes” for the hero, she offers the hero “ablution” and honors him with “her love” (the symbolism of the “cave” is intended , obviously, to emphasize the idea of regressus ad uterum), finally, she instructs hero. Let us also note that the rapprochement between Kirke and Aphrodite - Astarte, which we have already outlined, will receive additional grounds if we expand the context by involving the image of Calypso; Regarding this goddess, the Odyssey especially notes that this detail, when considered in terms of “sacred geography,” clearly points to the mountains of Lebanon, which were one of the classical places of worship of Astarte.
If we now move on to consider the actual plot of the myth oh Calypso, we will have to state availability at least two of its versions: the “original” and “the one that has come down to us”; since the "original" version is in some way more "correct", we consider Let's start with it.
In its main features, this version naturally coincides with the original version of the Kirk myth that we reconstructed and boils down to the following: after Odysseus spent some time on the island of Calypso, she sent him “back to the world of the living” - she taught him how to build a raft, “supplied with provisions” for the journey and explained that it was necessary to swim
so that the Ursa of Heaven, unaffected by the waves of the sea, is on the left, -
or, in other words, to the east, from which it can be concluded that Calypso's island is in the west - this is the only point where this goddess "opposes" Kirke, whose island, as the reader must remember, is in the east. However, in this case we are talking not so much about “confrontation” as about mutual complementation: we can mention, for example, that in Egypt the goddess N.t-hr was called the “Mistress of the Beautiful West,” while Isis was considered more like the “Mistress of the East” ; in fact, both goddesses were, as it were, “at different poles,” but the latter circumstance was in no way an obstacle to their ritual identification.
Let us add that in the original version, Odysseus was undoubtedly portrayed as a prudent and dutiful “recipient” of Calypso’s instructions; his return home to Ithaca (we note, however, that in the original version it was not necessarily about Ithaca at all), occurred, accordingly, without any “interesting roughness”, which are not so appropriate in the space of a cult myth. The question of the motivation for Calypso’s actions in the original version, of course, was not raised and could not be raised; the actions of the goddess “merely express her nature,” and no external causes should be sought to explain them.
Now, if we turn to the “existing version”, we will find in it a number of quite significant discrepancies with the “original” we reconstructed. In particular, we can read that Calypso “almost by force” keeps Odysseus, and he “cries” and “asks to go home to his wife” - however, sentimentality, we note, is almost always a sure sign of degeneration. The myth in its original form was undoubtedly devoid of these melodramatic effects - not least because Calypso and Penelope (remember, this is the name of Odysseus's wife) belong to the same category of mythological characters, within which it is impossible to whatever "rivalry" is; in a certain sense, one could even say that Penelope and there is Calypso.
In favor of this statement (which, of course, sounds quite bold), the following argument can be used: like Calypso, Penelope is an excellent weaver”; this alone, of course, is not enough to identify them, but Penelope is by no means a “simple” weaver. As you know, during the absence of Odysseus, she was very much bothered by “all sorts of uninvited suitors”; to get rid of their harassment, she came up with the following very specific plan: having informed the suitors that she would not marry until she had woven funeral clothes for her father-in-law, she diligently set to work, but at the same time “every night, by the light of torches, she unraveled everything woven during the day " The invention turned out to be extremely successful, since with its help Penelope managed to fool the suitors for no less than “three whole years.”
However, the apparent wit of this idea conflicts with its completely obvious uselessness: after all, Penelope wove in my chambers, where applicants had no right to enter until they acquired “legal status”, and therefore, it was not at all necessary to “weave” or “unravel the woven”, since the situation allowed one to limit oneself to purely verbal deception. However, even if we assume that the suitors “became so impudent” that they began to directly burst into the chambers, Penelope’s idea still could not be considered effective - after all, the reaction of the suitors in this latter case would be easily imagineable: “Well, yesterday I started weaving , and today we come - there’s nothing,” and so on for for three whole years. Odysseus' rivals are not, of course, textbook examples of insight and intelligence, but three years of such deception is, perhaps, still too much. And even if we assume that Penelope wanted to deceive not so much the suitors as the maids, some of whom, as we know, managed to “fall in love” with the suitors, the expediency of her undertaking will still seem very controversial: after all, someone, and the maids should be “the subtleties of a certain kind of craft” are familiar. In other words, the version of “deceiving the grooms” does not stand up to criticism; Before us is an obvious later interpretation, which was resorted to either “out of foolishness”, or due to some other reasons unknown to us.
However, it should be noted that the main elements of the original version have been preserved and can be considered as an independent mythology, describing a certain “weaver” who “weaves” during the day, and at night, by the light of torches, “unraveling the woven”; It is hardly worth specially proving that such a plot, by definition, excludes the possibility of any “everyday”, “naturalistic” interpretation. The “weaver” in question is the goddess who weaves the “garments of life” (and in this sense analogous to Calypso and Kirke); she weaves these clothes during the day, since "day" is a fairly common symbol of life, and dissolves them at night, since "night" is an equally common symbol of death; Having unraveled the fabric, the goddess begins to weave again.
Note that this myth should not be reduced to a simple allegory: the symbolism of thread, fabric, yarn, etc. apparently correlates with a certain specific reality, the idea of which, as far as we know, is most clearly formulated in tropical Africa (Dahomey ), where there is a special term “dan” to denote it. According to M. Herskowitz, “dan” is a vital principle, embodied in everything that is flexible, tortuous, moist, coiled and unfolded. “Dan” plays a fundamental role in the incarnation of each soul: it is like a certain “path”, following which the soul that is about to be born approaches the future mother; but it is also a kind of “base” from which the formation of the individual’s physical body begins. In Dahomey, the most common dana symbol is the snake. If we assume that a similar concept existed in the Mediterranean region (a hypothesis that should hardly be considered particularly daring), then we can come closer to understanding (more precisely, get out of the state of “absolute misunderstanding”) a number of stable symbols belonging to the circle of “mythology” goddesses” - not only “snakes” as such, but also “spirals” and “threads” (“labyrinth”, “threads of Ariadne”, etc.); in this light, the symbolism of the fabric also becomes more understandable, expressing the idea of the formation of a complex physical structure on the basis of a certain primary simple element (“dana”). If we “transpose” the myth of Charybdis into the same context, then the already mentioned “keel with mast” within the framework of “textile symbolism” can be interpreted as “warp and weft”; However, here we come close to questions, the complexity of which is in sharp disproportion with the amount of information currently available to us.
The reader, presumably, paid attention to the following, undoubtedly significant detail of the myth about Penelope: she unravels the clothes she has woven by the light of torches. In the “mythology of the goddess,” the image of a torch plays a rather prominent role: not to mention the canonical descriptions of Erinny and Hecate, it can be especially noted that it was “with torches in her hands,” according to the “Hymn to Demeter,” that the goddess was looking for her missing daughter. This clarification indicates a certain special role of the torch, complementing its traditional meaning as an attribute legally appropriate goddess as the “mistress of fire”; however, we will talk about this special role below.
So, regardless of whether or not Penelope's rapprochement with Calypso is accepted, one thing, we hope, seems indisputable - Penelope is not one of those wives from whom you can “beat off your husband.” The sentimental fantasy that “Calypso did not let Odysseus home to his rightful hearth” is an obvious invention of the compiler, who was trying to combine in this way two independent plots: “visits to the Mistress of the West,” on the one hand, and “the return of the missing husband and reprisals against the annoying grooms” – on the other. Not without, of course, the hypocrisy characteristic of patriarchal relationships, which demanded to explain why the “faithful” Odysseus allowed himself to “enter into a relationship with another woman” - a solution in this case was found with the help of a clear, albeit somewhat naive-sounding formula “ was forced to do so."
Among other innovations that “creatively refracted” the original version of the myth, one can note the somewhat unexpected appearance of Zeus as almost the main character: Odysseus would have “shed tears on a distant island” if Zeus had not “rescued” him, who, as It is known that “all injustice is organically alien.” He might not have allowed the family to be “destroyed” from the very beginning, but from the very beginning he did not have “all the necessary information”; “Having finally learned the truth,” Zeus immediately gave Hermes the appropriate orders and, through the mediation of the latter, made it clear to Calypso that “arbitrary behavior in the localities” would no longer be tolerated - she, “naturally, rushed about, but an order is an order,” etc. Before us, so to speak, is the “official version” - a genre that has, at best, only an indirect relation to reality: the effectiveness of the “command-administrative shout” is now being disputed even in the sphere of economics, but in relation to the “mistress of life and death” its more than obvious inappropriateness reaches the level of frankly fantastic hyperbole.
However, in any “official version” there are always certain “touches” that hint at the real state of affairs; in this case, such a “touch” is the peculiar way in which Zeus was moved to action. As you know, the patroness of Odysseus is Athena, who in this respect and in a number of others (such as the connection with owls) quite transparently resembles Calypso; the last consideration is capable of presenting, perhaps even in a somewhat unexpected light, the events that occurred on Olympus immediately before the “liberation” of Odysseus. To better acquaint the reader with their essence, we will try to present them in dramatic form, in the form of the following scene.
Zeus sits majestically, without uttering a word. The text does not say this directly, but some subtle hints let us understand that this is his permanent state.
Athena enters.
A f i n a. Yes, justice now costs absolutely nothing. Odysseus, for example, is so fair that he would only give in to you, father, but look what it’s like for him: on a distant island, without a ship, without comrades. And this is at the very time when thugs threaten his beloved son with violence. This means how highly you, gods, value justice!
3 e in s. My daughter, what are you saying? After all, you yourself came up with a wonderful plan to rescue Odysseus from all dangers and return him home. As for his son Telemachus, I think you can easily handle this yourself. Well, even if they are preparing an ambush for him, isn’t it within your power to ensure that he doesn’t fall into it? That's right, isn't it? (Addressing Hermes.) And you, dear Hermes, go to Calypso and tell her that everything that Athena came up with here exactly coincides with our will, which, as she should know, should always be strictly fulfilled.
Hermes can only answer something like “I obey, Your Excellency!” in order to develop this “official grotesque” towards the most expressive absurdity; we note, however, that, despite the frankness of the ideological position, the above scene describes a state of affairs characteristic only of formally patriarchal society.
To more clearly explain this thesis, we can cite another scene - this time from modern Japanese life, where “patriarchal values” often also remain at the level of a simple declaration. “Once,” Czech journalists report, “we witnessed bargaining in a peasant family... All the negotiations, naturally, were conducted with the head of the family. The man was sitting on the tatami next to a large hibachi, smoking a cigarette in a long cigarette holder with a serious look. His wife was squatting behind him - a meaningless shadow. great husband. But she followed with great attention what the head of the family said, and when she didn’t like something, she began to very politely whisper in his ear. The man coughed, smoked for a while and then expressed a new thought, as if it had just occurred to him. The shadow behind him nodded his head with satisfaction and continued to listen respectfully.”
Thus, the role of Zeus in Odysseus’s departure from the island of Calypso remains quite vague, and Odysseus himself, in his later account of these events, prefers not to draw any hasty conclusions:
Having taught me how to build a raft, she provided me with plenty of bread and sweet wine for the journey, and dressed me in clothes that were not subject to death, and sent a fair wind, warm and pleasant to the soul; But it was Zeus’s command, she decided – I honestly don’t know about that.
However, Odysseus is a famous “diplomat” and never says anything directly. We'll do this instead: I decided myself.
Before setting off with Odysseus on a further voyage, you should try to answer the question: why did Calypso suggest that Odysseus build a raft, and not, say, a boat, which, among other things, would have been much “more reliable”? This question, we note, already confused the author of this fragment: as commentators note, when describing the construction of a raft, phrases are used that are applicable only in the field of shipbuilding, from which we can conclude that the author already quite vaguely understood why there should be “a raft” and involuntarily “strayed” into a more familiar direction. Thus, the original meaning of the myth was lost, as we see, quite a long time ago; however, turning to the “comparative method” allows us to at least to some extent hope for its restoration.
As is known, among the peoples of Central America there was a widespread legend about a certain Quetzalcoatl, which, among other things, played a fatal role in the fate of the Aztec empire. According to this legend, Quetzalcoatl, a cultural hero who invented all kinds of sciences and crafts, once sailed “somewhere to the east,” promising to return after some time; so when exactly from the east The well-known Hernando Cortes arrived in the lands of the Indians, the Aztec priests decided that he was none other than the returning Quetzalcoatl - a conclusion that, as subsequent events showed, turned out to be deeply erroneous. The sad consequences of this mistake can serve as a very successful illustration of the fundamentally important, in our opinion, position that the laws of mythology must be taken into account; The “bloody fog” of the Aztec religious worldview apparently completely deprived its bearers of the opportunity to evaluate reality at least somewhat objectively - otherwise they would certainly have paid attention to some very significant details of the myth of Quetzalcoatl.
First, according to myth, Quetzalcoatl traveled by sea to the east on a raft of snakes, - therefore, from this alone one could conclude that we are not talking about an ordinary sea expedition similar to the one undertaken by Hernando Cortes. Secondly, Quetzalcoatl’s departure had a rather peculiar motivation: this hero, who had observed strict chastity all his life, “accidentally” (more precisely, under the influence of an intoxicating drink) violated this chastity, and did it in the most radical way - by entering into an illicit relationship with his own sister. This “misdemeanor,” according to the logic of the myth, was the first link in a chain of irreversible consequences in the form of a “raft of snakes,” “sailing to the east,” etc.; This plot is undoubtedly of archaic origin, but the elevation of the “loss of chastity” to the rank of almost a global catastrophe is undoubtedly a new feature. Quetzalcoatl is a typical hero of patriarchal mythology, with a “sharply expressed individuality,” or, in other words, with a pronounced reluctance to “be like everyone else” and “follow the path of all mortals”; Meanwhile, in his sister one can discern the features of an ancient Indian goddess, typologically quite close to Calypso: in any case, we discern in the Aztec myth the already familiar motifs of “marriage with the goddess” and the subsequent departure of the hero on a raft to the east. The fact that the raft is made of snakes will receive a fairly simple explanation if we remember that the snake is a symbol of “given” and, therefore (just like “east”), can express the idea of a “new birth”. Thus, Quetzalcoatl’s promise to return takes on a completely meaningful and understandable character; If the Aztec priests had not limited themselves to a literal interpretation of the prophecy about the coming return of their “spiritual leader”, but had considered it in the proper light - from a point of view similar, for example, to the positions of Tibetan Buddhism - the catastrophe that befell the Aztec empire may not have been would be so crushing.
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