…she brought him back to her cave at the island of Ogygia (Ωγυγία -or as we know it today, the island of Lipsi – Λειψοί)! Since ancient times, people have been trying to figure out where did the adventures of Odysseas actually take place. Although The Oddyssey is just an epic poem, people were fascinated by the vivid descriptions of the locations mentioned and tried to follow his wonderings. Apart from the universal concession that Odysseas was from Ithaca which is the real island that exists today, called Ithaki in the Ionion sea, everything else is open to speculation and still wildly disputed as it has been throughout the centuries. The mysterious island of Kalypso has been placed literally everywhere…close to Sicily, south Italy, Malta, north of Africa, Norway, France, in the middle of the Atlantic and recently even the USA, somewhere close to Florida!
For Greek people however, the island of Kalypso is non other than the island called Lipso, the main island of the complex of islands known as Lipsi, in the SE Aegean Sea. Regardless of the accuracy of geography, Homer tells us that at one-point Odysseas was floating in the middle of the sea, for ten days, half dead and the only survivor of a shipwreck. All his comrades were gone. His entire fleet was wiped out gradually through the last 3 years he has been trying to sail home from Troy but instead had encountered terrible monsters, mythical creatures, single-eyed giants, angry gods and jealous goddesses.
His last ship was sunk by lightning, complements of Zeus. It was punishment requested by the god of the Sun, Helios (Ηλιος) who was offended when Odysseas’ comrades killed and ate his sacred oxen. Everyone drowned, except for Odysseas who was fighting with the waves to stay alive.
Kalypso saved him, so she thought she could keep him! She found him, took him in her luxurious cave and nursed him back to life. And during this process she fell in love with him (which I must admit is an inescapable scenario as we have been taught by the movie industry). After all, Kalypso was a goddess-nymph, daughter of the giant Atlas, the one that holds the entire celestial dome on his shoulders! To be fair, it wasn’t really such a hardship for Odysseas either, to be the love-captive of the nymph. All that was required of him was to hang around, receive the multitude of attentions and abundance of affection of a beautiful goddess – nymph and make love to her in a cave which was something between a luxurious palace and the garden of Eden.
Kalypso was described as perfect in every way, in physical beauty and in temper and personality. And still Odysseas wanted to leave…he is described as the “captive”, the “prisoner”.. Which obviously proves that men don’t know what they want!
There was nothing that Odysseas wished for that Kalypso couldn’t provide. And for 7 years Odysseas was happy to receive the affection of Kalypso who also gave him many sons…but then…he remembered Penelope, his wife! (I’m pretty sure the notorious “seven-year itch” that plagues all marriages, has its root in this incident). Then he started becoming melancholic and spending his days gazing out at the sea and wishing he could travel back home to Ithaki, to his wife and son. And we know all this because Homer, starts telling us the story of Odysseas from this moment, when he has been living with Kalypso for 7 years, and he feels the inescapable nostalgia that commands him to go home.
Kalypso gave her everything to this man; she saved him; she nursed him to health; she gave him children… and she wasn’t going to let him go. The Goddess Athena, who was always on Odysseas’ side, heard his wishes and asked her father to intervene and order Kalypso to let Odysseas go home. Zeus who had no qualms to manifest who his favorite child was, told Ermis to fly over to Kalypso and convey his wish to allow Odysseas to leave and go back to his land. Ermis, the gods’ messenger (and god of gambling and protector of thieves!…Note to self: make a blog for colourful Ermis), absolutely hated to deliver bad news, especially to a lovestruck goddess whose daddy could squash him like a bug if his upset daughter ever asked him for a tiny favor.
When Kalypso got the news, she was furious! She accused the gods of meddling in her private life and for being jealous of her happiness. However, she did not dare to disobey Zeus…but she decided to make one last attempt to keep her beloved Odysseas with her. She possessed the power to make Odysseas immortal. So, she told him that if he chose to stay with her, he could stay young and live forever, but his existence would be vailed (hidden from the outside world – and here the nymph justifies her name which means “to hide” καλύπτω). Odysseas immediately rejected this offer without a second thought! Immortality was no temptation for him as Homer tells us because our hero, the “faithful” Odysseas, was determined to go home! (Seven years living with another woman and having at least 4 or 5 sons out of wedlock is not enough for Homer to deprive his hero of the adjective “faithful”). Kalypso helped him build a raft and gave him some fabrics to use for sails, because apparently building a boat is beyond any divine competencies. Odysseas left and this time he managed to get home with only minor delays, but that’s another island and another story.
Adventures on Spruzzo 
