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2.11: Book XI

  • Page ID
    82610
    • Homer (translated by Samuel Butler)
    • Ancient Greece
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    THE VISIT TO THE DEAD.

    “Then, when we had got down to the sea shore we drew our ship into the water and got her mast and sails into her; we also put the sheep on board and took our places, weeping and in great distress of mind. Circe, that great and cunning goddess, sent us a fair wind that blew dead aft and stayed steadily with us keeping our sails all the time well filled; so we did whatever needed doing to the ship’s gear and let her go as the wind and helmsman steered her. All day long her sails were full as she held her course over the sea, but when the sun went down and darkness was over all the earth, we got into the deep waters of the river Oceanus, [1] where lie the land and city of the Cimmerians [2]. They live enshrouded in mist and darkness, which the rays of the sun never pierce neither at his rising nor as he goes down again out of the heavens; the poor wretches live in one long melancholy night. When we got there we beached the ship, took the sheep out of her, and went along by the waters of Oceanus till we came to the place of which Circe had told us.

    “Here Perimedes and Eurylochus held the victims, while I drew my sword and dug the trench a cubit each way. I made a drink-offering to all the dead, [3] first with honey and milk, then with wine, and thirdly with water, and I sprinkled white barley meal over the whole, praying earnestly to the poor feckless ghosts, and promising them that when I got back to Ithaca I would sacrifice a barren heifer for them, the best I had, and would load the pyre with good things. I also particularly promised that Teiresias should have a black sheep to himself, the best in all my flocks. When I had prayed sufficiently to the dead, I cut the throats of the two sheep and let the blood run into the trench, whereon the ghosts came trooping up from Erebus [4]—brides, young bachelors, old men worn out with toil, maids who had been crossed in love, and brave men who had been killed in battle, with their armor still smirched with blood; they came from every quarter and flitted round the trench with a strange kind of screaming sound that made me turn pale with fear. When I saw them coming I told the men to be quick and flay the carcasses of the two dead sheep and make burnt offerings of them, and at the same time to repeat prayers to Hades [5] and to Persephone [6] but I sat where I was with my sword drawn and would not let the poor feckless ghosts come near the blood till Teiresias should have answered my questions.

    “The first ghost that came was that of my comrade Elpenor, for he had not yet been laid beneath the earth. We had left his body unmourned and unburied in Circe’s house, for we had had too much else to do. I was very sorry for him, and cried when I saw him: ‘Elpenor,’ said I, ‘how did you come down here into this gloom and darkness? You have got here on foot quicker than I have with my ship.’

    “‘Sir,’ he answered with a groan, ‘it was all bad luck, and my own unspeakable drunkenness. I was lying asleep on the top of Circe’s house, and never thought of coming down again by the great staircase but fell right off the roof and broke my neck, so my soul came down to the house of Hades. [7] And now I beseech you by all those whom you have left behind you, though they are not here, by your wife, by the father who brought you up when you were a child, and by Telemachus who is the one hope of your house, do what I shall now ask you. I know that when you leave this limbo you will again hold your ship for the Aeaean island. Do not go there leaving me unmourned and unburied behind you, or I may bring heaven’s anger upon you; but burn me with whatever armor I have, build a funeral mound for me on the sea shore, that may tell people in days to come what a poor unlucky fellow I was, and plant over my grave the oar I used to row with when I was yet alive and with my messmates.’ [8] And I said, ‘My poor fellow, I will do all that you have asked of me.’

    “Thus, then, did we sit and hold sad talk with one another, I on the one side of the trench with my sword held over the blood, and the ghost of my comrade saying all this to me from the other side. Then came the ghost of my dead mother Anticlea, [9] daughter to Autolycus.[10] I had left her alive when I set out for Troy and was moved to tears when I saw her, but even so, for all my sorrow I would not let her come near the blood till I had asked my questions of Teiresias.

    File:Anticlea in the Underworld.jpg

    Henry Fuseli, Teiresias Foretells the Future to Odysseus, c. 1800, Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

     

    “Then came also the ghost of Theban Teiresias, [11] with his golden scepter in his hand. He recognized me and said, ‘Odysseus, noble son of Laertes, why, poor man, have you left the light of day and come down to visit the dead in this sad place? Stand back from the trench and withdraw your sword that I may drink of the blood and answer your questions truly.’

    “So I drew back, and sheathed my sword, and when he had drank of the blood he began with his prophecy.

    “‘You want to know,’ said he, ‘about your return home, but heaven will make this hard for you. I do not think that you will escape the eye of Poseidon, [12] who still nurses his bitter grudge against you for having blinded his son. [13] Still, after much suffering you may get home if you can restrain yourself and your companions when your ship reaches the Thrinacian island, [14] where you will find the sheep and cattle belonging to the sun, who sees and gives ear to everything. If you leave these flocks unharmed and think of nothing but of getting home, you may yet after much hardship reach Ithaca; but if you harm them, then I forewarn you of the destruction both of your ship and of your men. Even though you may yourself escape, you will return in bad plight after losing all your men, [in another man’s ship, and you will find trouble in your house, which will be overrun by high-handed people, who are devouring your substance under the pretext of paying court and making presents to your wife.

    “‘When you get home you will take your revenge on these suitors; and after you have killed them by force or fraud in your own house, you must take a well made oar and carry it on and on, till you come to a country where the people have never heard of the sea and do not even mix salt with their food, nor do they know anything about ships, and oars that are as the wings of a ship. I will give you this certain sign which cannot escape your notice. A wayfarer will meet you and will say it must be a winnowing shovel [15] that you have resting on your shoulder; after this you must fix the oar in the ground and sacrifice a ram, a bull, and a boar to Poseidon. [16] Then go home and offer hecatombs [17] to all the gods in heaven, one after the other. As for yourself, death will come to you from the sea, and your life shall ebb away very gently when you are full of years and peace of mind, and your people shall bless you. All that I have said will come true].’

    Dolon painter. Odysseus, seated between Eurylochos and Perimedes, consulting the shade of Tiresias; to left Eurylochos wearing pilos and chlamys. Side A from a Lucanian red-figured calyx-krater, ca. 380 BC. Jastrow (2006). Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

    “‘This,’ I answered, ‘must be as it may please heaven, but tell me, and tell me, and tell me true, I see my poor mother’s ghost close by us; she is sitting by the blood without saying a word, and although I am her own son she does not remember me and speak to me; tell me, Sir, how I can make her acknowledge me.’ [18]

    “‘That,’ said he, ‘I can soon do. Any ghost that you let taste of the blood will talk with you like a reasonable being, but if you do not let them have any blood they will go away again.’

    “After this the ghost of Teiresias went back to the house of Hades, for his prophesies had now been spoken, but I sat still where I was until my mother came up and tasted the blood. Then she recognized me at once and spoke fondly to me, saying, ‘My son, how did you come down to this abode of darkness while you are still alive? It is a hard thing for the living to see these places, for between us and them there are great and terrible waters, and there is Oceanus, which no man can cross on foot, but he must have a good ship to take him. Are you all this time trying to find your way home from Troy, and have you never yet got back to Ithaca nor seen your wife in your own house?’

    “‘Mother,’ said I, ‘I was forced to come here to consult the ghost of the Theban prophet Teiresias. I have never yet been near the Achaean land [19] nor set foot on my native country, and I have had nothing but one long series of misfortunes from the very first day that I set out with Agamemnon [20] for Ilius, the land of noble steeds, to fight the Trojans. But tell me, and tell me true, in what way did you die? Did you have a long illness, or did heaven grant you a gentle easy passage to eternity? Tell me also about my father, and the son whom I left behind me, is my property still in their hands, or has some one else got hold of it, who thinks that I shall not return to claim it? Tell me again what my wife intends doing, and in what mind she is; does she live with my son and guard my estate securely, or has she made the best match she could and married again?’

    “My mother answered, ‘Your wife still remains in your house, but she is in great distress of mind and spends her whole time in tears both night and day. No one as yet has got possession of your fine property, and Telemachus still holds your lands undisturbed. He has to entertain largely, as of course he must, considering his position as a magistrate, and how every one invites him; your father remains at his old place in the country and never goes near the town. He has no comfortable bed nor bedding; in the winter he sleeps on the floor in front of the fire with the men and goes about all in rags, but in summer, when the warm weather comes on again, he lies out in the vineyard on a bed of vine leaves thrown any how upon the ground. He grieves continually about your never having come home, and suffers more and more as he grows older. As for my own end it was in this manner: heaven did not take me swiftly and painlessly in my own house, nor was I attacked by any illness such as those that generally wear people out and kill them, but my longing to know what you were doing and the force of my affection for you—this it was that was the death of me.’

    “Then I tried to find some way of embracing my poor mother’s ghost. Thrice I sprang towards her and tried to clasp her in my arms, but each time she flitted from my embrace as it were a dream or phantom, and being touched to the quick I said to her, ‘Mother, why do you not stay still when I would embrace you? If we could throw our arms around one another we might find sad comfort in the sharing of our sorrows even in the house of Hades; does Persephone want to lay a still greater burden of grief on me by mocking me with a phantom only?’

    “‘My son,’ she answered, ‘most ill-fated of all mankind, it is not Persephone that is beguiling you, but all people are like this when they are dead. The sinews no longer hold the flesh and bones together; these perish in the fierceness of consuming fire [21] as soon as life has left the body, and the soul flits away as though it were a dream. Now, however, go back to the light of day as soon as you can, and note all these things that you may tell them to your wife later.’

    “So did we speak together, and soon Persephone sent up the ghosts of the wives and daughters of all the most famous men. They gathered in crowds about the blood, and I considered how I might question them one by one. In the end I considered that it would be best to draw the keen blade that hung by my sturdy thigh, and keep them from all drinking the blood at once. So they came up one after the other, and each one as I questioned her told me her race and lineage.

    “The first I saw was Tyro. She was daughter of Salmoneus and wife of Cretheus the son of Aeolus. [22] She fell in love with the river Enipeus who is much the most beautiful river in the whole world. Once when she was taking a walk by his side as usual, Poseidon, disguised as her lover, lay with her at the mouth of the river, and a huge blue wave arched itself like a mountain over them to hide both woman and god, whereon he loosed her virgin girdle and laid her in a deep slumber. When the god had accomplished the deed of love, he took her hand in his own and said, ‘Tyro, rejoice in all good will; the embraces of the gods are not fruitless, and you will have fine twins about this time twelve months. Take great care of them. I am Poseidon, so now go home, but hold your tongue and do not tell any one.’

    “Then he dived under the sea, and she in due course bore Pelias and Neleus, [23] who both of them served Zeus with all their might. Pelias was a great breeder of sheep and lived in Iolcus, but the other lived in Pylos. The rest of her children were by Cretheus, namely, Aeson, Pheres, and Amythaon, who was a mighty warrior and charioteer. [24]

    “Next to her I saw Antiope, daughter to Asopus, [25] who could boast of having slept in the arms of even Zeus himself, and who bore him two sons Amphion and Zethus. These founded Thebes with its seven gates, and built a wall all round it; for strong though they were they could not hold Thebes until they had walled it. [26]

    “Then I saw Alcmena, the wife of Amphitryon, who also bore to Zeus indomitable Hercules; [27] and Megara who was daughter to great King Creon, and married the redoubtable son of Amphitryon. [28]

    “I also saw fair Epicaste mother of king Oedipus whose awful lot it was to marry her own son without suspecting it. [29] He married her after having killed his father, but the gods proclaimed the whole story to the world; still he remained king of Thebes, in great grief for the spite the gods had shown him; but Epicaste went to the house of the mighty jailor Hades, having hanged herself for grief, and the avenging spirits [30] haunted him as for an outraged mother—to his bitter regret afterwards.

    “Then I saw Chloris, whom Neleus married for her beauty, having given priceless presents for her. She was youngest daughter to Amphion son of Iasus and king of Minyan Orchomenus, and was Queen in Pylos. [31] She bore Nestor, [32] Chromius, and Periclymenus, and she also bore that marvelously lovely woman Pero, who was courted by all the country round; but Neleus would only give her to him who should raid the cattle of Iphicles from the grazing grounds of Phylace, and this was a hard task. The only man who would undertake to raid them was a certain excellent seer, [33] but the will of heaven was against him, for the herders of the cattle caught him and put him in prison; nevertheless when a full year had passed and the same season came round again, Iphicles set him at liberty, after he had expounded all the oracles of heaven. So, then, was the will of Jove accomplished.

    “And I saw Leda the wife of Tyndarus, [34] who bore him two famous sons, Castor breaker of horses, and Pollux the mighty boxer. Both these heroes are lying under the earth, though they are still alive, for by a special dispensation of Zeus, they die and come to life again, each one of them every other day throughout all time, and they have the rank of gods. [35]

    File:Leda and the Swan 1508-1515.jpg

    Francesco Melzi, Leda and the Swan, after a lost painting by Leonardo da Vinci, 1508-1515 CE, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

    “After her I saw Iphimedeia wife of Aloeus who boasted the embrace of Poseidon. She bore two sons Otus and Ephialtes, [36] but both were short lived. They were the finest children that were ever born in this world, and the best looking, Orion [37] only excepted; for at nine years old they were nine fathoms high, and measured nine cubits round the chest. They threatened to make war with the gods in Olympus, and tried to set Mount Ossa on the top of Mount Olympus, [38] and Mount Pelion on the top of Ossa, that they might scale heaven itself, and they would have done it too if they had been grown up, but Apollo, [39] son of Leto, killed both of them, before they had got so much as a sign of hair upon their cheeks or chin.

    “Then I saw Phaedra, [40] and Procris, [41] and fair Ariadne [42] daughter of the magician Minos, [43] whom Theseus [44] was carrying off from Crete to Athens, but he did not enjoy her, for before he could do so Artemis [45] killed her in the island of Dia on account of what Dionysos [46] had said against her.

    “I also saw Maera [47] and Clymene [48] and hateful Eriphyle, [49] who sold her own husband for gold. But it would take me all night if I were to name every single one of the wives and daughters of heroes whom I saw, and it is time for me to go to bed, either on board ship with my crew, or here. As for my escort, heaven and yourselves will see to it.”

    Here he ended, and the guests sat all of them enthralled and speechless throughout the covered cloister. Then Arete said to them:—

    “What do you think of this man, O Phaeacians? [50] Is he not tall and good looking, and is he not clever? True, he is my own guest, but all of you share in the distinction. Do not be in a hurry to send him away, nor stingy in the presents you make to one who is in such great need, for heaven has blessed all of you with great abundance.”

    Then spoke the aged hero Echeneus who was one of the oldest men among them, “My friends,” said he, “what our august queen has just said to us is both reasonable and to the purpose, therefore be persuaded by it; but the decision whether in word or deed rests ultimately with King Alcinous.”

    “The thing shall be done,” exclaimed Alcinous, “as surely as I still live and reign over the Phaeacians. Our guest is indeed very anxious to get home, still we must persuade him to remain with us until to-morrow, by which time I shall be able to get together the whole sum that I mean to give him. As regards his escort it will be a matter for you all, and mine above all others as the chief person among you.”

    And Odysseus answered, “King Alcinous, if you were to bid me to stay here for a whole twelve months, and then speed me on my way, loaded with your noble gifts, I should obey you gladly and it would turn greatly to my advantage, for I would return with more possession to my own people, and would therefore be more respected and beloved by all who see me when I get back to Ithaca.”

    “Odysseus,” replied Alcinous, “not one of us who sees you has any idea that you are a charlatan or a swindler. I know there are many people going about who tell such plausible stories that it is very hard to see through them, but there is a style about your language which assures me of your good disposition. Moreover you have told the story of your own misfortunes, and those of the Argives, [51] as though you were a practiced bard; but tell me, and tell me true, whether you saw any of the mighty heroes who went to Troy at the same time with yourself, and perished there. The evenings are still at their longest, and it is not yet bed time—go on, therefore, with your divine story, for I could stay here listening until tomorrow morning, as long as you will continue to tell us of your adventures.”

    “Alcinous,” answered Ulysses, “there is a time for making speeches, and a time for going to bed; nevertheless, since you so desire, I will not refrain from telling you the still sadder tale of those of my comrades who did not fall fighting with the Trojans, but perished on their return, through the treachery of a wicked woman. [52]

    “When Persephone had dismissed the female ghosts in all directions, the ghost of Agamemnon son of Atreus [53] came sadly up to me, surrounded by those who had perished with him in the house of Aegisthus. As soon as he had tasted the blood, he knew me, and weeping bitterly stretched out his arms towards me to embrace me; but he had no strength nor substance any more, and I too wept and pitied him as I beheld him. ‘How did you come by your death,’ said I, ‘King Agamemnon? Did Poseidon raise his winds and waves against you when you were at sea, or did your enemies make an end of you on the main land when you were cattle-rustling or sheep-stealing, or while they were fighting in defense of their wives and city?’

    “‘Odysseus,’ he answered, ‘noble son of Laertes, I was not lost at sea in any storm of Poseidon’s raising, nor did my foes kill me upon the mainland, but Aegisthus and my wicked wife were the death of me between them. He asked me to his house, feasted me, and then butchered me most miserably as though I were a fat beast in a slaughter house, while all around me my comrades were slain like sheep or pigs for the wedding breakfast, or picnic, or gorgeous banquet of some great nobleman. You must have seen numbers of men killed either in a general engagement, or in single combat, but you never saw anything so truly pitiable as the way in which we fell in that cloister, with the mixing bowl and the loaded tables lying all about, and the ground reeking with our blood. I heard Priam’s daughter Cassandra [54] scream as Clytemnestra killed her close beside me. I lay dying upon the earth with the sword in my body, and raised my hands to kill the slut of a murderess, but she slipped away from me; she would not even close my lips nor my eyes when I was dying, for there is nothing in this world so cruel and so shameless as a woman when she has fallen into such guilt as hers was. Fancy murdering her own husband! I thought I was going to be welcomed home by my children and my servants, but her abominable crime has brought disgrace on herself and all women who shall come after—even on the good ones.’

    File:Pittore di marlay, kylix con clitennestra che assale cassandra davanti all'ara di apollo, 425-400 ac., da tomba 264.JPG

    Marlay painter, kylix cup depicting Clytemnestra killing Cassandra with an axe, c. 425-400 BCE, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

     

    “And I said, ‘In truth Zeus has hated the house of Atreus from first to last in the matter of their women’s counsels. See how many of us fell for Helen’s [55] sake, and now it seems that Clytemnestra plotted mischief against you too during your absence.’

    “‘Be sure, therefore,’ continued Agamemnon, ‘and not be too friendly even with your own wife. Do not tell her all that you know perfectly well yourself. Tell her a part only, and keep your own counsel about the rest. Not that your wife, Odysseus, is likely to murder you, for Penelope is a very admirable woman, and has an excellent nature. We left her a young bride with an infant at her breast when we set out for Troy. This child no doubt is now grown up happily to man’s estate, and he and his father will have a joyful meeting and embrace one another as it is right they should do, whereas my wicked wife did not even allow me the happiness of looking upon my son, but killed me before I could do so. Furthermore I say—and keep my words in your heart—do not tell people when you are bringing your ship to Ithaca, but steal a march on them, for after all this there is no trusting women. But now tell me, and tell me true, can you give me any news of my son Orestes? [56] Is he in Orchomenus, or at Pylos, or is he at Sparta with Menelaus—for I presume that he is still living.’

    “And I said, ‘Agamemnon, why do you ask me? I do not know whether your son is alive or dead, and it is not right to talk when one does not know.’

    “As we two sat weeping and talking thus sadly with one another the ghost of Achilles [57] came up to us with Patroclus, [58] Antilochus, [59] and Ajax [60] who was the finest and goodliest man of all the Danaans [61] after the son of Peleus. [62] The fleet descendant of Aeacus knew me and spoke piteously, saying, ‘Odysseus, noble son of Laertes, what deed of daring will you undertake next, that you venture down to the house of Hades among us silly dead, who are but the ghosts of them that can labor no more?’

    “And I said, ‘Achilles, son of Peleus, foremost champion of the Achaeans, [63] I came to consult Teiresias, and see if he could advise me about my return home to Ithaca, for I have never yet been able to get near the Achaean land, nor to set foot in my own country, but have been in trouble all the time. As for you, Achilles, no one was ever yet so fortunate as you have been, nor ever will be, for you were adored by all us Argives as long as you were alive, and now that you are here you are a great prince among the dead. Do not, therefore, take it so much to heart even if you are dead.’

    “‘Say not a word,’ he answered, ‘in death’s favor; I would rather be a paid servant in a poor man’s house and be above ground than king of kings among the dead. But give me news about my son; has he gone to the wars and will he be a great soldier, or is this not so? Tell me also if you have heard anything about my father Peleus—does he still rule among the Myrmidons, or do they show him no respect throughout Hellas and Phthia now that he is old and his limbs fail him? Could I but stand by his side, in the light of day, with the same strength that I had when I killed the bravest of our foes upon the plain of Troy—could I but be as I then was and go even for a short time to my father’s house, any one who tried to do him violence or supersede him would soon regret it.’

    “‘I have heard nothing,’ I answered, ‘of Peleus, but I can tell you all about your son Neoptolemus, [64] for I took him in my own ship from Scyros with the Achaeans. In our councils of war before Troy he was always first to speak, and his judgment was unerring. Nestor and I were the only two who could surpass him; and when it came to fighting on the plain of Troy, he would never remain with the body of his men, but would dash on far in front, foremost of them all in valor. Many a man did he kill in battle—I cannot name every single one of those whom he slew while fighting on the side of the Argives, but will only say how he killed that valiant hero Eurypylus son of Telephus, who was the handsomest man I ever saw except Memnon; [65] many others also of the Ceteians fell around him by reason of a woman’s bribes. Moreover, when all the bravest of the Argives went inside the horse that Epeus had made, [66] and it was left to me to settle when we should either open the door of our ambuscade, or close it, though all the other leaders and chief men among the Danaans were drying their eyes and quaking in every limb, I never once saw him turn pale nor wipe a tear from his cheek; he was all the time urging me to break out from the horse—grasping the handle of his sword and his bronze-shod spear, and breathing fury against the foe. Yet when we had sacked the city of Priam [67] he got his handsome share of the prize money and went on board (such is the fortune of war) without a wound upon him, neither from a thrown spear nor in close combat, for the rage of Ares [68] is a matter of great chance.’

    “When I had told him this, the ghost of Achilles strode off across a meadow full of asphodel, exulting over what I had said concerning the prowess of his son.

    “The ghosts of other dead men stood near me and told me each his own melancholy tale; but that of Ajax son of Telamon alone held aloof—still angry with me for having won the cause in our dispute about the armor of Achilles. [69] Thetis [70] had offered it as a prize, but the Trojan prisoners and Athena [71] were the judges. Would that I had never gained the day in such a contest, for it cost the life of Ajax, who was foremost of all the Danaans after the son of Peleus, alike in stature and prowess.

    File:Odysseus Ajax Louvre F340.jpg

    Taleides painter, Dispute between Ajax and Odysseus for Achilles' armor, Attic black-figure oinochoe, ca. 520 BCE, kalos inscription, Louvre, Paris, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

    “When I saw him I tried to pacify him and said, ‘Ajax, will you not forget and forgive even in death, but must the judgment about that hateful armor still rankle with you? It cost us Argives dear enough to lose such a tower of strength as you were to us. We mourned you as much as we mourned Achilles son of Peleus himself, nor can the blame be laid on anything but on the spite which Zeus bore against the Danaans, for it was this that made him counsel your destruction—come here, therefore, bring your proud spirit into subjection, and hear what I can tell you.’

    “He would not answer, but turned away to Erebus and to the other ghosts; nevertheless, I should have made him talk to me in spite of his being so angry, or I should have gone on talking to him, only that there were still others among the dead whom I desired to see.

    “Then I saw Minos [72] son of Zeus with his golden scepter in his hand sitting in judgment on the dead, and the ghosts were gathered sitting and standing round him in the spacious house of Hades, to learn his sentences for them.

    “After him I saw huge Orion [73] in a meadow full of asphodel driving the ghosts of the wild beasts that he had killed upon the mountains, and he had a great bronze club in his hand, unbreakable for ever and ever.

    “And I saw Tityus son of Gaia [74] stretched upon the plain and covering some nine acres of ground. Two vultures on either side of him were digging their beaks into his liver, and he kept on trying to beat them off with his hands, but could not; for he had violated Zeus’s mistress Leto as she was going through Panopeus on her way to Pytho.

    Jusepe de Ribero, Tityos, oil on canvas, 1632, Museo del Prado, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons. 

    “I saw also the dreadful fate of Tantalus, [75] who stood in a lake that reached his chin; he was dying to quench his thirst, but could never reach the water, for whenever the poor creature stooped to drink, it dried up and vanished, so that there was nothing but dry ground—parched by the spite of heaven. There were tall trees, moreover, that shed their fruit over his head—pears, pomegranates, apples, sweet figs and juicy olives, but whenever the poor creature stretched out his hand to take some, the wind tossed the branches back again to the clouds.

    File:Tableaux du temple des muses - tirez du cabinet de feu Mr. Fauereau, conseiller du roy en sa Cour des aydes, and grauez en tailles-douces par les meilleurs maistres de son temps, pour representer les (14770308481).jpg

    Michele de Marolles, Cornelis Bloemaert, Abraham van Diepenbeeck, Pierre Brebiette, and Nicolas Langlois, "Tantalus," from  Tableaux du temple des muses : tirez du cabinet de feu Mr. Fauereau, conseiller du roy en sa Cour des aydes, & grauez en tailles-douces par les meilleurs maistres de son temps, pour representer les vertus & les vices, sur les plus illustres fables de l'antiquité, Paris, 1655, Public Domain courtesy of the John P. Getty Museum and the Internet Archives.

    “And I saw Sisyphus [76] at his endless task raising his prodigious stone with both his hands. With hands and feet he tried to roll it up to the top of the hill, but always, just before he could roll it over on to the other side, its weight would be too much for him, and the pitiless stone would come thundering down again on to the plain. Then he would begin trying to push it up hill again, and the sweat ran off him and the steam rose after him.

    “After him I saw mighty Hercules, [77] but it was his phantom only, for he is feasting ever with the immortal gods, and has lovely Hebe to wife, who is daughter of Zeus and Hera. The ghosts were screaming round him like scared birds flying in all directions. He looked black as night with his bare bow in his hands and his arrow on the string, glaring around as though ever on the point of taking aim. About his chest there was a wondrous golden belt adorned in the most marvelous fashion with bears, wild boars, and lions with gleaming eyes; there was also war, battle, and death. The man who made that belt, do what he might, would never be able to make another like it. Hercules knew me at once when he saw me, and spoke piteously, saying, ‘My poor Odysseus, noble son of Laertes, are you too leading the same sorry kind of life that I did when I was above ground? I was son of Zeus, but I went through an infinity of suffering, for I became slave to one who was far beneath me—a low fellow who assigned me all manner of labors. He once sent me here to fetch the hell-hound—for he did not think he could find anything harder for me than this, but I got the hound out of Hades [78] and brought him to him, for Hermes [79] and Athena [80] helped me.’

    “At this Hercules went down again into the house of Hades, but I stayed where I was in case some other of the mighty dead should come to me. And I should have seen still other of them that are gone before, whom I would have liked to have seen--Theseus and Pirithous--[81] glorious children of the gods, but so many thousands of ghosts came round me and uttered such appalling cries, that I was panic stricken lest Persephone might send up from the house of Hades the head of that awful monster Gorgon [82]. On this I hastened back to my ship and ordered my men to go on board at once and loose the hawsers; so they embarked and took their places, and the ship went down the stream of the river Oceanus. We had to row at first, but presently a fair wind sprang up.

     

    Footnotes:

     

    1. Oceanus was in Greek mythology a Titan god and a river which encircled the earth.

    2. The Cimmerians were both an actual nomadic people but also a mythical people who lived a land of darkness.

    3. Drink offerings or liberations were traditionally offered both to the gods and to the deceased.

    4. Erebus was a primordeal god associated with darkness and shadows.

    5. Hades was the Greek god of the underworld.

    6. Persephone was queen of the underworld.

    7. The house of Hades was a euphemism for the underworld.

    8. It was traditional in many Mycenaean Greek cultures to built elaborate tombs or burial mounds for the deceased.

    9. Some later writers sought to make Odysseus the son of Sisyphus, not Laertes. A surviving passage from Aeschylus' lost tragedy, The Judgment of Arms, claimed that Anticlea's father, Autolycus, a notorious trickster, stole Sisyphus' livestock. While visiting Autolycus, Sisyphus recognized his cattle and got his revenge by seducin (or raping) Autolycus' daughter Anticlea, who later gave birth to Odysseus. Odysseus was therefore not Laertes' son although he was raised by him as such after Anticlea married Laertes.

    10. Renowned for his cunning, Autolycus' name means "the wolf himself." In some accounts Autolycus was born of a union between Hermes, a famous trickster himself, and a human woman. Odysseus thus has cunning in his bloodline. Autolycus' other daughter, Polymede, became the mother of Jason, the famous Argonaut who married Medea.

    11. Teiresias was a famous character in Greek legend, who had many adventures of his own, including changing genders multiple times.

    12. Poseidon was god of the sea, and Polyphemus' father (see book 9).

    13. Polyphemus was the cyclops blinded by Odysseus and his men in book nine.

    14. The island where Helios, the sun god, kept his sacred cattle.

    15. This sounds like "no-place" or "u-topia," which Thomas More used to describe his ideal society, Utopia. Or a very inland country with no access to the ocean and therefore no salt and little need for ships.  A winnowing shovel was used to toss threshed grain into the air to separate the kernels from the chaff (husks).

    16. Poseidon was god of the sea.

    17. A very large sacrifice of animals, normally one hundred.

    18. Shades were believed to drink of the river Lethe, which erased their memories of the living world.

    19. Greece

    20. Agamemnon was king of Mycenae and brother to Menelaus, Helen's husband.

    21. High status Greek individuals cremated their dead.

    22. Tyro's father, Salmoneus, was Sisyphus' brother, so by some accounts she was related to Odysseus. Although married to her uncle Cretheus (they had three sons, Aeson, Amythaon and Pheres), Tyro fell in love with the river god Enipeus, who did not return her affection. Poseidon disguised himself as Enipeus and from their affair were born the twins Pelias and Neleus. Tyro exposed her infant sons, but they were raised by a herdsman and on reaching adulthood, killed Tyro's stepmother, Sidero, for mistreating their mother. Because Sidero had taken refuge in a temple dedicated to Hera, but Pelias killed her anyway, Hera favored Jason and the Argonauts in their long quest for the golden fleece. Pelias' half brother Aeson, was Jason's father. Tyro later married Sisyphus, another uncle, and had two children, whom she killed because a prophecy said they would kill Tyro's father, Salmoneus.

    23. For Pelias and Neleus, see note 22 above.

    24. See note 22 above.

    25. Actually, according to legend, Antiope was raped by Zeus, who had taken the form of a satyr (half-man, half-goat demi-god).

    26. The stories of the Theban heroes had their own epic cycle.

    27. Homer remains our prime source for Alcmena. Hercules is the famous hero who accomplished a famous series of great tasks or labors.

    28. Megara was Hercules' (Heracles') first wife. In some versions of the tale, Hercules killed their children as Megara watched horrified. In other versions, he killed Megara as well.

    29. Epicaste is better known as Jocasta or Iocaste. Creon's sister, she was married first to Laius, then unwittingly to their son Oedipus. 

    30. The Furies, avenging goddesses who lived in Hades and tormented the living and dead who had broken serious laws or taboos or mistreated their parents.

    31. Neleus was king of Pylos.

    32. Nestor was one of the companions of Odysseus, Agamemnon and Menelaus before Troy. He appears in book three.

    33. The seer or prophet Melampous took Pero home as a wife for his brother. 

    34. Leda was wife of Tyndareus and queen of Sparta. She was Helen's mother. Leda was seduced by Zeus (disguised as a swan),  and gave birth to Helen, Castor and Pollux. Only one of the famous male twins was immortal (the other was fathered by Tyndareus apparently).

    35. Castor and Pollux were such famous heroes they had their own tales attributed to them.

    36. These giant brothers came up with the scheme described because they wanted to abduct and marry Hera and Artemis.

    37. Orion was a famous hunter who was transformed into a constellation.

    38. Mount Olympus was home to the gods.

    39. God of light, prophecy, and music.

    40. Daughter of Minos and Pasiphae of Crete, Phaedra was sister of Ariadne and Glaucus and half-sister of the Minotaur. She was kidnapped by and married her sister's husband Theseus, and became enamored of Hippolytus, Theseus' son be either Hippolyte, queen of the Amazons, or Antiope, her sister.  Hippolytus rejected her, and according to the author, both she and Hippolytus came to sticky ends. We'll meet her later in Ovid's Heroides.

    41. Daughter of the king of Athens, she married Cephalus. In her husband's absence, either her or his fidelity are tested and Procris meets an untimely death.

    42. Ariadne was Phaedra's sister. She fell in love with Theseus and helped him survive his encounter with her half-brother, the monstrous Minotaur. In some versions of the legend, the grateful Theseus abandoned her on an island! The god Dionysos took pity on her and married her. Homer's different version seems to reflect a different oral tradition.

    43. Minos was king of Crete, home to the famed labyrinth.

    44. Theseus was the supposed founder of Athens and a "hero" who left a trail of broken women behind him.

    45. Artemis was goddess of the hunt.

    46. Dionysos was god of wine, fertility, theater, and rebirth.

    47. There were various Maeras in Greek mythology.

    48. For the many Clymenes in myth, see this article.

    49. Eriphyle was wife of Amphiaraus, whom she persuaded to join the raid that sparked the adventure of the Seven Against Thebes, even though she knew her spouse would die as a result. Homer here refers to Polynices bribing Eriphyle with the necklace of Harmonia. Eriphyle was later killed by her own son.

    50. Inhabitants of Scheria.

    51. The Greeks.

    52. Clytemnestra, Agamemnon's wife. Aegisthus was her lover.

    53. Agamemnon was Clytemnestra's husband

    54. Cassandra was one of the daughters of King Priam of Troy. She was assigned to Agamemnon as part of the spoils from the sack of Troy.

    55. Helen was the wife of Agamemnon's brother Menelaus. Her abduction by or elopement with Paris, son of Priam, initiated the Trojan war.

    56. Orestes' tragic duty to avenge his father by killing his mother sparked at least several tragic Greek plays, including the Oresteia.

    57. Achilles was one of the major heroes of the Trojan war.

    58. Patroclus was Achilles' lover. His death led Achilles to rejoin the Greek army.

    59. Antilochus was prince of Pylos and son of Nestor.

    60. Ajax was one of the Greek heroes who famously argued with Odysseus over who possessed the claim to the deceased's Achilles' armor.

    61. The Greeks.

    62. Achilles.

    63. The Greeks.

    64. Neoptolomus, like Ajax above, was considered a hero by the Greeks but committed what we would consider atrocities. During the sack of Troy, Ajax raped Cassandra in Athena's temple, causing the goddess to turn against the Greeks. Neoptolomus killed Priam and Astyanax (Hector's and Andromache's young son), and made Andromache,  Hector's widow, his concubine. When Achilles' spirit demanded the sacrifice of Polyxena, a princess of Troy, Neoptolemus killed her. After taking Andromache, Neoptolemos sailed away to become king of Epirus. We'll meet both Ajax and Neoptolemos in Euripides's The Trojan Women.

    65. Eurypylus was son of Telephus, king of Mysia and ally of the Trojans. Memnon was king of the Ethiopians, ally of the Trojans, who had killed Antilochus in battle. The now lost epic Aethiopis recounted his deeds and death. Greek vases clearly depict him as an inhabitant of Africa.

    66. The Trojan horse.

    67. Troy.

    68. Ares was god of war.

    69. Ajax and Odysseus fought over the deceased Achilles' armor. Odysseus won and Ajax killed himself.

    70. Thetis was Achilles' mother, and one of the fifty Nereids associated with the sea.

    71. Athena was goddess of cunning, artisans, and war, and patroness of the city of Athens.

    72. Minos was son of Zeus and Europa, king and lawgiver to Crete. After his death he became one of the three judges of the underworld.

    73. Orion was a famous hunter who was turned into a constellation.

    74. Tityus was a giant and the son of the Titan Gaia, goddess of the earth and life. Leto was mother of the twin gods Apollo and Artemis.

    75. Tantalus was a king punished by Zeus for killing his son and trying to feed him to Zeus. His eternal punishment was to be 'tantalized' by food and drink he could never reach. 

    76. Sisyphus was a king punished by Zeus for his trickery. He was condemned to roll a boulder up a hill, only to begin the task again when it rolled back down.

    77. Hercules was the son of Zeus, a famous Greek hero. Hebe was goddess of youth.

    78. Capturing Cerberus, the three-headed guard dog of the underworld, was one of Hercules' labors.

    79. Hermes was the god of trickery and merchants.

    80. Athena was goddess of cunning, artisans, and war, and patroness of the city of Athens.

    81. Theseus was Athens' first king and Pirithous was king of Larissa.

    82. The Gorgon was a monster with wings and snakes for hair who dwelt in the underworld.


    This page titled 2.11: Book XI is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Homer (translated by Samuel Butler).

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