Book V · Episode 1 of 5
Olympian Council
Gods free Odysseus, Calypso yields
Scenes
- Gods Debate Odysseus’ Fate — Athena pleads, Zeus sends Hermes
- Dawn breaks as gods convene on Olympus
- Odysseus lies forgotten without ship or crew
- A plot threatens Telemachus on his way home
- Zeus says the rescue plan was Athena’s own
- He must sail alone for twenty days
- Hermes Journeys to Calypso’s Isle — Hermes arrives, finds Calypso in her cave
- Hermes straps on golden sandals and his wand
- He skims the waves like a hovering seamew
- Calypso’s cave is wreathed in cedar smoke
- The nymph sings at her loom with a shuttle
- Calypso seats the god in a shining chair
- Hermes Delivers Zeus’ Decree — Hermes tells Calypso to free Odysseus
- Calypso sets out ambrosia and red nectar
- Hermes says no god crosses seas for pleasure
- Zeus calls Odysseus the war’s unhappiest man
- His comrades were lost at sea before landfall
- He is not fated to die far from home
- Calypso Protests, Then Yields — Calypso protests, yields to Zeus
- Orion and Iasion were struck down before him
- Calypso saved him from Zeus’ thunderbolt
- She offered him immortality since that day
- Calypso owns no ship or crew to send him home
- Hermes warns her to remember Zeus’ wrath