CHAPTER THREE CALYPSO AS A FIGURE OF DEATH IN THE ODYSSEY: THE DUALITY OF THE CALYPSO EPISODE JESICA NAVARRO DIANA University of Murcia jesica.navarro@um.es The confinement of Odysseus on the island of Calypso takes place towards the end of a series of perilous exploits that have impeded his journey home in one way or another 1 . The Calypso episode, which occurs between the incident of the cattle of Helios and Odysseus’ arrival in Scheria, is chronologically the penultimate on his nostos, although, due to the opening in medias res, it becomes the first one of his fabulous adventures to be related in the epic poem (Od.5.1-281). It unfolds in a very characteristic way: in exchange for remaining forever by her side on her paradise island, the nymph offers Odysseus immortality and eternal youth. However, we can discern that, under its apparent benignity, such a proposition is liable to bring far more pernicious consequences in its wake. The purpose of this paper is to explain this sense of duality in the Calypso episode, as well as its significance for the Odyssey as a whole. At the point at which the Odyssey begins, Calypso has fallen in love with Odysseus and managed to keep him on the island of Ogygia for seven years with the aspiration of persuading him to give up his return to Ithaca and to marry her, promising to make him immortal and ageless in return: Od.5.203-210: διογενὲς Λαερτιάδη, πολυμήχαν’ Ὀδυσσεῦ, | οὕτω δὴ οἶκόνδε φίλην ἐς πατρίδα γαῖαν | αὐτίκα νῦν ἐθέλεις ἰέναι; σὺ δὲ χαῖρε καὶ 1 It has been argued that there are essentially two kinds of danger to Odysseus’ return: death and forgetfulness. Calypso partakes of both motifs, albeit to varying extents. Cf. Aguirre Castro (1999).