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Aengus Arawn Badb Brigid Cailleach Ceridwen Cernunnos Cu Chulainn Dagda Danu Gwydion Herne the Hunter Lugh Medb Morrigan Neit Nuada Taliesin Taranis
Chalchiuhtlicue Coatlicue Huitzilopochtli Mictlantecuhtli Mixcoatl Ometeotl Quetzalcoatl Tezcatlipoca Tlaloc Tonatiuh Xipe Totec Xochiquetzal Xolotl
Amaterasu Ame no Uzume Benzaiten Bishamonten Daikokuten Ebisu Fujin Fukurokuju Inari Izanagi Kagutsuchi Raijin Susanoo Tsukuyomi
Caishen Cangjie Dragon King Eight Immortals Erlang Shen Fuxi Guanyin Hou Yi Huxian Jade Emperor King Yama Leizi Lu-ban Mazu Nezha Nuwa Pangu Shennong Sun Wukong Xiwangmu Yue Lao Zhong Kui
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Aphrodite Apollo Ares Artemis Athena Atlas Coeus Crius Cronus Demeter Dionysus Gaia Hades Hephaestus Hera Hermes Hestia Hyperion Iapetus Mnemosyne Oceanus Phobos Phoebe Poseidon Prometheus Rhea Tethys Themis Uranus Zeus
Bacchus Ceres Diana Juno Jupiter Mars Mercury Minerva Neptune Pluto Venus Vesta Vulcan
Amun Anubis Aten Atum Babi Bastet Bes Geb Hapi hathor heqet Horus Isis Khepri Khnum Khonsu Maat Nephthys Nut Osiris Ptah Ra Seshat Seth Shu Sobek Thoth
Alfheim Baldur Freya Freyr Frigg Heimdallr Helheim Idun Jotunheim Loki Nerthus Njord Odin Thor Tyr
Aengus Arawn Badb Brigid Cailleach Ceridwen Cernunnos Cu Chulainn Dagda Danu Gwydion Herne the Hunter Lugh Medb Morrigan Neit Nuada Taliesin Taranis
Chalchiuhtlicue Coatlicue Huitzilopochtli Mictlantecuhtli Mixcoatl Ometeotl Quetzalcoatl Tezcatlipoca Tlaloc Tonatiuh Xipe Totec Xochiquetzal Xolotl
Amaterasu Ame no Uzume Benzaiten Bishamonten Daikokuten Ebisu Fujin Fukurokuju Inari Izanagi Kagutsuchi Raijin Susanoo Tsukuyomi
Caishen Cangjie Dragon King Eight Immortals Erlang Shen Fuxi Guanyin Hou Yi Huxian Jade Emperor King Yama Leizi Lu-ban Mazu Nezha Nuwa Pangu Shennong Sun Wukong Xiwangmu Yue Lao Zhong Kui
Norse Classical Celtic Arthurian
Literature Stories Names
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    Hesperides Hyades Calypso
  5. Calypso

Calypso

A nymph or a minor goddess. Calypso was the daughter of Atlas. She lived on an island called Ogygia. Her only companions and attendants were nymphs.

In the Odyssey, the hero Odysseus found himself shipwrecked at the narrow strait between the monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis. Odysseus managed to swim safely to the island of Ogygia. Calypso fell in love with Odysseus. Although he stayed on the island for seven years and became her lover, he rejected her offer of immortality and living with her as her husband.

When Hermes arrived and told her she had to aid Odysseus to return home, she was reluctant, but bowed down to Zeus' will when she was threatened. Calypso couldn't persuade Odysseus to stay with her. Calypso gave her lover the tools he needed to build a raft. She gave him plenty of supplies when he left. But Poseidon would destroy his raft later, before he managed to swim to the island of the Phaeacians.

By Odysseus, Calypso became the mother of two sons, Nausithoüs and Nausinoüs. According to Telegony, Calypso was also the mother of Telegonus or Teledamus, but Circe was usually said to be Telegonus' mother.

According to Theogony, Hesiod listed Calypso as an Oceanid, unless this nymph was another person. Other than the name, there was no connection between Hesiod's Oceanid and Homer's Calypso.

Related Information

Name

Calypso, Καλυψώ.

Sources

Odyssey was written by Homer.

Theogony was written by Hesiod.

Library was written by Apollodorus.

Related Articles

Atlas, Odysseus, Hermes, Zeus.

Odyssey.

Jimmy Joe Timeless Myths

By Jimmy Joe

Other Nymphs:

  • • Hesperides
  • • Hyades
  • • Calypso
Aeaea

Aeaea

The island of Aeaea was the home of the sorceress Circe. Homer never disclosed the location of the island, but later writers put it in the Tyrrhenian Sea, north of Sicily and southeast of Italy, probably on one of the Aeolian islands. Circe was a ...

February 4th, 2008 • Jimmy Joe
Other Nymphs

Other Nymphs

There are some nymphs that don't fall in any of the above categories or groups, so I have some additional articles here. For Echo, see Narcissus and Echo . For Salmacis, see Hermaphroditus .

August 31st, 2002 • Jimmy Joe
Circe

Circe

A sorceress. Circe was the daughter of Helius and Perseïs (Pereis) or Perse. Circe was also sister of Aeëtes (Aeetes) and Pasiphaë (Pasiphae). Her name means "Hawk", a bird of prey that hunts during the day. The hawk symbolised the sun. She was a ...

April 24th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Galatea

Galatea

A minor sea goddess. Galatea was the daughter of Nereus and Doris. She resided somewhere around Sicily. Though, she had a lover named Acis, the Cyclops Polyphemus constantly wooed her. Acis was the son of Faunus and the nymph Symaethis, while Poly...

August 31st, 2002 • Jimmy Joe
Penelope

Penelope

Penelope was the heroine of the Odyssey. Penelope (Πηνελόπη) was the daughter of Icarius , brother of King Tyndareüs of Sparta. Her mother was named Periboea. On her father's side, Penelope was first cousin of Helen Clytemnestra and the Dioscuri, ...

June 22nd, 2003 • Jimmy Joe
Odyssey

Odyssey

The Voyage Home Return to Ithaca The Voyage Home Odyssey Odyssey is an epic poem, written by Homer, about the adventures of the Greek hero Odysseus (Ὀδυσσεύς). Odysseus was the son of Laërtes (Laertes) and Anticleia. Odysseus had married Penelope ...

May 17th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Oceanids

Oceanids

The Oceanids were daughters of Oceanus and Tethys . There were three thousand daughters of the Titans. Oceanus also had an equal number of sons who were all river gods. Being an Oceanid didn't necessarily mean that the nymph was a water deity. The...

August 31st, 2002 • Jimmy Joe
Odysseus

Odysseus

King of Ithaca. The Romans identified Odysseus as Ulysses. Odysseus (Ὀδυσσεύς) was the hero of the epic poem called The Odyssey . Odysseus was the son of Laërtes (Laertes) and Anticleia, daughter of the thief Autolycus and Mestra. Other writers sa...

April 24th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Scylla

Scylla

The six-headed monster that resided at the Strait of Messina. Scylla (Σκύλλη) was originally a beautiful maiden who was loved by a minor sea god named Glaucus. The sorceress Circe was in love with Glaucus, but the sea god did not return her love. ...

June 1st, 2000 • Jimmy Joe
Cyclops

Cyclops

The Cyclops was a giant who had a single large eye on their forehead. Some were friendly to gods and men, while others were hostile. The original Cyclopes were the sons of Uranus and Gaea . Originally there were only three Cyclops named Arges, Bro...

June 1st, 2000 • Jimmy Joe

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