Olympus Read online

  The wandering mendicants of India who shun the householder’s life and wander in the wilderness lost in the dull haze of the narcotic Indian hemp can be equated with the mild and harmless Lotus-eaters of Greek mythology.

  Odysseus is described as a man who is cunning, resourceful and naturally curious, eager to discover and learn, as we find in his many adventures. He is not merely a ‘sacker of cities’ despite what he does in Cicona.

  The land of the Lotus-eaters is sometimes identified with Libya and the blue lotus of the Nile is considered the source of the narcotic drug.

  The story of the Lotus-eaters is based on a recurring theme in the Odyssey: that of forgetting. Odysseus is being offered the chance to forget everything, the pain, the suffering, even the longing for home, and submit to a life of meaningless bliss. He refuses, as a hero should.

  Cyclopes

  Odysseus then reached the island of the Cyclopes, one-eyed giants who herded sheep. He did not realize the danger he was in until he found himself trapped in the cave of the Cyclops Polyphemus. He watched in horror as Polyphemus grabbed and ate his companions raw. Like sheep, he found himself being herded into a pen in the cave, awaiting his fate.

  The clever Odysseus found grapes in the cave and turned them into wine. He then identified himself as Nemo, or Nobody, befriended the Cyclops, got him drunk and, while he slept, punctured his single eye with the trunk of a tree that he had spent all day sharpening to a point.

  As Polyphemus howled in agony, the other Cyclopes of the island came to his cave. ‘Who hurt you?’ they asked. ‘Nobody,’ Polyphemus replied and so they left him alone and went away.

  Polyphemus was determined not to let his attackers leave the cave alive. So when it was time to let the sheep out, he rubbed their back to make sure no one was riding them. But Odysseus was smarter and escaped by clinging to the underbelly of a sheep.

  As he set sail, a relieved and ecstatic Odysseus could not help but shout, ‘Polyphemus, you killer of my men, know that you have been blinded and outsmarted not by “Nobody” but by Odysseus, king of Ithaca, husband of Penelope and father of Telemachus.’

  His hubris cost Odysseus dearly. For Polyphemus invoked his father Poseidon and the sea god whipped up storms and churned out currents ensuring Odysseus’s ships sailed aimlessly for days in no particular direction.

  Homer describes the Cyclopes as simple one-eyed herdsmen, children of Poseidon. Hesiod’s Theogony, written at the same time as Homer’s epic, describes the Cyclopes as the children of Uranus and Gaia, which makes them the siblings of the Titans.

  The Cyclopes forged the thunderbolt for Zeus, the trident for Poseidon, bows and arrows for both Apollo and Artemis, and the helmet for Hades. Later, they came to be portrayed as assistants at Hephaestus’s forge.

  Ovid’s Metamorphosis, a Latin work dating back to first century CE, tells of how the Cyclops Polyphemus was in love with the sea nymph Galatea who preferred the shepherd Acis. Coming upon the lovers, the jealous and violent Polyphemus picked up a rock and crushed Acis.

  Aeolus

  Finally, Odysseus reached an island that was home to the wind god Aeolus. The wind god was kind and generous and, after taking care of him and his crew for a month, gave him a bag saying, ‘It contains all the winds except the West Wind that will gently take you straight home to Ithaca.’

  And sure enough, the gentle West Wind took Odysseus’s ships straight towards Ithaca.

  When the shores of Ithaca appeared on the horizon, Odysseus decided to take a nap. ‘Wake me up after we beach the ship!’ he told his companions. But when he shut his eyes and started snoring, his crew decided to investigate the contents of the mysterious bag, tied with a silver string, that Aeolus had given to Odysseus. Did it contain treasure?

  As soon as the string was undone, all the winds were released and the ships were pushed back to the island of Aeolus. When Odysseus woke up and realized what his foolish crew had done, he begged the wind god to help with the West Wind once again.

  ‘I will not help one who the gods so oppose,’ said Aeolus, slamming the door to his house on Odysseus’s face.

  Aeolus, the warden of winds, was a son of Poseidon who lived on a floating island.

  In some tales, Aeolus had six sons and six daughters. He got his sons married to his daughters and they lived happily according to Homer. But this tale of incest did not appeal to later writers such as Euripides, who told the tale of how Aeolus killed his son and his daughter and the child of their incestuous union.

  Laestrygonians

  Confused by the shifting currents that Poseidon continued to throw in their path, Odysseus, his sailors and his ships travelled for a long time and finally reached the land of the Laestrygonians where they were greeted by a rather tall girl who invited them all to her parents’ house for dinner.

  But when they reached the house, they realized that they were the dinner, for the Laestrygonians were cannibals, delighted at having a rich supply of food sail into their harbour. Odysseus and his crew—those who managed to escape the trap—ran back to the shore, but the Laestrygonians followed them over the nearby cliffs and hurled stones that smashed all the ships, save one. Odysseus and a handful of sailors managed to escape on the vessel. The others were trapped on the shores where the cannibals got to them, tearing them from limb to limb and eating them alive.

  When Odysseus leaves Troy he has twelve ships. He is left with only one after his encounter with the Laestrygonians.

  It is believed that the Laestrygonians lived in what is now called Sicily.

  Circe

  Odysseus’s lone ship finally made its way to the island of Aiaia.

  Odysseus waited on the shore while the sailors explored the island. Long hours passed until at last one sailor returned with horrifying news: the island was home to a sorceress named Circe who pretended to be kind and offered food and drink to strangers, only to turn them all into pigs.

  Determined to release his men from the enchantress, Odysseus marched to her house. On the way, the god Hermes met him and gave him a herb to eat which would keep him safe from Circe’s magical potions.

  Circe was welcoming, charming and seductive and offered Odysseus a drink, but was surprised to find that it had no effect on him. Odysseus then drew his sword and threatened to kill Circe if she did not release his sailors from her spell. Circe released the soldiers but asked Odysseus to stay with her for a few days and share her bed, while his sailors ate, rested and recovered their strength. Odysseus, not wanting to upset the witch, and finding her rather enchanting, agreed.

  A few weeks later, he decided it was time to go.

  ‘You will reach home only after you consult Tiresias, the oracle, and ask him how your journey will end,’ said Circe.

  ‘Where is he?’ asked Odysseus.

  ‘Across the great ocean, beyond the River Styx, in the land of the dead. I will show you the way. Do not be afraid.’

  In the folklore associated with wandering Indian mendicants known as Nath yogis there is reference to yoginis, or sorceresses, who turn men into donkeys and pigs and goats for their pleasure, until they meet their match in the sage Jalandar-nath.

  Circe is the daughter of Helios, the sun. Her sister Pasiphae marries Minos. Her brother Aeetes is the keeper of the Golden Fleece in Colchis. This makes the witch Medea her niece.

  In 1955, Nirad C. Chaudhari published his book The Continent of Circe where he compares the transformation of a militaristic Indian society, from the times of the Aryans through the Maurya and Gupta periods, into a non-violent pacifist society by the Mughal and European rulers of India, to the transformation of Greek warriors into pigs by Circe.

  The Odyssey is strongly influenced by the Mesopotamian epic Gilgamesh, which tells the story of a king who goes in search of the herb of immortality and has many adventures on the journey. Like Odysseus’s encounter with Circe, Gilgamesh encounters a power woman, the goddess Selene who is associated with fermentation, hence alcohol.