The Odyssey: Book 5 Summary & Analysis

The gods assemble on mount Olympus. Athena implores Zeus to help Odysseus, who was such a kind and just ruler, and is now trapped in Calypso's house without any way home. Zeus instructs Athena to bring Telemachus home unharmed, and tells the messenger god Hermes to tell Calypso to release Odysseus from captivity. Zeus decrees that Odysseus will sail home with great pain and difficulty, and that he will arrive at the land of the Phaeacians, who will speed him home with vast treasures in tow.

Hermes flies to Calypso's island, where the goddess sings and weaves by a fire in her cavern in the woods. Odysseus sits on the beach and cries. Hermes tells Calypso that Zeus commands her to release Odysseus. In response, Calypso angrily shouts that the gods become jealous when goddesses sleep with mortals, though they often sleep with mortal women. She says that she loves Odysseus as a husband and has even offered to make him immortal. Nevertheless, she agrees to let him go.

Though Odysseus sleeps with Calypso, he weeps for his wife and home. Calypso comes to him and tells him to weep no longer, because she is sending him home. Odysseus is suspicious, so Calypso swears an oath not to harm him. Odysseus and Calypso share an exquisite meal. Calypso warns him that if he knew the suffering ahead of him, he would stay with her and be her immortal husband; after all, she cannot be less fair than his wife. Odysseus replies that though Penelope is not as fair as Calypso, he still yearns for home. They fall asleep in each other's arms.

The next morning, Odysseus sets to work making a raft with the goddess's tools. When he finishes, Calypso gives him provisions and he sails away. He sails for seventeen days until he sees the island of the Phaeacians. But at that moment Poseidon spots him and grows angry at his good fortune, so he sends down a terrible storm. Odysseus begins to fears death, and wishes he had died a hero's death on the battlefield instead. A wave throws him from the ship and pulls him under, but he comes up to the surface and clutches his splintering raft. Just then, the goddess Ino sees him and takes pity; she gives him a magical scarf that will temporarily make him immortal, and tells him to swim to shore – once he reaches land, though, he must throw the scarf back into the sea without looking. Odysseus does as she says, and Poseidon decides that Odysseus has suffered enough and lets him go. Athena controls the winds so that they blow Odysseus to the Phaeacian shore.

Odysseus floats for two nights and two days, and at the dawn of the third day he spots land. He despairs to see, however, that waves and sharp rocks separate him from shore. A wave throws him against the rocks, but Athena inspires him with the strength to cling hard to one of the reefs; then a wave drags him back into the sea. Athena inspires him again, and he swims along the shore looking for a safer place to land. He prays to Poseidon, and the god brings him to a safe place to climb ashore. Odysseus throws himself onto the beach; despite his pain and exhaustion, he remembers to throw the scarf back into the sea. He crawls into the woods and falls asleep.