Odyssey: The journey of the human soul and the meaning of names.
by Angeliki Kompocholi
I shall begin my study with an effort to clarify the Greek word “σύμβολο”, symbol in English. It derives from the ancient Greek verb “συμβάλλω”, which means to be actively involved in something, to contribute to something, in other words to discover a symbol, an archetype and to try to convey the meaning of a concept or idea through it[1]. We all know that Odysseus is a symbol, and even more so a universal and a timeless one. The hero’s journey, the journey of life figuratively speaking, the initiation in the mysteries of this world through ordeal and adventure, the creative path to awareness. According to Carl Jung it is “the repetition of the ancient tale of the soul wishing to obtain eminent independence and autonomy”[2]. As the great author states, the primary image included in a symbol (the archetype according to his terminology) is a collective image, common among entire peoples or historical periods, a powerful memory reserve. In many cases this memory reserve is transferred from one generation to another through names, as is the case in Odyssey, in this great Homeric poem, and this knowledge exactly is what I would like to share with you. If there is a permeating feeling that the monsters Odysseus encountered in his adventurous journey are, in reality, ghosts of his own soul, conflicts of conscience and guilt, results of his actions which he would have to face himself, then the analysis of the names and their functions within this epic poem will be indeed a remarkably interesting philological, linguistic and anthropological pursuit.
Homer begins the Odyssey with an invocation to the Muse Calliope, asking her to help him narrate the long journey of the resourceful man, who visited and knew many destinations and many people, and who endured many sufferings at sea in his efforts to ensure the return of himself and of his companions whom he so dearly loved. The name Odysseus is linked to adventure and to the personal battle against the forces of nature, life and self, forces both bright and dark. The dark forces are personified by the monstrous creatures Odysseus encounters in his journey, while the bright ones are personified by the gods who fight against him, precisely because they wish to reinforce his actions and his personal course towards true self-knowledge, and towards the transcendence of lower instincts and sufferings, the very concepts the monsters represent.
Odysseus made indeed many moral mistakes: he was the main person responsible for the death of Palamedes, whom he cunningly incriminated as an ally to the Trojans[3]. He was the person who heartlessly threw Astyanax, the son of Hector, down from the wall of Troy (Iliou Persis), without remorse, even though he is a father himself. He was the one who blinded Polyphemus, the son of Poseidon, and irreverently boasted about his action[4]. All these actions brought about the gods’ wrath. The very etymology of his name bears witness to this fact: “ὀδύσσαντο θεοί”[5], that is he was hated by the gods according to ancient sources, and this is the way they derive his name[6]. A second version of the etymology of his name is that it is derived from εὖ and ὁδός, “εὖ” being an adverb which means “well” and “ὁδός” being the noun meaning “road”, namely, finding the right course, through mistakes and delusions[7]. A stop, the last one to be praised by the universe. And this is the initial hopeful message of Odyssey in its first scene. The gods are assembled and decide that Odysseus should return to Ithaca. Hermes bears the duty to warn Calypso who holds Odysseus, almost as her prisoner, in her island. Athena has to speak with Telemachus, to motivate him to seek news about his father. On a symbolic level, Athena is the superior mind and prudence[8] and Telemachus is the battle we have to fight, even if we have to travel τῆλε[9], to travel far away, in other words, to move far forward[10]. Also in Plato the name Athena is interpreted as the proper perception of things based on ethics[11].
The narrative of Odyssey begins in media res, that is, in the middle of the story, with the sorrowful hero in the island of Calypso wishing to return to Ithaca. The name Calypso is related to the ancient verb καλύπτω, to cover[12], the name Hermes according to Plato derives from the ancient verb εἴρω, to connect, and the verb μέδομαι, to think about, to take care of something[13]. Calypso embodies the things we hide inside us which we do not dare to admit. Hermes is the divine element which visits us, asking us to reconnect with the celestial world, with the higher self, reinterpreting things, uncovering the things we cover, which lay sunken into lethargy, inside our conscience. And what exactly are the things we cover? They are of course the monsters of our soul, the ones we cannot bear to face, and we would rather sedate and hide away, even though they rise like giants inside us, convincing ourselves that we are happy. “You are terrible and jealous gods, you are jealous of other people’s happiness”, this is the way Calypso’s words are presented by Homer[14].It is not easy to release what lies hidden within us. Many times it looks like picking up a stone only to find a pit of snakes underneath. Much like what Odysseus faced, we also, literarily speaking, called them adventures: Lotus-eaters, Laestrygonians, Cyclops, Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis[15] , all the beasts we have to face in life, very often in the form of the difficulties we encounter and against which we have to fight[16].
The word τέρας, meaning monster in ancient Greek, derives from the ancient Greek verb τείρω[17], to destroy, to penetrate, with the second meaning being most indicative, the passion, our bad self that penetrates and destroys us. In this sense a monster can be a beast, but also a man with monstrous behavior. In this second category we can find the Lotus-eaters and the man-eating Laestrygonians. The Lotus-eaters are not consciously evil. On the contrary, they are very hospitable. They offer lotus fruits to Odysseus and his companions with good intention, only this sweet fruit brings oblivion and, as a result, those who eat it forget everything and wish to stay there forever. Many anthropologists-researchers recognize the symbolic attachment of the human soul to pleasure, which hinders its progress. We taste the sweet fruits of the Lotus-eaters and we get carried away by the enchanting song of the Sirens.
The Sirens are mythical monsters of course, sea demons with the head of a woman and the body of a raptorial bird. The etymology of the name Siren is indicative. According to Plato it is a compound word deriving from the words σιγή (silence) and εἴρω (here meaning to talk and to think prudently)[18]. They are the conditions, the circumstances that confine reason, they silence it, they deceive and they are not easy to be perceived. On the contrary, the Laestrygonians are overt enemies, brutal in their savagery, but noticeable. As soon as Odysseus and his companions arrive in their country, they encounter a gigantic woman, similar to a mountain top. When she sees them she starts to scream and then her husband Antiphates appears. He, in turn, grabs three of Odysseus’s companions and eats them. To many scholars of the Homeric poems the Laestrygonians symbolize malevolent thoughts, the uncontrollable animosity which can suddenly overwhelm even the most rational of men, pushing him into violent actions which are in contrast to his previous rational state. The name Antiphates is related to the Greek word ἀντίφασις[19], which means contradiction, and the ancient Greek verb ἀντίφημι[20], to contradict, to act paradoxically[21]. Or, in a more poetic version, if you will, since all the above words are compound words made up from the preposition ἀντί[22], ante in Latin[23], which signifies contrast and the verb φημί[24], to speak, which is related to the ancient Greek φάος[25], that is, light, as I shed light to my thoughts by speaking, thus Antiphates represents every act of impulse which is manifested suddenly and is symbolically contradictory to the light I posses inside me as a person[26]. By the way, I would like to add that from the age-old Homeric word φάος, we also derive the ancient words φῶς[27], light, as well as φώς[28], the enlightened man[29]. Maybe in order to find the light within us we first need to realize the darkness of our soul, and here we can mention the symbolic journey of Odysseus descending into the Underworld, where he meets Tiresias[30] the prophet, who always made negative predictions since in the etymological analysis of his name we encounter the verb τείρω[31], which as we have already mentioned means to destroy[32]. And that is because this prophet always predicted the consequences of irrational actions, of the actions which with mathematical precision hurt the mind leading to excess, to irrationality, greed,”hubris” (ὕβρις). I use here the ancient Greek word ὕβρις [33]., insult which signifies that kind of transcendence that leads to arrogance[34]. Let us remember the example of Odysseus’s companions who eat the cattle of god Helios and get punished for it in the preface of the Odyssey[35].
Something monstrous is appalling, sometimes however it may be hiding inside the divine. In the appalling appearance we mentioned, we encounter in the Odyssey Scylla, Charybdis, the Sirens we already referred to, Polyphemus and the Cyclops. In the divine or demigod appearance we encounter the nymphs Calypso and Circe and here we should proceed in the etymological analysis of all the names mentioned above.
We have already mentioned Calypso, but we have not yet referred to Circe. The name Circe, Κίρκη in ancient Greek derives from the ancient name κίρκος, meaning raptorial bird[36]. Circe was a sorceress who enchanted men, transforming them later into pigs using the herbs she made. Odysseus, focused in his purpose to reach eternal Ithaca is not influenced by her power, with the help of Hermes himself, who offers him an antidote called «μῶλυ»[37]. But as we already mentioned, aside from divine assistance, Odysseus himself is steadily focused to his goal, thus, conquering the lust the goddess represents and transforming her in turn. A very precise description of their encounter states that “Circe has the power to dominate over the lower parts of Odysseus’s psyche, but she in turn is conquered by the power of the awakening personality”[38]. A personality awakened when it encounters the truly monstrous, the truly dark which is represented by Scylla, Charybdis and the Cyclops. Scylla and Charybdis are described by Circe as «δεινόν οὐ μαχητόν»[39], that is something terrible that cannot be fought. Scylla lives in the European side of Bosporus, while Charybdis lives in the Asian one. She has six necks eating the same number of sailors, while Charybdis gulps three times the sea and spits it back out three times, swallowing the ships that pass by. The Liddell & Scott Dictionary[40]mentions that the name Charybdis means sea whirlpool and that the same meaning can be used for the name Scylla, which contains the ancient verb εἴλω that means spinning[41]. In a symbolic level, these monsters clearly represent the stifling feeling of doubt and deadlock, which confines and swallows the creative forces of man, especially when he views things one-sidedly and not with an wider perspective. This situation is described and recognized in the form of Cyclops. The word Cyclops, Κύκλωψ in ancient Greek is a compound word made up by two nouns, the noun κύκλος[42], that is circle, and the noun ὤψ[43], whose genitive form is “τῆς ὠπός”, in ancient Greek, meaning a sight, a look[44]. The circle has the perfect shape according to the philosophy of Parmenides, it has boundaries however, and many times those boundaries hinder the open, wide view over things. Usually, the selfish man, who is confined to his own world, and to his own worldview, cannot meet with a fellow man or talk with reason. When Cyclops asks Odysseus what his name is, he responds Οὔτις[45], Nobody, and the Cyclops is not surprised, because to the self-centered man, the fellow human being simply does not exist[46].
At this point I shall conclude my study with an observation. A common question is: “Does this decoding of symbols generally apply or is it merely a personal contribution?” Obviously, what I have written is based on studies and reading. I believe however that a great intellectual creation, such as the Odyssey, should be evaluated based on the multiple interpretations it offers to its researcher, in the sense that a great intellectual creation does not indicate a single way of understanding things. On the contrary, it broadens the possibilities of interpretation. There are many paths to knowledge and each and every one of them leads to a special intellectual goal, and all of them combined form the pieces of a glorious jigsaw we call intellect. If a work creates a lot of such paths, then it becomes special. Even today, the Odyssey is timelessly and universally considered to be the work with the greatest influence, with Plato saying about Homer that “this poet really educated Greece”[47] . According to my interpretation, Homer offers this glorious message. That even the darkest, most monstrous part of the soul can rise to the light of divinity using the wise interventions of life itself.
[1] Liddell H. –Scott R. (2007), Liddell Scott Dictionary, Epitomi ( Επιτομή του Μεγάλου Λεξικού της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας), Athens: Pelekanos Publishing Company, enty 1997.
[2] Jung C. (1973), Symbols of Transformation (Τα Σύμβολα της Μεταμόρφωσης), Athens: Arsenidis Publishing Company, 97, 655.
[3] Hyginus, Fabulae, 105.
[4] Homer, Odys., 9.474: “καὶ τότ᾽ ἐγὼ Κύκλωπα προσηύδων κερτομίοισι”.
[5] Homer, Odys., 19. 405-409 ; Homer, Iliad, 6. 138.
[6] Eustathiou Α. (2015), Ancient Greek Language (Αρχιγένεθλος Ελληνική Γλώσσα), Athens: Pelasgos Press, p. 590.
[7] Maragou M. (2018), Odyssey. The Journey of Soul (Oδύσσεια( Το Κοσμικό Ταξίδι της Ψυχής), Αthens: Kaktos Publishing Company, 19-23.
[8] Maragou (2018), 33-34.
[9] Ancient greek adverb meaning “far away”.
[10] Maragou (2018), 32.
[11] Plato, Cratylus, 407 b-c.
[12] Pitsouli I. (2014), Secret Odyssey (Μυστική Οδύσσεια), Athens: Dioptra Publishing Company, 62-63.
[13] Lathyris G. – Maragou M. (2015), Plato, Cratylus, Athens:Heliodromion Publishing Company, 683-684.
[14] Homer, Odys. 5, 118-119.
[15] Pitsouli ((2014), 91-110.
[16] Denziger J. W. (2019), Die Odyssey im Tierkreis (greek translation), Athens: Chironas Publishing Company, 256-278.
[17] Eustathiou A. (2015), Historical Linguistics and history of the Ancient Greek Language (Ο εν τηι λέξει Λόγος), Athens: Pelasgos Publishing Company, 64, 284.
[18] Lathyris G. – Maragou M. (2015), Plato, Cratylus, 690.
[19] Stamatakos I. (2012), Ancient Greek Dictionary (Λεξικόν της Αρχαίας Ελληνικής Γλώσσης), Athens: Dedemadh Publishing Company, 134.
[20] Stamatakos (2012), 134.
[21] Pitsouli (2014), 110.
[22] Stamatakos (2014), 126-127.
[23] Koumanoudis S. (1993), Latin-Greek Dictionary (Λεξικόν Λατινοελληνικόν), Athens: Grigoris Publishing Company, 55.
[24] Stamatakos (2014), 1068.
[25] Stamatakos (2010), 1061.
[26] Eustathiou A. (2015), Historical Linguistics and history of the Ancient Greek Language (Ο εν τηι λέξει Λόγος), 67, 83, 85, 177, 179.
[27] Stamatakos (2010), 1094.
[28] Stamatakos (2010), 1094.
[29] Eustathiou A. (2015), Historical Linguistics and history of the Ancient Greek Language (Ο εν τηι λέξει Λόγος), 67, 299-300.
[30] Giropoulou-Eustathiou A. (2003), Ancient Greek Language Courses, Teacher’s Book (Μαθήματα Αρχαίας Ελληνικής Γλώσσης, Α’ Κύκλος Σπουδών, Βιβλίον Βοηθητικόν Καθηγητού και Μελέτης), Athens: Georgiadis Publishing Company, 199.
[31] Stamatakos (2012), 976-977.
[32] Eustathiou A. (2015), Historical Linguistics and history of the Ancient Greek Language (Ο εν τηι λέξει Λόγος), 64, 284.
[33] Stamatakos (2010), 1022.
[34] Eustathiou A. (2015), Historical Linguistics and history of the Ancient Greek Language (Ο εν τηι λέξει Λόγος), 188, 337.
[35] Homer, Odys., 1, 8-9.
[36] Tziropoulou-Eustathiou A. (2003), Homer (Όμηρος Τηλεμάχου Οδυσσείδης), Athens: Georgiadis Publishing Company, 29.
[37] Homer, Odys. 10. 305.
[38] Pitsouli (2014), 113.
[39] Homer, Odys. 12,119.
[40] Liddell H. –Scott R. (1997), Liddell Scott Dictionary (Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας), Athens: Sideris Ioannis Publishing Company, IV, 616
[41] Stamatakos (2010), 906.
[42] Stamatakos (2010), 557.
[43] Stamatakos (2010), 1144.
[44] Stamatakos (2010), 557; Eustathiou A. (2015), Historical Linguistics and history of the Ancient Greek Language (Ο εν τηι λέξει Λόγος), 445, 536.
[45] Homer, Odys., 9.366.
[46] Kostopoulos A. (2018), Odyssey, The divine course (Ένθεοι Περίπατοι στην Ομήρου Οδύσσεια), Athens: AgathosLogos Publishing Company, 94.
[47] Plato, Civitas, 606 e.