The Odyssey Book 5 Summary
Calypso Frees Odysseus
The gods order Odysseus released from Calypso; Hermes delivers the command, Calypso helps him build a raft, and a storm drives him to Scheria.
Summary
The assembly of the gods opens at dawn, where Athena (Minerva) pleads with Zeus (Jove) for the fate of Odysseus, who is held by the nymph Calypso and mourns his long exile. Zeus appoints Hermes (Mercury) to tell Calypso to release Odysseus and decrees that the hero must make a perilous twenty-day voyage by raft to the Phaeacian isle of Scheria, where the Phaeacians will honor and escort him home. Hermes flies to Calypso’s verdant cave and delivers the divine command. Calypso receives him hospitably, but when she learns she must let Odysseus leave she protests the gods’ double standard toward goddesses who love mortals.
Calypso goes to Odysseus, who sits grief-stricken on the shore, and tells him he is free to depart. Odysseus is suspicious and demands a solemn oath; Calypso swears by the heavens and the Styx that she means him no harm. She provides him with tools, timber, provisions, favourable winds and the means to build a substantial raft. In four days he constructs the craft, and on the fifth he launches with food, wine, clothing and a fair wind. After many days at sea Poseidon (Neptune), returning from Ethiopia, spots Odysseus and, enraged, unleashes a violent storm that breaks the raft. Odysseus clings to the wreckage; the sea-goddess Ino (Leucothea) appears, gives him an enchanted veil, and urges him to abandon the raft and swim for the Phaeacian coast. Poseidon hurls a final wave that smashes the raft; Odysseus strips, ties Ino’s veil about his chest, and swims. Athena calms the winds except for a north breeze to aid him; after two nights and two days of exhaustion he reaches a river mouth, collapses, discards the veil into the stream, and, guided by Athena’s care, finds shelter under a coppice where she grants him sleep.
Key events
- Athena pleads Odysseus' cause before Zeus; Zeus orders his release to Scheria.
- Hermes delivers Zeus' message to Calypso in her island cave.
- Calypso reluctantly agrees, swears an oath, gives timber and provisions.
- Odysseus builds a raft in four days and launches on a fair wind.
- Poseidon raises a storm, wrecks the raft; Ino gives Odysseus an enchanted veil.
- Odysseus swims to a river mouth, discards the veil, and sleeps under olive shoots.
Analysis
Book V shifts the poem from long-held stasis to renewed journey by reasserting divine will and the limits of mortal agency. Structurally it functions as a bridge: the council scene reintroduces the Olympian politics that govern men’s fates; the sequence on Calypso’s isle closes a prolonged episode of conscription under an alluring, domestic immortality; and the storm/landing sequence restarts the nostos plot by propelling Odysseus toward the Phaeacians. The chapter contrasts two kinds of power: Calypso’s intimate, possessive care that promises immortality versus Zeus’ public authority that enforces the hero’s return. Odysseus’ repeated appeals to oath, to the gods, and to human honor reveal his loyalty to home and identity; his refusal to accept immortal life underscores the poem’s valuation of mortal bonds and reputation.
Symbolically, the raft and the sea test Odysseus’ seamanship and endurance, while Ino’s veil, a protective but temporary divine aid, signals that deliverance often requires both human effort and selective divine favor. Athena’s advocacy and Poseidon’s wrath foreshadow recurring tensions between benevolent and hostile divine forces. The narrative technique alternates council-panorama, intimate dialogue, and vivid storm-scene, maintaining epic dignity while giving close access to Odysseus’ psychological desolation. The episode also prepares the reader for the hospitality motif central to Scheria and later episodes: Calypso’s house is richly described to contrast Phaeacian reception to come, and the poem reinforces hospitality, oath-keeping, and the interplay of deceit and truth as recurring thematic concerns.
Important quotes
“There he is, lying in great pain in an island where dwells the nymph Calypso, who will not let him go;”
AthenaAthena petitions Zeus for Odysseus' release, summarizing his miserable, captive condition on Calypso's isle.
“I am dealing with you quite straightforwardly; my heart is not made of iron, and I am very sorry for you.”
CalypsoCalypso swears she means Odysseus no harm and comforts him before helping him build the raft for his departure.
Characters in Book 5
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