In this passage of the Odyssey Odysseus has been on an island with the goddess Calypso for many years. He was originally on his way home after the Trojan War when he was shipwrecked on her island. She has taken him as her lover and husband. However Odysseus has a wife and a son back home in Ithaca. After his long time on her island some of the gods get together to discuss what is next for Odysseus and decide that he has been on the island for long enough. The gods decide it is time for Odysseus to leave Calypso and continue his journey home. Zeus sends Hermes to tell Calypso that she must give up Odysseus so he can finally return to Ithaca. This Angers Calypso who points out the double standards of the gods. This passage is important because it potentially shows a moment in which Homer is pointing out the double standards and sexism in Greek society. We have a moment where a female character seems to be saying things that are seen as more 21st century types of views. We see what looks almost like feminism in Calypso’s speech against the gods’ treatment of the goddesses.

"He finished, and the nymph’s aura stiffened
Words flew from her mouth like screaming hawks:

"You gods are the most jealous bastards in the universe-
Persecuting any goddess who ever openly takes
A mortal lover to her bed and sleeps with him.
When Dawn caressed Orion with her rosy fingers,
You celestial layabouts gave her nothing but trouble
Until Artemis finally shot him on Ortygia-
Gold-throned, holy, gentle-shafted assault goddess!
When Demeter fallowed her heart and unbound
Her hair for Iasion and made love to him
In a late-summer field, Zeus was there taking notes
And now you gods are after me for having a man.
Well, I was the one who saved his life, unprying him
From the spar he came floating on, sole survivor
Of the wreck Zeus made of his streamlined ship,
Slivering it with lightning on the wine-dark sea.
I loved him, I took care of him, I even told him
I’d make him immortal and ageless all of his days.
But you said it, Hermes: Zeus has the aegis
And none of us gods can oppose his will.
So all right, he can go, if it’s an order from above,
Off on the sterile sea. How I don’t know.
I don’t have any oared ships or crewmen
To row him across the sea’s broad back.
But I’ll help him. I’ll do everything I can.
To get him back safely to his own native land.”"
Work Cited
“Orion” Theoi Greek Mythology. Theoi Project 2000-2011
http://www.theoi.com/Gigante/GiganteOrion.html

“Iasion” Theoi Greek Mythology. Theoi Project 2000-2011 http://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/Iasion.html

“Aegis” Dictionary.com. The American Heritage. Abbreviations Dictionary, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/aegis

“Zeus” GreekMythology.com 2000-2014
http://www.greekmythology.com/Olympians/Zeus/zeus.html

“Hermes” GreekMythology.com 2000-2014
http://greekmythology.com/Olympians/Hermes/hermes.html

“Epithet” About Education. About.com 2014
http://grammar.about.com/od/e/g/epitheterm.htm