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Exegesis on the Soul

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The Repentance of Odysseus and Helen

Chapter 6

It is accordingly written in the poet: “Odysseus sat on the island suffering and grieving and turning away his face from the words of Calypso and from her charms, yearning to see his village again and smoke rising up from it.⁠
And if he had not [received] assistance from Heaven, [he could not have returned] to his village.” ‒ (Homer, Odyssey 1.48-1.59)
Again, [Helen also] says: “My heart changed in me; it is to my home I would return.” ‒ (Homer, Odyssey 4.260-261)
Because she moaned, saying: “It is Aphrodite who misled me⁠ and took me away from my village.
My own daughter I forsook, and my husband, good, intelligent, handsome.” ‒ (Homer, Odyssey 4.261-4.264)
Because when the soul forsakes her perfect husband on account of the disloyalty of Aphrodite, who comes to exist here by the act of begetting, then she will come to injury.
If however, she moans and repents, she will be returned to her house.

Texts in conversation

Compare Homer, Odyssey 1.58 and Exegesis on the Soul 6:1

Classical · Nag Hammadi

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Summary

In the Odyssey, the goddess Calypso keeps Odysseus on her island while he longs to return home. Exegesis on the Soul, a Nag Hammadi text, interprets him as the soul, which longs for home but cannot get there without help from heaven.

Passages

Homer, Odyssey 1.58

Classical
45 “Father of us all, you son of Cronos, high above all lords, yes, truly that man lies low in a destruction that is his due; so, too, may any other also be destroyed who does such deeds. But my heart is torn for wise Odysseus, hapless man, who far from his friends has long been suffering woes 50 in a sea-girt isle, where is the navel of the sea. It is a wooded isle, and in it dwells a goddess, daughter of Atlas of baneful mind, who knows the depths of every sea, and himself holds the tall pillars which keep earth and heaven apart. 55 His daughter it is that keeps back that wretched, sorrowing man; and always with soft and wheedling words she beguiles him that he may forget Ithaca. But Odysseus, in his longing to see were it but the smoke leaping up from his own land, yearns to die. Yet your
725 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Homer, Odyssey

Exegesis on the Soul 6:1

Nag Hammadi
It is accordingly written in the poet: “Odysseus sat on the island suffering and grieving and turning away his face from the words of Calypso and from her charms, yearning to see his village again and smoke rising up from it. And if he had not [received] assistance from Heaven, [he could not have returned] to his village.” ‒ (Homer, Odyssey 1.48-1.59)
200–230 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Exegesis on the Soul

References

“... Therefore it is written in the poet (Homer, Odyssey 1.48-59), Odysseus sat on the island weeping and grieving and turning his face from the words of Calypso and from her tricks, longing to see his village and smoke coming forth from it. And had he not [received] help from heaven, [he would] not [have been able to return] to his village. Again [Helen] ⟨...⟩ saying (Odyssey 4.260-261), [My heart] turned itself from me. It is to my house that I want to return. For she sighed, saying (Odyssey 4.261-264), It is Aphrodite who deceived me and brought me out of my village. My only daughter I left behind me, and my good, understanding, handsome husband. For when the soul leaves her perfect husband because of the treachery of Aphrodite, who exists here in the act of begetting, then she will suffer harm. But if she sighs and repents, she will be restored to her house. ...”
William C. Robinson Jr. and Maddalena Scopello, “The Exegesis on the Soul (II,6),” in The Nag Hammadi Library in English, ed. James M. Robinson, rev. ed. (New York: HarperCollins, 1990), 197–198.
“... After the story is told, the hortatory section (135,4ff.) twice says what is proper behavior (―It is fitting‖ 135,4–15; 136,16–27)—sighing, weeping, hating ourselves and this place of deception, repenting with sincerity—and offers assurance that the father hears the penitent. Chains of Scripture (136,25–137,11; 137,11–22) support both points. In the second instance the Scripture quotations also summarize the whole theme of repentance and deliverance, both in terms of narrative. One is from Homer‘s Odyssey (Helen and Odysseus are figures of the soul‘s perilous journey through this world to her true home) and the other is from Israel‘s exodus out of Egypt (to prooftext the groveling which is de rigueur in Exeg. Soul ‘s piety: ―Certainly Israel would not have been visited in the first place, to be brought out of the land of Egypt … if it had not sighed to God and wept …‖). There are also single texts from Scripture: at the end of the narrative didactic definitions are coupled with quotations (134,4–5.11–25.29–135,4). ...”
David Noel (ed.) Freedman, The Anchor Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 2:688–689.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Homer, Odyssey 1.58 and Exegesis on the Soul 6:1

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