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In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus longs to see smoke rising from his homeland despite Calypso’s charms. Exegesis on the Soul, a Nag Hammadi text, applies his longing to the soul’s return and emphasizes his need for help from heaven.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Homer, Odyssey 1.48-59
Classical
But my heart is torn for wise Odysseus, hapless man, who far from his friends has long been suffering woes in a sea-girt isle, where is the navel of the sea. 'Tis a wooded isle, and therein 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. His daughter it is that keeps back that wretched, sorrowing man; and ever 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 thy heart doth not regard it, Olympian. Did not Odysseus beside the ships of the Argives offer thee sacrifice without stint in the broad land of Troy? Wherefore then didst thou conceive such wrath against him, O Zeus?”
Date: 725 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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)
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Notes and 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. ...”
Robinson, William C., Jr.; Scopello, Maddalena
"The Exegesis on the Soul (II,6)" in Robinson, James M. (ed.) The Nag Hammadi Library in English
(pp. 197-198) HarperCollins, 1990
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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