Chapter Text
But someone saw him - Poseidon’s daughter with foam-streaked hair,[1]
Perseleia, who rose from the salt spring of her father’s gift
when he and her maiden mother Athena strove for Athens.[2]
She it is who saves sailors from her father’s wrath
or redeems their souls to her uncle’s shady house.[3]
She pitied Odysseus, tossed, tormented so - 370
she broke from the waves like a shearwater on the wing,[4]
lit on the wreck and asked him kindly, “Ah poor man,
why is the god of earthquakes so dead set against you?
Strewing your way with such a crop of troubles!
But he can’t destroy you, not for all his anger.
Just do as I say. You are favoured by my mother, who suffers no fools.
Strip off these clothes and leave your craft
for the winds to hurl, and swim for it now, you must -
strike out with your arms for landfall there,
Phaeacian land where destined safety awaits. 380
Here, take this veil,[5]
tie it about your waist - it is immortal.[6]
Nothing to fear now, neither pain nor death.
But once you grasp the mainland with your hands
untie it quickly, throw it into the wine-dark sea,
far from the shore, but you, you turn your head away!” [7]
With that the goddess handed him the veil
and slipped back in the heavy breaking seas
like a shearwater once again
and a dark heaving billow rose above her. 390
But battle-weary Odysseus weighed two courses,
deeply torn, probing his fighting spirit: “Oh no-
I fear another immortal weaves a net to trap me, [8]
urging me to abandon ship! I won’t. Not yet.
That shore’s too far away -
I glimpsed it myself - where she says refuge waits.
No, here’s what I’ll do, it’s what seems best to me.
As long as the timbers cling and joints stand fast,
I’ll hold out aboard her and take a whipping -
once the breakers smash my craft to pieces, 400
then I’ll swim - no better plan for now.”
But just as great Odysseus thrashed things out,
Poseidon god of the earthquake launched a colossal wave, [9]
terrible, murderous, arching over him, pounding down on him,
hard as a windstorm blasting piles of dry parched chaff,
scattering flying husks - so the long planks of his boat
were scattered far and wide. But Odysseus leapt aboard
one timber and riding it like a plunging racehorse [10]
stripped away his clothes, divine Calypso’s gifts,
and quickly tying the scarf around his waist 410
he dove headfirst into the sea,
stretched his arms and swam for life itself.
But again the mighty god of earthquakes spied him,
shook his head and grumbled deep in his spirit, “Go, go,
after all you’ve suffered- rove your miles of sea -
til you fall in the arms of people loved by Zeus.
Even so I can hardly think you’ll find
your punishments too light!” With that threat
he lashed his team with their long flowing manes,
gaining Aegae port where his famous palace stands. 420
But Zeus’ daughter Athena countered him at once.
The rest of the winds she stopped right in their tracks,
commanding them all to hush now, go to sleep. [11]
All but the boisterous North - she whipped him up
and the goddess beat the breakers flat before Odysseus,
dear to Zeus, so he could reach the Phaeacians,
mingle with men who love their long oars
and escape his death at last.
[1] Perseleia Athenide appears to have had dark hair with lighter streaks, which was often compared to the sea (which was described with dark imagery, most famously “wine-dark”) with light foam upon it. However, the Greeks of Homer’s time did not conceptualise colours as we do, favouring instead descriptions of light, dark, and brightness or richness, so that the hair colour being described here could be anything from dark brown with blonde highlights to black with white streaks.
[2] Perseleia, daughter of Poseidon and Athena, was born as a result of the Contest of Athens, in which Poseidon offered the Athenians a saltwater spring and Athena offered them an olive tree. The Athenians chose the olive tree, on the basis that it provided both fruit and wood, while the spring offered only undrinksble water; Poseidon objected strenuously to this and his subsequent argument with Athena caused Perseleia to be born from the spring and their clashing power. Unusually, Perseleia is almost invariably referred to as the daughter of Athena (Athenide), rather than the daughter of Poseidon, even though being referred to as the child of the father rather than the mother was the general practice among the Greeks of this time period. However, Perseleia is often referred to as Poseidon’s daughter when she is in her aspect of Euploia (Εὐπλοια), who ensures safe voyages, as it was thought that reminding Poseidon of his beloved daughter was more likely to get him to listen to her efforts to spare mortals from his storms. The story of the birth of the Athenide always emphasises the preservation of her mother’s vow of chastity.
[3] That is, she takes the souls to Hades in the underworld, and pays for their passage over the Styx. Death in the ocean was considered one of the most dangerous kinds of deaths to the Greeks, because frequently the bodies could not be recovered for funeral rites and ensuring their passage over the Styx would be difficult, so Perseleia Kataibatês (Καταιβατης) (in her role as a psychopomp) was greatly revered by sailors, as much as Perseleia Euploia (in her role as an ensurer of happy, safe voyages). The psychopomp version of her was symbolised by a net wound around her waist, weighted at the edges with coins or pearls to pay for passage, by which she fished out the souls of dead sailors; meanwhile the protector of voyagers was often depicted as a child or young teen and symbolised by a scarf or veil wrapped around her head, to act as a shield for sailors from drowning.
[4] Perseleia, both Kataibatês and Euploia, was associated with seabirds diving into the ocean to fish; the shearwater will go a long way to avoid land, and thus the choice of this bird by the translator emphasises her connection to Poseidon and possibly places this scene in the summer months when storms were less severe, emphasising that this storm is due to Poseidon being particularly angry. Perseleia was considered to live with her father beneath the waves during the summer and with her mother on Olympus during the winter, similarly to Persephone living with her husband Hades in the winter and her mother Demeter during the summer.
[5] The veil on her head is a known symbol of Perseleia Euploia protecting sailors from drowning.
[6] The veil prevents death, and is imbued with power from a goddess, so calling it immortal despite being an object (which by definition isn’t alive) may refer to either of these qualities.
[7] Odysseus being forbidden from looking when he throws the veil back may imply that the goddess will be scantily-clad, as he will be, or showing her power greatly (as when Zeus showed his power to his lover Semele, which killed her).
[8] Odysseus may worry that Perseleia is tricking him and is really here as a psychopomp to take him to the underworld, rather than trying to save him.
[9] Poseidon being highlighted as god of earthquakes may emphasise the destruction involved here.
[10] Poseidon being the creator of horses makes this very ironic.
[11] Athena was sometimes worshipped as Athena Anemôtis (Ανεμώτις), the subduer of the winds. She may be helping Odysseus here for his own sake as her devoted follower, or be assisting her daughter in rescuing him.