Calypso and Dido Flashcards
Who is Calypso?
She is in Odyssey Book 5
Her name suggests “hiding”
She is a great goddess who saves Odysseus from a shipwreck and wants to marry him and make him immortal like her
What is Calypso’s objection about divine gendered double standards?
Male gods get to abduct or rape mortal women and keep them around as long as they feel like, but goddesses don’t.
What are Tutelary Deities?
They are guardian gods, a deity who takes care of a chosen mortal
Ex. Thetis with Achilles
Athena with Odysseus
Aphrodite with Paris
Venus with Aeneas
Summary of Odyssey Book 5
Athena asks her father, Zeus, to send Hermes to ask Calypso to let Odysseus go home since he has been on the island for 7 years. Hermes then tells Calypso that Zeus wants her to send Odysseus home. Calypso gets mad due to the double standards between gods and goddesses. But in the end, she says she will follow Zeus’ command and help Odysseus. Calypso asks Odysseus if he really wants to leave, and he says that he wants to go back home.
Summary of Aeneid 4
Venus and Juno join forces, leading Aeneas and Dido to get “married.” Rumor spread across Carthage about them being together, leading to Iarbas being angry and calling Jupiter to fix it. Jupiter calls Mercury to send a message that Aeneas needs to leave so that he can rule in Italy, which is his destiny. Mercury goes to tell Aeneas, the surviving prince of Troy, that he must leave Carthage, where he’s staying with the queen, Dido, to go to his new homeland in a western land, Italy. Like Calypso, she doesn’t react well. Dido finds the news by rumor that Aeneas was planning to leave in secret. Dido angrily argues with Aeneas that he is betraying her by leaving. Aeneas secretly departs. Dido, furious and grieving, decides to kill herself with Aeneas’ sword.
What kind of love is Venus/Aphrodite usually associated with?
Painful lust
Who is Mercury?
The roman name for Hermes
Why do Juno and Venus gang up together in Aeneid 4?
Juno wants to prevent Aeneas from reaching Italy and founding Rome by making him marry Dido.
Venus protects Aeneas from possible harm by ensuring that Dido gives him an extra warm welcome.
What event does Dido foreshadow?
The Punic Wars, in which the nascent Roman empire clashed with the older Carthaginian empire. Rome eventually won, and gained dominance in the region.
What person does Dido foreshadow?
She also foreshadows Cleopatra, the North African queen who was an ally and lover of Anthony (rival of Octavian/Augustus)
What is Univiritas?
“one-man-ness”
A Roman ideal often cited on the tombs of women who have managed to live their whole lives with only one husband
How does Aeneas feel about Dido?
It is ensure how Aeneas feels about Dido
But maybe being pius (pietas) entails the idea that his feelings do not matter and that’s its own kind of horrible
Dido versus Calypso
In both narratives, Hermes/Mercury comes to get the Greek guy to leave his lover, who’s mad about it, but the guy still leaves
BUT:
Odysseus wants to go home
Calypso is angry at Hermes and Zeus. Dido is angry at Aeneas.
Calypso is an immortal, she’ll be fine. Dido, not so much
