Calypso
Calypso kept Odysseus seven years. Her name means "she who conceals."
The Myth of Calypso
Calypso, daughter of Atlas, detained Odysseus on her island Ogygia for seven years after he washed ashore following Poseidon's storms. She offered him immortality and eternal youth if he would stay as her husband — a gift no mortal had received since the gods punished Prometheus. But Odysseus longed for Ithaca and Penelope. Athena finally persuaded Zeus to intervene, and Hermes was dispatched to command Calypso's release of the hero. She obeyed, though bitterly, noting the gods' hypocrisy in denying goddesses mortal lovers. She helped Odysseus build a raft and sent him on his way toward Scheria and the Phaeacians, the last stage before his homecoming.
Parents
Atlas
Children
Nausithous, Nausinous
Symbols
Fun Fact
Her root kalyptein also gives us "eclipse."
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Calypso
⚡ godNymph who held Odysseus captive
A beautiful nymph who kept Odysseus on her island Ogygia for seven years, offering him immortality if he would stay. He chose mortality and home instead.
Maia
🌿 nymphMother of Hermes, eldest Pleiad
Maia was the eldest and most beautiful of the seven Pleiades, a shy mountain nymph who bore Hermes to Zeus in a secret cave on Mount Cyllene.
Idyia
🌿 nymphKnowledge, Colchis
Oceanid nymph known as the knowing one and queen of Colchis beside King Aeetes
Thetis
🌿 nymphSea nymph whose son's fate drove the Iliad
Thetis was the Nereid whose son was destined to surpass his father — a prophecy so threatening that Zeus and Poseidon married her off to a mortal.
Thetis
🌿 nymphSea nymph mother of Achilles
Thetis was a sea nymph so powerful that both Zeus and Poseidon desired her — until a prophecy warned her son would surpass his father.
Polyxo
🌿 nymphStars, nursing
One of the Hyades nymphs and nurse of Dionysus, transformed into a star for her devoted care of the god
Bolina
🌿 nymphthe sea, escape
A mortal woman pursued by Apollo who threw herself into the sea and was granted immortality as a nymph.
Sinope
🌿 nymphcleverness, virginity
A nymph who outwitted Zeus, Apollo, and the river god Halys by making each promise her virginity as a gift before granting her favours — then holding them to it.
Ogygia
🏛 placeIsland prison of Calypso
Ogygia was the remote island where the nymph Calypso detained Odysseus for seven years, offering him immortality if he would stay as her consort.
Rhode
🌿 nymphthe sea, islands
A sea nymph, daughter of Poseidon and Amphitrite (or Aphrodite), who gave her name to the island of Rhodes.
Aegina
🌿 nymphrivers, islands
A river nymph abducted by Zeus and brought to the island that bears her name.
Clymene
🌿 nymphfame, ocean
Oceanid nymph and mother of Phaethon and the Heliades.