Odyssey 5.59 · Book 5, lines 59–60
Cedar and juniper on the fire
Read the full text in our reader
πῦρ μὲν ἐπʼ ἐσχαρόφιν μέγα καίετο, τηλόσε δʼ ὀδμὴ κέδρου τʼ εὐκεάτοιο θύου τʼ ἀνὰ νῆσον ὀδώδει
A great fire was burning on the hearth, and far off the fragrance of easily-split cedar and juniper hung fragrant throughout the island.
Word by word
The setting
Hermes arrives at the cave's mouth. The first thing the poem gives is its atmosphere: a great hearth-fire, and the fragrance of burning cedar and juniper drifting across the whole island — the sensuous threshold of Calypso's dwelling.
A note on this passage
The threshold of Calypso's home, given as scent and firelight. A great fire burns on the hearth, and the smell of cedar and juniper splitting in the flame carries clear across the whole island.
Homer sets the scene through the nose. Before the description of the cave's green loveliness opens out, we are given warmth and a sweet resinous smoke — a lived-in, tended, almost domestic comfort, holy and inviting at once. It is worth remembering, though, whose home this is: the seductive prison where Odysseus has spent years longing for smoke of a different kind — the plainer smoke of his own Ithaca, rising from his own poorer hearth.
Read the full commentary — and tap any word for its dictionary entry — in the interlinear reader.
Open Odyssey 5.59 in the full reader
Always open passages in the reader
From the Great Library
You are reading a page of the Odyssey — the whole book is free in our interlinear reader.
The Great Library Project presses the classics in their original languages, glossed word by word — free to read, always. Browse the whole library.
Also on our shelves:
Odyssey 5.59 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/odyssey/5.59/