The Odyssey Book Twelve: The Cattle of the Sun

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Dcn. Harrison Garlick and Adam Minihan discuss Book Twelve of the Odyssey: The Cattle of the Sun.

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From our guide:

68. What happens in book twelve?

Odysseus and his men return the island of Circe and bury their comrade, Elpenor, who had spoken to Odysseus from the underworld (12.10). Circe tells Odyssey—and Odysseus alone—what trials await him on his journey (12.36). First, he and his men will sail by the Sirens and their irresistible song of temptation (12.44). Next, Odysseus will have to choose between sailing through the path of unavoidable “Clashing Rocks” (12.66) or sail through a strait with two monsters. On one side, there is the six-headed horror named Scylla that will pluck men off the ship (12.94) and on the other side the whirlpool monster named Charybdis that will swallow the entire ship (12.115). Lastly, they will come to the island of the where the sun god’s cattle graze (12.137) and must not under any circumstances harm the cattle (12.148). If they can do this, they will return home, but if not, then the best that could happen is Odysseus returns home alone “all shipmates lost… a broken man” (12.153).

Odysseus tells his men about the Sirens (12.172) and Charybdis (12.239) but not Scylla (12.242). After escaping the Sirens, his men are navigating past Charybdis when Scylla snatches six of Odysseus men off his ship (12.269). Odysseus and his men land on the island of the sun god’s cattle, and Odysseus has his men swear an oath they will not harm the animals (12.328). The men, however, become stranded on the island due to unfavorable wind and begin to starve (12.350). Odysseus’ men elect to eat the sacred cattle (12.386), and, as they finally leave the island, Zeus strikes the ship with a lightning bolt (12.447). All perish save Odysseus who, clinging to debris, is swept back to Charybdis and must hang onto a fig tree to avoid being swallowed (12.466). The book ends with Odysseus drifting until he lands on the island of Calypso (12.485).

69. Who are the Sirens?

The sirens are “female creatures who had the power of drawing men to destruction by their song.”[1] Though Homer does not describe them, they were generally “represented as half-woman and half-bird”—but “in time they came increasingly to be shown as beautiful women.”[2] Odysseus follows Circe’s advice (12.53) by stuffing beeswax in the ears of his men (12.189). It is notable that Circe intuits that Odysseus will want to experience the song of the Sirens (12.55). He follows her advice and has his men tie him to the mast in order that he may hear the Sirens but not jump overboard (12.194). The episode speaks to what Odysseus’ spirit (thumos) is willing to endure for the sake of knowledge. Note the Siren’s song itself sings of being able to grant Odysseus wisdom and make him a “wiser man” (12.200).

One may also question whether Odysseus enduring the song of the Sirens prepared him at all to decline Calypso’s offer of immortality or the marriage to Nausicaa. Moreover, the episode shows a level of trust between Odysseus and his men—a trust that is arguably fracturing after the Cyclops incident and one that will be largely broken following Scylla and Charybdis. Later myths have the Sirens drowning themselves due to Odysseus’ escape.[3] The Sirens will later come to represent music, including the music of spheres as presented by Plato.[4]

70. Who are Scylla and Charybdis?

Circe warns Odysseus of the creature Scylla who she calls “a grisly monster” with “six long swaying necks” who lives on the cliffside (12.94). In some myths, Scylla was originally a beautiful woman who was turned into the grotesque monster.[5] Other myths are more specific, stating that Scylla was a beautiful sea-nymph loved by the sea-god Glaucus.[6] When Glaucus failed to attract Scylla, he turned to Circe to make him a love potion to use on Scylla; however, Circe attempted to seduce Glaucus, but Glaucus would not give up his love for Scylla.[7] Enraged at the rejection, Circe created a poison and used it on the unexpecting Scylla turning her into a hideous monster with serpentine necks and dog-like faces.[8] Thus, it is notable that Circe calls Scylla an “immortal devastation, terrible, savage, [and] wild,” if Scylla is indeed a product of Circe’s own act of cruelty and malice (12.128). Moreover, Circe speaks of Scylla’s mother: “she spawned her to scourge mankind, she can stop the monster’s attack” (12.134). One may question whether this is a reference to a distinct origin myth or a statement of irony given Circe is the mother of Scylla in monstrous form.

Charybdis is the daughter of Poseidon and Gaia who, being under the water, sucks the ocean down through a whirlpool three times a day.[9] She is opposite of Scylla in the Straits of Messina.[10] Odysseus follows Circe’s advice that it is better to lose men to Scylla than his entire ship to Charybdis (12.120). Though Odysseus does push back on a way to fight Scylla (12.123), he ultimately does not tell his men about the danger of Scylla (12.167). Notably, he does show up on deck prepared to fight Scylla (12.241), but it is to no avail.

We may note how personal Homer portrays the deaths of the sailors to Scylla. Those plucked by the monster cry out Odysseus’ name (12.269) and fling their arms toward him (12.278). Odysseus tells his audience: “Of all the pitiful things I’ve had to witness… this wrenched my heart the most” (12.282). We may question whether Odysseus tells his audience this story with such a personal veneer to better justify his decision to not inform his men, e.g., he really did care for them. The narrative arguably fractures the last bond of trust Odysseus has with his men. Notice Odysseus’ reference to the incident with the Cyclops where he states, “my presence of mind and tactics saved us all” (12.230). His revisionist history avoids that he himself put them in that situation and then caused Poseidon’s curse to fall upon them; moreover, note that in both incidents—Cyclops and Scylla—Odysseus loses six men.

[1] Companion, 525.

[2] Companion, 526.

[3] Companion, 525.

[4] Companion, 526, citing the myth of Er at the end of the Republic.

[5] Companion, 515.

[6] Hamilton, 314.

[7] Hamilton, 314.

[8] Hamilton, 315.

[9] Companion, 140.

[10] Companion, 140.