Odysseus spends seven years with the nymph Calypso. In Homer's Odyssey, Calypso detains him on the island of Ogygia after he becomes the sole survivor of a shipwreck.
Calypso wants Odysseus to remain with her as her immortal husband. Although she provides food, shelter, clothing, and materials for a boat, Odysseus is unhappy and longs for Penelope and Ithaca. The poem emphasizes that he spends his days grieving by the shore and remains on the island against his will.
Athena raises Odysseus's situation before Zeus, who orders Hermes to tell Calypso to release him. Calypso reluctantly obeys, helping Odysseus gather timber and build a raft. He then sails away, although Poseidon soon wrecks the raft with a storm.
The seven years with Calypso are only one part of Odysseus's long absence. He spends ten years traveling home after the Trojan War, and the Odyssey begins after much of that time has already passed. Circe is another supernatural woman associated with Odysseus, but he and his crew stay with her for one year, not seven.