Odysseus stays with the nymph Calypso for seven years. After his shipwreck, he reaches Ogygia, Calypso’s remote island, where she keeps him as her companion and would-be husband.
Calypso offers Odysseus an extraordinary life, including freedom from aging, but he longs for Ithaca, his wife Penelope, and his son Telemachus. Homer portrays him spending his days grieving by the shore, despite the island’s beauty and Calypso’s affection.
Athena appeals to Zeus, who sends Hermes to order Calypso to release him. She reluctantly helps Odysseus build a raft, supplies food and clothing, and gives him a favorable wind. The seven-year stay is only one part of Odysseus’s ten-year journey home after the Trojan War.
A common mix-up is confusing Calypso with Circe, another powerful woman Odysseus meets. Circe keeps him for about a year, whereas Calypso’s island detains him for seven years.