In Homer’s Odyssey, the Lotus-Eaters make Odysseus’s companions forget their homeland by eating the lotus plant’s fruit.
After leaving the land of the Cyclopes, Odysseus and his crew reach the country of the Lotus-Eaters. Some sailors taste the plant and lose their desire to return home. Odysseus has to force them back to the ships and bind them under the benches before sailing away.
The episode is brief but symbolically important. The lotus represents pleasurable forgetfulness and the danger of abandoning one’s purpose. The word “lotus” in the epic does not necessarily identify the exact plant modern botanists would choose; ancient Greek plant names could cover several species.
The Lotus-Eaters are different from the Sirens, whose song tempts sailors, and from the Cyclops Polyphemus, who directly attacks Odysseus’s crew. The Odyssey is traditionally attributed to Homer and was composed in archaic Greek verse.