Who are the people who offer Odysseus's men the forgetful lotus fruit?

The people who offer Odysseus's men the forgetful lotus fruit are the Lotus-Eaters, also called the Lotophagi. Their episode appears in Book 9 of Homer's Odyssey, during the crew's dangerous voyage home from the Trojan War.

After storms drive the ships off course, Odysseus and his sailors reach the land of the Lotus-Eaters. The fruit is described as sweet as honey, but it causes those who eat it to forget home and lose the desire to return. Several of Odysseus's men taste it and no longer want to continue the journey.

Odysseus has to drag the affected sailors back to the ships and order the rest of the crew aboard immediately. The Lotus-Eaters are therefore not primarily remembered as violent enemies; their danger is passive forgetfulness. They are also distinct from the Sirens, whose song lures sailors, and from Circe, who uses magic against Odysseus's men. The plant's exact botanical identity remains uncertain.