I keep seeing Ogygia depicted with landscapes and plants associated with a tropical climate, or with things that don’t make much sense in the Homeric context, so I’m going to show some photos based on Perseustufts’ speculations regarding the vegetation mentioned in Rhapsody V of the Odyssey in the description of Ogygia.
They are mentioned in different groups:
The wood that Calypso burns in her cave, and which she must obtain from somewhere, which is why I assume it is native to her region
(v. 60)
Forest vegetation described as such
(vv. 64-74)
Wood that she tells Odysseus to use for his raft and also to attach the logs to one another
(v. 239 and v.256)
Material for Calypso’s tools
(v. 236)
v. 60 → κέδρου with two possible interpretations: from κέδρον (juniper-berry) or from κέδρος, which translates as cedar, and is the one emphasised by the website itself. In this case, I believe it would be the Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica) because Ogygia is west of Ithaca (which means it cannot be a Lebanese cedar or Cedrus libani).
v. 60 → θύου with several different meanings, but as a plant, θύον here is interpreted as Callitris quadrivalvis:
v. 64 → κλήθρη from κλήθρα, here intrepeted as Alnus glutinosa:
v. 64 → αἴγειρός as Populus nigra:
v. 64 → κυπάρισσος as Cupressus sempervirens:
v. 69 → ἡμερὶς as "the cultivated vine" Vitis vinifera:
v. 72 → ἴου among the many meanings derived from ἴον, interpreted as Viola odorata:
v. 72 → σελίνου from σέλινον as Apium graveolens:
v. 236 -> ἐλάινον from ἐλάινος as "of olive-wood" which i myself assume that to Olea oleaster (is the wild variety of Olea europaea):
v. 239 → ἐλάτη as Abies cephalonica
v. 256 οἰσυΐνῃσι οἰσύινος of osier, of wicker-work (as we say in Spanish cestería) here my friend @ulises-aithon has suggested Salix purpurea:
(I have used PerseusTufts, but it is not the only reliable source of information: many other dictionaries may suggest different species, or even entire genera or taxonomic families, for the same word. This is just a brief overview.)
kaledo-art
prguitarman
discoholicmusic
kianamaiart
germansingergirl
areudirty
ellievsbear
