Lotus-eaters

darkoThe Odyssey

101nodes155rels

Overview Graph Paths Articles Timeline Map Tree Communities Resources

Lotus-eaters. 7 connected concepts: Odysseus (related to), Homer (related to), Odyssey (related to), Nostos (related to), Djerba (related to), Lotus tree (related to), Ziziphus lotus (related to).

100%

Community · Lotus-eaters

Key points6

The lotus-eaters are a mythical race described in Homer's Odyssey.
They inhabit an island dominated by a specific lotus tree.
The primary diet of the population consists of the sweet, honey-like fruit of the lotus plant.
Consumption of the lotus fruit induces a narcotic effect resulting in peaceful apathy.
Ingesting the plant causes individuals to lose their memory of home and family.
Those affected by the fruit lose all desire to return to their origins.

Summary

38 words

Connections7

Related toOdysseus100%
Protagonist who encounters the Lotus-eaters
Odysseus is the central figure who leads his crew to the island and must forcibly remove his men after they consume the lotus.
SourcesWikipedia Wikidata Wikipedia Wikidata
Related toHomer100%
Author of the work featuring the Lotus-eaters
Homer is the poet credited with composing the Odyssey, which provides the earliest and most influential account of the Lotus-eaters.
SourcesWikipedia Wikidata Wikipedia Wikidata
Related toOdyssey100%
Primary literary source for the Lotus-eaters
The Lotus-eaters appear in Book IX of this epic poem, where Odysseus recounts his encounter with them during his journey home from the Trojan War.
SourcesWikipedia Wikidata Wikipedia Wikidata
Related toNostos90%
Thematic antithesis to the Lotus-eaters' influence
The Lotus-eaters represent the threat to 'nostos' (homecoming), as their plant makes sailors forget their goal of returning to their homeland.
SourcesWikipedia Wikidata Wikipedia Wikidata
Related toLotus tree90%
The plant that causes forgetfulness in the myth
The lotus is the central element of the story, acting as a narcotic that causes those who eat it to lose their desire to return home.
SourcesWikipedia Wikidata Wikipedia Wikidata
Related toDjerba80%
Geographic location identified with the land of the Lotus-eaters
Ancient and modern scholars often identify this Tunisian island as the historical or geographical inspiration for the mythical home of the Lotus-eaters.
SourcesWikipedia Wikidata Wikipedia Wikidata
Related toZiziphus lotus70%
Botanical candidate for the mythical lotus
Botanists and historians frequently suggest this shrub, native to the Mediterranean, as the real-world plant that inspired the Homeric lotus.
SourcesWikipedia Wikidata Wikipedia Wikidata

Overview

In Greek mythology, lotophages or the lotus-eaters were a race of people living on an island dominated by the lotus tree on the island of Djerba off the coast of Tunisia, a plant whose botanical identity is uncertain. The Lotophagi race in the Odyssey are said to eat the fruit of the lotos "sweet as honey". The lotus fruits and flowers were the primary food of the island and were a narcotic, causing the inhabitants to sleep in peaceful apathy. After they ate the lotus, they would forget their home and loved ones and long only to stay with their fellow lotus-eaters. Those who ate the plant never cared to report or return.

Odysseus removing his men from the company of the lotus-eatersWikimedia Commons

188 words

SourcesWikipedia

Facts