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Lotus-Eater
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The Works of Odysseus. The scene shows Odysseus on the island of the lotus eaters, seizing his three scouts by the hair and dragging them back toward the ships. Having eaten the lotus flowers, the men appear dazed and unwilling to leave. Interactive map introduction for Odysseus's Voyage, with instructions and a Start Journey button over a faded map of the Mediterranean region.
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mythology. Greek. Hermes. (Roman Mercury)
A Study of Greek and Roman Mythology
Quick Facts
Greek plural:
Lotophagoi
Latin plural:
Lotophagi
Areas Of Involvement:
myth
Greek mythology
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The Works of Odysseus. The scene shows Odysseus on the island of the lotus eaters, seizing his three scouts by the hair and dragging them back toward the ships. Having eaten the lotus flowers, the men appear dazed and unwilling to leave.
Odysseus in the land of the Lotus-Eaters Etching depicting Odysseus's encounter with the Lotus-Eaters In Homer's Odyssey.

Lotus-Eater

Greek mythology
Also known as: Lotophagi, Lotophagoi
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History

Lotus-Eater, in Greek mythology, one of a tribe encountered by the Greek hero Odysseus during his return to Ithaca from Troy, where the Greeks had been victorious in the Trojan War. Odysseus arrived in an unfamiliar land after a north wind had driven him and his men from Cape Malea (Homer, Odyssey; Book IX). The local inhabitants, whose distinctive practice is indicated by their name, invited Odysseus’ scouts to eat of the mysterious plant. Those who did so were overcome by a blissful forgetfulness; they had to be dragged back to their ships and chained to the rowing-benches, or they would never have returned to their duties. Odysseus and his crew then sailed on to their next stop: the land of the Cyclopes, where they encountered Polyphemus.

Odysseus’s Obstacle Course
Etching by Theodoor van Thulden showing Odysseus and his men blinding the giant Polyphemus with a stake as he lies on the ground, with sheep in the background.
Polyphemus
Odysseus's encounter with the Laestrygones
Laestrygones
mourning Siren
Sirens
Hendrik Van Balen: Odysseus as a Guest of the Nymph Calypso
Calypso

The 5th-century-bc historian Herodotus located the Lotus-Eaters on the Libyan coast. The ancient Greeks applied the name “Libya” generally to North Africa and the Tunisian island of Djerba is commonly identified as the land of the Lotus-Eaters. Alfred, Lord Tennyson brought the story to the modern world in his poem “The Lotos-Eaters” (1832).

The Greeks called several non-narcotic plants lōtos, but the name may have been used in this case for the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), the ripe seed pod of which resembles the pod of the true lotus. Some theories suggest that the plant of forgetfulness was the jujube (Ziziphus jujuba). The phrase “to eat lotus” is used metaphorically by numerous ancient writers to mean “to forget,” or “to be unmindful.”

mythology. Greek. Hermes. (Roman Mercury)
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A Study of Greek and Roman Mythology
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Gitanjali Roy.