Should the gods and goddesses intervene for Odysseus or for someone else? The gods and goddesses of the Odyssey often intervene like a human parent in a child's life. The immortals intervened by sending Odysseus home, appeasing Poseidon's anger, and settling the suitors' xenia abuses of Odysseus' house. Perhaps it is the hamartia of humanity to have the gods and goddesses to show off our own pride. Gods and goddesses often intervened to bring Odysseus home. Matthew Bolton points out in an article in Great Neck Publishing that Athena asks Zeus to free Odysseus from the island nymph goddess Calypso. Calypso holds Odysseus captivated for the wedding. She goes so far as to offer him immortality and timelessness. When Hermes is sent to deliver Zeus' order to Calypso regarding the release of Odysseus, Calypso tells the tragic stories of the lovers: Dawn, Orion, Artemis, Demeter and Iasion. Dawn's lover, Orion, was attacked by Artemis in Ortygia with gentle arrows and left for dead. Demeter gave in to her desire and made love to Iasion in the three plowed fields, and Zeus struck him dead with a blinding thunderbolt. She provides Ulysses with tools such as a drilling tool, dowels, gunwales and sheets for a mast. Odysseus designed the rest of his raft using his own engineering. Calypso bathed and dressed him on the fifth day. She provided the following provisions in two skins: a bottle of wine, a larger bottle of water, a leather bag containing grain and a quantity of meat. She calls for a gentle breeze to push Odysseus on his raft away from the island. According to Bolton, Odysseus and his previous nasty encounter with Aeolus, who gave them a sack full of vexed winds to return home. His men believed the bag contained treasures in the middle of a paper......the xenia of suitors from Odysseus's house, Telemachus would receive pious persuasion through the goddess Athena. Athena will later reveal Odysseus to help her punish the pests in her home. Gods and goddesses help tell the story of a human's fall against his own hamartia. Works cited by Homer. The Odyssey. Trans. DCH Rieu. New York: Penguin Books, 1991. Bolton, Matthew J. “Literary Contexts in Poetry: Homer's Odyssey.” Literary contexts in poetry: Homer's Odyssey. Great Neck Publishing. 2007 Literary reference center. Ebscohost. Chipola Lib., Marianna, Florida. February 2, 2010. http://web.ebscohost.com/Bowra, CM and Bloom, Harold. "CM Bowra on Monsters of the Odyssey". Bloom's Notes: Homer's Odyssey. Publication of the information base. 1988 Literary reference center. Ebscohost. Chipola Lib., Marianna, Florida. February 2, 2010. http://web.ebscohost.com/