Editing Lotus-eaters

{{Short description|Fictional people in Homer's Odyssey}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File:Lotus-eaters.png|thumb|[[Odysseus]] removing his men from the company of the lotus-eaters]]

In [[Greek mythology]],  '''lotophages''' or the '''lotus-eaters''' ({{langx|grc|λωτοφάγοι|lōtophágoi}}) were a race of people living on an island dominated by the [[lotus tree]] off coastal Tunisia (Island of [[Djerba]]),<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Desanges |first=J. |date=2008-01-01 |title=Lotophages |url=https://journals.openedition.org/encyclopedieberbere/364 |journal=Encyclopédie berbère |language=fr |issue=28-29 |pages=4440–4441 |doi=10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.364 |issn=1015-7344}}</ref> 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".<ref name=":1" />  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.

Figuratively, 'lotus-eaters' denotes "people who spend their time indulging in pleasure and luxury rather than dealing with practical concerns".

==Etymology==
In English, the '''lotus-eaters''' ({{langx|grc|λωτοφάγοι}}, ''lōtophágoi''), are also referred to as the '''lotophagi''' or '''lotophaguses''' (singular ''lotophagus'' {{IPAc-en|l|ə|ˈ|t|ɒ|f|ə|ɡ|ə|s}}) or '''lotophages''' (singular ''lotophage'' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|oʊ|t|ə|f|eɪ|dʒ}}).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lotus-Eater {{!}} Island, Immortality & Mythology {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lotus-Eater |access-date=2025-02-06 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Mythology==
[[File:Odysees men in Lotus Island.gif|thumb|Odysseus' men in an unconscious state, by W. Heath Robinson.]]
In [[Homer]]'s epic poem the ''[[Odyssey]]'' Book IX, Odysseus tells how adverse north winds blew him and his men off course as they were rounding [[Cape Malea]], the southernmost tip of the [[Peloponnesus]], headed westwards for [[Homer's Ithaca|Ithaca]]:
{{blockquote|I was driven thence by foul winds for a space of 9 days upon the sea, but on the tenth day we reached the land of the Lotus-eaters, who live on a food that comes from a kind of flower. Here we landed to take in fresh water, and our crews got their mid-day meal on the shore near the ships.  When they had eaten and drunk I sent two of my company to see what manner of men the people of the place might be, and  they had a third man under them. They started at once, and went about among the Lotus-eaters, who did them no hurt, but gave them to eat of the lotus, which was so delicious that those who ate of it left off caring about home, and did not even want to go back and say what had happened to them, but were for staying and munching lotus with the Lotus-eaters without thinking further of their return; nevertheless, though they wept bitterly I forced them back to the ships and made them fast under the benches. Then I told the rest to go on board at once, lest any of them should taste of the lotus and leave off wanting to get home, so they took their places and smote the grey sea with their oars.<ref>''Odyssey'' IX, translated by [[Samuel Butler (novelist)|Samuel Butler]].</ref>}}

== Location ==
[[Herodotus]], in the 5th century BC, was sure that they still existed in his day in coastal [[Libya]]:
{{blockquote|A promontory jutting out into the sea from the country of the Gindanes<ref>A tribe of Libya which dwelt west of the Macae</ref> is inhabited by the lotus-eaters, who live entirely on the fruit of the lotus-tree. The lotus fruit is about the size of the [[Pistacia lentiscus|lentisk]] berry and in sweetness resembles the [[Date palm|date]].<ref>In A.D. Godley's translation "mastich-berry".</ref> The lotus-eaters even succeed in obtaining from it a sort of wine.<ref>Herodotus, ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'', iv.177 ([http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/herod-libya1.html on-line text]).</ref>}}
[[Polybius]] identifies the land of the lotus-eaters as the island of [[Djerba]] (ancient Meninx), off the coast of [[Tunisia]].<ref name=":0">Polybius 1:39</ref> Later, this identification is supported by [[Strabo]].<ref>Strabo 1.2.17.</ref> [[Pseudo-Skylax|Pseudo-Scylax]] mentions lotus-eaters in area of northern and central [[Dalmatia]] ("namely the Iaderatenai and [[Boulinoi]]").<ref>{{Cite web|title=ToposText|url=https://topostext.org/work/102|access-date=2021-09-23|website=topostext.org|at=§22}}</ref>

== Lotus plant ==
Because the Greek word λωτός ''lōtós'' can refer to several different plants, there is some ambiguity as to which "lotus" appears in the ''Odyssey''. 

==In popular culture==
[[The Lotos-Eaters]] is a poem by [[Alfred Tennyson]], describing a group of mariners who, upon eating the lotos, are put into an altered state and isolated from the outside world.

British romantic composer [[Hubert Parry]] wrote a half-hour choral setting of Tennyson's poem for soprano, choir, and orchestra.<ref>[[BBC Radio 3]]'s [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b019m0x6 ''The Choir'' program], broadcast 22 January 2012</ref>

[[The Lotus Eaters (Weinbaum)]] is a 1935 short story by [[Stanley G. Weinbaum]] that explores the Lotus Eaters as an intelligent vegetative species on the planet Venus discovered by human explorers. <ref>[https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0601231h.html Project Gutenberg Australia]</ref>

==See also==
* [[moly (herb)|moly]] – another plant mentioned in the Odyssey whose identity has attracted scholarly interest

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Odyssey|state=collapsed}}

[[Category:Ancient Libyans]]
[[Category:Characters in the Odyssey]]
[[Category:Geography of the Odyssey]]
[[Category:Legendary tribes in classical historiography]]
[[Category:Libyan characters in Greek mythology]]