ABSTRACT
In Book XI of The Odyssey, “The Kingdom of the Dead” or Nekyia, these are the lines that describe the hero’s only encounter with his mother. In this surprising first and last encounter Odysseus, in spite of his grief, initially does not let his mother drink of the sacrificial blood and thus be able to speak. If we, surprised as well, wonder why Odysseus did not allow her immediately—by drinking the blood—to speak, the first answer we find is that Circe had told him to “prevent any other poor ghost from coming near the spilt blood before Tiresias.” Nevertheless, Tiresias is not the first ghost to speak since Odysseus, surprised to see there one of his comrades, Elpenor, forgets about Circe’s order and—together with Homer—about the sacrificial blood, and cries to Elpenor asking for the reason of his death. After this first conversation with a dead one comes his mother. Even though Odysseus is moved to tears by this other surprise, he refrains from talking to her and waits for Tiresias. Why then did Odysseus, pained by this new sorrowful sight, not forget also all commands and talk to her?
