Lotus-eaters
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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In Greek mythology, the lotus-eaters (lÅtophagoi), also referred to as the lotophagi or lotophaguses were a race of people living on an island near North Africa (possibly Djerba) dominated by lotus plants. The lotus fruits and flowers were the primary food of the island and were narcotic, causing the people to sleep in peaceful apathy.
In literature
In Odyssey 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 Ithaca:
"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."
This passage served as the source for Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem "The Lotos-Eaters." It is also referenced in the fifth chapter of Ulysses by James Joyce, also titled "Lotus Eaters," and in the sixth chapter of Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence.
Herodotus, in the fifth century BC, was sure that the lotus-eaters still existed in his day, in coastal Libya:
A promontory jutting out into the sea from the country of the Gindanes is inhabited by the lotus-eaters, who live entirely on the fruit of the lotus-tree, which they live off of. The lotus fruit is about the size of the lentisk berry, and in sweetness resembles the date. The lotus-eaters even succeed in obtaining from it a sort of wine.
Lotus-eaters are mentioned in Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief (2005), the first part of the Percy Jackson & the Olympians fantasy novel series. On Percy, Annabeth, and Grover's quest they find themselves in the Lotus Casino in Vegas where they eat the fruit and spend five days in the casino, narrowly losing the chance to continue their quest and save Olympus. It was only when Poseidon wakes up Percy from his trance that the children are able to escape.
