Lotus-eaters

Lotophagi , are fabulous people who occupied the north coast of Africa and lived on the lotus, which brought forgetfulness and happy indolence. They apper in the ODYSSEY early in Odysseus' voyage he and his men were driven by a storm to the land of the Cicones, the Lotus Eaters, "who live upon that flower".(1) Three of Odysseus's men met the Lotus Eaters, ate the Lotus, and longed "to stay forever, browsing on that native bloom, forgetful of their homeland".(2) Odysseus pulled the men to the ship to keep them from returning.

Works Cited

1. Robert J. Seidman, "Ulysses" Annotated: Notes for James Joyce's "Ulysses" [Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988], p. 84. 2. The Odyssey, translated by Robert Fitzgerald [New York: Doubleday, 1961]