“Omphalos” is the Ancient Greek word for “navel,” but it also referred to sacred stones—particularly the monument in Delphi that was believed to mark the center of the world.
Omphalos Quotes in Ulysses
The Ulysses quotes below are all either spoken by Omphalos or refer to Omphalos. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Episode 3: Proteus
Quotes
The cords of all link back, strandentwining cable of all flesh. That is why mystic monks. Will you be as gods? Gaze in your omphalos. Hello. Kinch here. Put me on to Edenville. Aleph, alpha: nought, nought, one.
Spouse and helpmate of Adam Kadmon: Heva, naked Eve. She had no navel. Gaze. Belly without blemish, bulging big, a buckler of taut vellum, no, whiteheaped corn, orient and immortal, standing from everlasting to everlasting. Womb of sin.
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Omphalos Term Timeline in Ulysses
The timeline below shows where the term Omphalos appears in Ulysses. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Episode 1: Telemachus
...to Haines that he rents the Martello tower for twelve pounds. He calls it “the omphalos” (Greek for “navel”). Haines asks Stephen about Hamlet, but Buck quickly summarizes Stephen’s theory—Hamlet is...
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Episode 3: Proteus
...her bag. He thinks of how the umbilical cord links a child to their mother’s omphalos (navel). He imagines all of humanity linked by umbilical cords, almost like a network of...
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Episode 14: Oxen of the Sun
...of their beautiful wives, and he proposes establishing “a national fertilizing farm to be named Omphalos” and offering himself to any willing woman, no matter her social class. He sprinkles in...
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