Major Characters

 

Odysseus: Odysseus is the main character of the Odyssey, a tale which chronicles his homecoming and  his journeys since his departure from Troy.  Odysseus was present in the Iliad but not with the same focus as this poem.  The story focus on his trials at sea and on land and how, once he gets home, he must avenge his family's honor from the suitors who have been besieging his house waiting for his wife to choose a new husband. He is aided by Athena in his journeys but thwarted by Poseidon.

 

Telemachus (Telemakhos): Son of Odysseus and Penelope, this poem is nearly as much about him as it is about his father. The story begins with his anger at the suitors who are wasting away his estate. At the encouragement of Athena, he begins a journey to search for news of his father.  When he returns to Ithaca, he helps his father overcome the suitors and regain his power.

 

Zeus: Father of Athena and King of the gods, Zeus appears frequently in this poem but mostly to give assent to another god who either wants to help Odysseus or hinder him.  He gives Athena license to help Odysseus but also strikes Odysseus' ship with lightning after he has committed wrongs against the gods.  He gives frequent signs to Odysseus and others in the forms of lightning or storms throughout the poem.

 

Poseidon: Zeus' brother and the god of the sea, he is upset with Odysseus first for not offering sufficient sacrifices to him. He is even more unhappy after Odysseus blinds his son Polyphemus. It is Poseidon that Odysseus still must appease at the end of the poem. Poseidon keeps Odysseus from making it home on multiple occasions.

 

Athena: Daughter of Zeus and the goddess of Wisdom. She guides Odysseus and Telemachus throughout the poem helping them find their way from place to place and defeat their adversaries.  On several occasions she directly intervenes and enters battle or conflict in the form of a human.

 

Penelope: Odysseus' wife and mother of Telemachus. She remains loyal to Odysseus even after he is gone for twenty years.  She constructs elaborate ruses such as weaving and unweaving at a loom.  She has trouble believing that her husband has returned when she first sees him and is very cold until she gets undeniable proof of his identity.

 Minor Characters

 

Aegisthus (Aigisthos): The lover of Clytemnestra who kills Agamemnon and who is killed by Agamemnon's son, Orestes, in revenge.  This plot line serves as an example of appropriate revenge throughout the poem.

 Orestes: Son of Agamemnon who takes revenge for his father's death by killing his adulterous mother and her lover.

 

Agamemnon: King of Argos who led the Greeks to Troy to retrieve his brother Menelaus' wife Helen.  Upon returning to Argos, he was killed by Aegisthus who plotted with his wife Clytemnestra. His death is avenged by his son Orestes.

 Clytemnestra (Klytaimestra): Adulterous wife of Agamemnon who plots to have him killed.

 

Calypso (Kalypso): Nymph who kept Odysseus on her island for many years by means of enchantment. Hermes orders her to release him by the authority of Zeus at the request of Athena. She has him make a raft to journey on.

 

Polyphemus (Polyphemos): Cyclops son of Poseidon who is blinded by Odysseus.  Polyphemus is a shepherd who refuses to be a host to Odysseus and eats some of his men.  He curses Odysseus and asks his father for revenge.

 Nestor: Old king of Pylos who entertains Telemachus and advises him to go seek news for his father from Menelaus.

 

Menelaus (Menelaos): King of Sparta and husband of Helen for whom the Trojan war was fought. In this tale, Menelaus entertains Telemachus and gives him news of his father. He also tells the tale of his own journey back from Troy.

 

Antinoos: The head suitor, son of a man Odysseus saved from death.  He is the first of the suitors to speak at all times and plans to kill Telemachus. He is also the first of the suitors to be killed by Odysseus.

 

Eurymachus (Eurymakhos): The second suitor, Eurymachus always speaks after Antinoos or in place of him. He is the second suitor to die.

 Lord Aigyptios: The old man who is the first to speak at an assembly of Ithacans.

 

Halitherses: A prophet and seer of the Ithacans who speaks at the assembly before Telemachus leaves for Sparta and Pylos. He reads the bird omen of Book 2 as meaning that Odysseus will not be gone for long.

 

Mentor: An older man of Ithaca whose form Athena takes first to help Telemachus travel to Pylos and then to help Telemachus and Odysseus fight the suitors.

 

Eurykleia (Euryklea): Odysseus nurse as a child and a servant in his house.  She hides Telemachus' journey to Pylos and is the first woman to recognize Odysseus.  She helps Odysseus sort out the good hand-maidens from the bad ones.

 Peisistratos: Nestor's son who accompanies Telemachus to Sparta.

 

Thrasymedes: A son of Nestor.

 

Idomeneus: King of Crete who was pictured as a great warrior in the Iliad.

 

Eidothea: Nymph who instructs Menelaus how to trap Proteus and force him to reveal which of the gods to appease in order to get home.

 

Proteus: Sea god who Menelaus captures in a cave of seals, from whom he learns how to get home.

 

Ajax (Aias): The greater Ajax of the Iliad.  He dies an early death after the war and is mentioned when Menelaus asks Proteus about his companions and when Odysseus goes to the land of the dead.

Hephaestus (Hephaistos): The god of fire and iron-working. Hephaestus crafts divine goods for gods and men.

 

Noemen: A suitor.

 

Medon: The messenger of Odysseus' house.  At the end of the poem he tells the assembly that a god slaughtered all of the suitors, not Odysseus.

Laertes: Odysseus' father. He appears only at the end of the poem and prepares to stand with his son against the Ithacan mob.

 

Hermes: messenger of the gods, he delivers the edicts of Zeus to gods and mortals.  He instructs Calypso to release Odysseus.  He also accompanies souls to the land of the dead.

Ino: Nymph who lends Odysseus her scarf so that he may float in the water for two days to make land after his raft is destroyed .

 

Alcinoos (Alkinoos): King of the Phaiakians who welcomes Odysseus and hears his long tale.  He presents Odysseus with great treasure and gives him secure passage to Ithaca.

 

Nausicaa (Nausikaa): Daughter of Alcinoos who finds Odysseus in the thicket near the river where he washed up on the island. She was prompted to go to the river by Athena.

Arete: Wife of Alcinoos who was approached by Odysseus for her help.

 

Demodocus (Demodokos): Minstrel who sings at the palace of Alcinoos.

 

Laodamas: One of Alcinoos' sons.  One of his companions offends Odysseus during the athletic contests.

 

Ares: God of war who had an affair with Aphrodite and was caught by her husband Hephaestus.

 

Aphrodite: Goddess of love and lust whose affair with Ares is discovered and revealed by her husband Hephaestus.

 

Circe (Kirke): Witch-like woman who at first turns Odysseus' men into pigs but is impressed when she cannot affect Odysseus.  She lusts after him and he stays with her for a year. She tells him to go to the land of the dead and advises him to avoid the cattle of the sun.

 

Polyphemus (Polyphemos): Cyclops son of Poseidon who is blinded by Odysseus because he eats some of his men and won't release them.  Polyphemus' plea to his father sidetracks Odysseus for many years.

 

Aeolus (Aiolos): King of the winds who entertained Odysseus at an early part of his journey. He presents Odysseus with a bag of the winds so that he may get home safely.  When Odysseus' men release the winds and the ship is blown back, Aeolus has no pity.

 

Eurylochus (Eurylokhos): One of Odysseus men. He is the man who does not drink from Circe's cup and warns Odysseus. He is also the one who convinces the Odysseus' men to stop at the Islandof the cattle of the sun and is also the man who convinces them to eat the cattle.

 

Tiresias (Eurylokhos): Blind prophet who Odysseus goes to find in the land of the dead.  He tells Odysseus how to get home and that he must appease Poseidon once he gets there.

 

Elpenor: Young sailor who dies on the island of Circe from falling from her roof.  He appears to Odysseus in the land of the dead and asks him to come bury him.

 

Helen: Wife of Menelaus and reason the Trojan war was fought. In this tale, she drugs the wine of Menelaus and Telemachus so that they will forget their sorrow.

 Achilles (Akhilleus): Hero of the Iliad. He dies before the end of the Trojan war and is shown in the land of the dead regretting his fate.

 

Heracles or Hercules (Herakles): Legendary hero who compares his labors to those of Odysseus in the land of the dead.

 

Eumaius (Eumaios): Swineherd who takes in the disguised Odysseus and gives him shelter and food.  He helps Odysseus and Telemachus defeat the suitors.

 Theoklymenus (Theoklymenos): Seer who Telemachus brings with him from mainland Greece.

 Amphinomus (Amphinomos): One of the suitors who is opposed to killing Telemachus.

 

Melanthius (Melanthios): Goatherd who is disloyal to Agamemnon and taunts the swineherd and the beggar.

 

Phemius (Phemios): Minstrel who sings at the house of Odysseus He begs for his life and Telemachus tells Odysseus that he doesn't deserve to die.

Irus (Iros): Younger beggar who comes in and challenges Odysseus to a boxing match.  He is beaten with one punch.

 

Eurynome: One of Penelope's hand-maidens.

 

Melantho: Another hand-maiden, the sister of Melanthius. She taunts Odysseus when he is disguised as a beggar.

 

Philoitius (Philoitios): Cowherd who helps Odysseus and Telemachus defeat the suitors.

 

Ktessipus (Ktesippos): Suitor who throws a cow hoof at Odysseus and misses.

 

Agelaus (Agelaos): Suitor who tells the others not to assault the beggar.

 

Leodes: Suitor who clings to Odysseus' knees and asks for mercy.

 

Amphimedon: Suitor who appears in the underworld and relays Odysseus' homecoming to Agamemnon.

 

Dolios: Laertes' slave who joins Odysseus and his father and son for dinner.

 

Seareach: The Phaiakian who offends Odysseus and prompts him to join the athletic competition.

 

 

 

Objects/Places

 

suitors: Princes and nobles from Ithaca and the surrounding islands who take up residence in the house of Odysseus waiting for Penelope to choose a new husband. This is so important to them because whoever marries her becomes king by transfer of her power.

 

Mt. Olympus (Mt. Olympos): Mythical home of the gods. A mountain in Greece where the Greeks believed the gods made their home.

 

Ithaca (Ithaka): Odysseus' home island over which he rules as king. It was located on the western side of mainland Greece.

 

unwoven loom: Penelope's main device of deceit for the suitors, she promised them she would choose a new husband after she was done weaving a death shroud for Odysseus.  She would weave all day and then at night, after the suitors left, she would unweave her work. This lasted four years before the suitors figured it out.

 

Pylos: City on mainland Greece over which Nestor rules.

 

Sparta (Laikedaimon): City over which Menelaus rules.  Telemachus goes here in search of his father.

 

Crete (Krete): Legendary home of King Minos, the labyrinth and the Minotaur.  This is the island Odysseus keeps claiming he is from when he lies to his family and the swineherd.

 

Skheria: Islandof the Phaiakians where Odysseus tells his long story and secures passage back to Ithaca after so many years.

 

Lamnos: Nightless island where some of Odysseus' men were eaten by giants.

 

cattle of the sun: Holy cattle of a special breed possessed by the lord of the sun. Odysseus is warned to make sure that his men do not steal these cattle but his efforts are futile.

 

Sirens (Seirenes): Singing women-like beasts who inhabit an island and guide sailors to their deaths with their beautiful songs.  Odysseus has himself tied to the mast of the ship so he can listen to their song.

 

Scylla: Six-headed beast who inhabits the cave parallel to the whirlpool Charybdis.  Scylla eats six of Odysseus' men.

 

Charybdis (Kharybdis): A whirlpool that erupts three times a day sucking anything near it down into its depths and then vomiting it back up.

 

Odysseus' bow: Odysseus' bow was given to him by a man named Iphitos to make up for sheep that were stolen from Ithaca. It is very large and difficult to handle and only Odysseus can string it.  When Penelope wants to test the suitors and delay them further she tells them that whoever strings the bow and shoots it through twelve axeheads may marry her.  Telemachus almost strings it but stops with a look from his disguised father. None of the suitors can string it.

 

olive bed: A beautiful bed made from the trunk of an olive tree by Odysseus before he went to Troy. He planed it, sanded it, adorned it, and made a pact with Penelope that no man would ever see that bed but he.  This bed is how Penelope knows that Odysseus has really come home to her.

 

Aiaa: Circe's island.

 

 

Topic Tracking: Disguise and Deceit

 

Disguise and Deceit 1: Athena disguises herself as a man and enters the hall of Odysseus to encourage his son to leave. She lies about her name and where she is from and gives advice to Telemachus that he takes. After she leaves, the narrator reveals that he suspected that she was an immortal in disguise.

 

Disguise and Deceit 2: Athena dons a new disguise, that of fellow Ithacan Mentor. As Mentor she orchestrates every part of the upcoming journey while Telemachus deals with the affairs of his household. She secures a ship and crewmen.

 

Disguise and Deceit 3: Athena continues to manipulate and guide Telemachus in the form of Mentor. She makes a sacrifice as a human and grants a prayer as a god at the same time. 

 

Disguise and Deceit 4:Athena disguises herself as a friend of Nausicaa and tells her to go to the river so that she may come upon Odysseus.  When Odysseus prays to her that she will help him make it home, she makes a pledge that he will not see her real form until he gets to Ithaca.

 

Disguise and Deceit 5: Athena disguises Odysseus with a cloud so that no one will hinder his progress to the castle and then helps him herself disguised as a little girl.

 

Disguise and Deceit 6: Athena wakes Odysseus and at first assumes a disguise as she tries to convince him that he is home. Even when she reveals herself as an immortal, he thinks that she may be tricking him. She reveals her identity and assures him that she will help him. They plan for him to return home disguised as a beggar.

 

Disguise and Deceit 7: Odysseus goes to the house of the swineherd and accept his hospitality as a beggar.  He concocts an elaborate story about his fall from rags to riches to entertain Eumaius.  He also tries to introduce some relationship between the beggar and Odysseus.

 

Disguise and Deceit 8: Odysseus is still in disguise when Telemachus comes and he continues to act the part. When Athena tells him to reveal himself, he speaks to his son for the first time in many years and they develop a plan around him infiltrating the house as the beggar.  When Eumaius returns, Athena turns Odysseus back into a beggar.

 

Disguise and Deceit 9: Odysseus' disguise is believed by everyone: His wife and the nurse who raised him.  Because of this, however, he must endure taunting and blows from men such as the goatherd and Antinoos.  Athena has planned this so that Odysseus would be more enraged.  He uses his identity as a beggar to discover the character of the suitors.

 

Disguise and Deceit 10: Odysseus continues to use his disguise to his advantage. He finds out what each of the suitors is like and even begins to discover the unpleasant character of some of the serving girls.  Athena prompts many people to continue to insult and annoy Odysseus.

 

Disguise and Deceit 11: Odysseus uses his disguise to speak to Penelope as a stranger and test her love for him.  She passes the test and no one recognizes him until the nurse bathes him and sees his old scar.  Athena makes sure that Penelope doesn't hear the nurse exclaim. Odysseus threatens her to keep her quiet and enlists her help in discovering who of the hand-maidens are loyal.

 

Disguise and Deceit 12: Odysseus continues to use his disguise to test people. He enrages more of the suitors and finds out who of them will defend a beggar. He also finds out that the swineherd and the cowherd are willing to fight with their master when he returns.

 

Disguise and Deceit 13: Odysseus uses his disguise to get into the bow contest where he easily outclasses everyone else.  He accomplishes the task and addresses Telemachus before he sheds his disguise.

 

Disguise and Deceit 14: Athena enters the battle, once again dressed as Mentor, and fights alongside Odysseus, killing many men.

 

Disguise and Deceit 15: Odysseus pretends to be somebody else when he speaks to his father. He does this because he is testing his father's emotions. When his father gets emotional, he reveals his identity to him and proves it by showing him his scar.

 

 

 

Topic Tracking: Guests and Hosts

 

Guests and Hosts 1: Telemachus calls the assembly because his house is plagued with guests who will not leave.  They have outstayed their welcome by many years.   They claim they have the right to stay because Penelope will not remarry.  Telemachus is in a difficult position because he is not seen as an adult.

 

Guests and Hosts 2: Nestor does not think it proper for hi s guest Telemachus to sleep in his boat, so in accordance with custom he invites him into his house and offers him food and a bath.  He makes the appropriate sacrifice in the morning, even though it is elaborate.  He also lends Telemachus a team of horses and his son as a companion.

 

Guests and Hosts 3: Menelaus is rejoiced to have the son of one of his comrades in his house.  He extends to Telemachus anything he would give to Odysseus and promises him fine gifts upon his departure.  They exchange stories and speak as if they were old friends as they feast into the night.

 

Guests and Hosts 4: Nausicaa finds the beggar in the thicket and tells her hand-maidens they should help him because of a divine imperative to help those in distress.  She gives him food and clothing and tells him that he will be more adequately sheltered in her father's house.

 

Guests and Hosts 5: Alcinoos and Arete welcome the stranger into their house when he clings to her knees and offer him food and shelter. When they find out that he is a traveler lost on his way, they offer him passage home. They are interested in hearing his story and sharing theirs. Odysseus is given a place of honor at their table and more food when he asks for it.

 

Guests and Hosts 6: The assembly of Phaiakians vote to give Odysseus passage home at the advice of their king. The king also offers Odysseus his daughter in marriage. There are athletic contests and when Odysseus is offended he challenges everyone except for the king's family, but Alcinoos tells him not to worry.  The first time Odysseus cries because of the songs of the minstrel, Alcinoos changes the activity. The second time he asks him if anyone he knew died at Troy.  The man who offended Odysseus gives him a broadsword and Alcinoos tells all the wealthy men to give Odysseus a bar of gold and clothing.

 

Guests and Hosts 7: When they enter the cave of Polyphemus, Odysseus assumes that they will be treated as guests by its inhabitant. When Polyphemus returns and realizes that they are expecting some sort of guest relationship he tells them that he fears neither the gods nor Zeus. He refuses to give them hospitality and begins to eat them.  Because of this, Odysseus ends up blinding the cyclops and stealing his flocks of sheep.

 

Guests and Hosts 8: Aeolus, the king of the winds, gives Odysseus a safe wind home in exchange for his story.  When Odysseus' men, in their greed for treasure, open the gift of safe winds prematurely and they are blown back to Aeolus' island,  he is unwilling to help them anymore. Circe turns the men into animals because she feels threatened by them.  When Odysseus is protected by her magic she is impressed and at his bidding she frees his men and provides all of them with food and shelter for a year.

 

Guests and Hosts 9: For Odysseus' lamentable tale, Alcinoos grants him more gifts, making Odysseus far wealthier than he was when he arrived. He blesses the ship on which Odysseus is to travel.  Odysseus sleeps during the journey and is left on the island before he wakes up.  For their kindness as hosts, the Phaiakians are punished.  The ship of men that carried Odysseus is turned to stone.  Alcinoos announces that his people will no longer offer safe passage to everyone.

 

Guests and Hosts 10: The swineherd has very little, but what he has he feels obligated to share evenly with the beggar.  The beggar tries to tell him news of Odysseus and he hears the news but refuses to grant any gift of exchange for it because he doesn't believe it to be true.

 

Guests and Hosts 11: When Telemachus announces that he must depart, Menelaus demands that he have breakfast first.  Helen and Menelaus present him with gifts. When he nears Pylos, Telemachus asks Nestor's son for forgiveness because he is going to avoid their hospitality so that he may get home faster.  When Theoklymenos, the murderous seer asks him for a ride to Ithaca with him, Telemachus grants it rather than deny a seer.  He is regretful that he must house Theoklymenos in the house of another when he gets to Ithaca.  The swineherd continues to share everything with Odysseus and he tells him his own tale of his fall from riches.

 

Guests and Hosts 12: Odysseus, admitted as a beggar into his own house, becomes a lesser form of guest who is entitled to food but no gifts.  The suitors point this out to him and they give freely of the food that is not even theirs to give.  When Odysseus points this out, Antinoos physically attacks him.  The suitors yell at him for attacking a guest.

 

Guests and Hosts 13: When Odysseus beats the other beggar he is given the food of a more honored guest.  Penelope invites him to her room to hear his story and in exchange for that she has him bathed and given new clothing.

 

Guests and Hosts 14: The suitors do not want the beggar to have a try at the bow, but Telemachus uses his clout as the real master of the house to demand that the beggar be allowed to try.

 

Guests and Hosts 15: Part of the reason the men of the assembly are so upset with Odysseus is that he killed men in his home. This could be interpreted as a violation of the guest relationship.  When the herald announces that it was he work of a god, not Odysseus, many of the people understand this as a divine mandate that this certain guest relationship was null and void.

 

 

 

Topic Tracking: Journeys

 

Journeys 1: The tale begins not with Odysseus journeying, but with him trapped at a moment in his journey from Troy to Ithaca. Athena pleads with Zeus that he be allowed to continue his journey home.  The she goes to Ithaca and sends Telemachus on a journey of his own.

 

Journeys 2: After arriving in Pylos, Telemachus finds that there is very little to learn there and his journey is diverted over land to the city of Sparta where Menelaus rules. This journey is facilitated by the aid of Nestor and the advice of Athena.  Nestor's son accompanies him on the trip.

 

Journeys 3: Telemachus has finally arrived at Sparta and his journey slows down for a moment.  Menelaus recounts his journey home from Troy and how it was sidetracked and delayed. He had to appeal to the immortals to finally make it home.  Menelaus gives Telemachus news of his father, stranded on Calypso's island.  When Penelope learns of her son's journey, it causes her anguish because she doesn't want to lose him the way she lost her husband.  The suitors take his journey as an opportunity to kill him.

 

Journeys 4: Odysseus' journey is begun again by Hermes from Zeus.  He must first build his own raft, which takes a few days.  Calypso sends him off with food and clothing.  When he nears land, an angry Poseidon destroys the raft.  With the help of a nymph, Odysseus floats for two days and crawls into the mouth of a river where he burrows into leaves in a thicket for warmth and sleep.

 

Journeys 5: Odysseus tells of his journeys home from Troy and his tale is filled with mysterious places. First, he loses many men in a raiding party. Then, he almost loses more men to the Lotus eaters in a magical place where a plant can make you forget your yearning to go home. Finally, they are near the land of the terrible cyclops where they eat men instead of offering hospitality.

 

Journeys 6: Odysseus continues the story of his fantastic voyage. They travel to the island of the king of the winds, but Odysseus did not tell his men that the storm winds were stored in the bag given as a gift from the king.  In greed they opened it and were blown back to Aeolus who took no more pity on them because he thought they were cursed.  They are becalmed and end up first at a nightless island where some men are eaten by giants and then at Circe's island.  She turns some of them into pigs and then releases them. They remain here for a year and when they want to go, she tells them that they first must journey to the land of the dead.

 

Journeys 7: Odysseus and his men make a journey to the land of the dead, a journey that men are supposed to make only once in their lives.  Here, the dead journey to meet them and tell their tales.  Tiresias tells Odysseus how he must continue his journey and where not to go. When the dead swarm too much, they must turn around and leave.

 

Journeys 8: Odysseus returns from the land of the dead and Circe gives him advice on how to continue his journey.  He makes it past Scylla and Charybdis only losing six men but his men mutiny and demand to stop on the island where the cattle of the sun are kept.  They are kept on the island by storm winds and after twenty days they slaughter the forbidden cattle.  Their ship is destroyed once they leave and Odysseus is the only survivor.  He drifts back through Scylla and Charybdis and lands on the Island of Calypso.

Journeys 9: Odysseus makes the final leg of his seaward journey in sleep.  When he wakes he does not recognize his home.

 

Journeys 10: Telemachus is sent on the last leg of his journey by Athena. He travels quickly through the day and avoids stopping in Pylos so that he can get home as soon as possible.  When he nears Ithaca he gets off the ship near the house of the swineherd and the rest of the men return to the city.

 

Journeys 11: Odysseus returns to the theme of journey as he speaks to Penelope still disguised as a beggar.  He weaves elements of his actual story into his lies.