 | Term | Definition |
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Muse |
One of nine goddesses, daughters of Zeus, that presides over literature and the arts and are the source of artistic inspiration. |
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Zeus |
King of gods and men, who mediates the disputes of the gods on Mount Olympus. He is occasionally depicted as weighing men’s fates in his scales. He sometimes helps Odysseus or permits Athena to do the same. |
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Calypso |
The beautiful nymph who falls in love with Odysseus when he lands on her island-home of Ogygia. She holds him prisoner there for seven years until Hermes, the messenger god, persuades her to let him go. |
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Poseidon |
God of the sea. As the suitors are Odysseus’s mortal antagonists, he is his divine antagonist. He despises Odysseus for blinding his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus, and constantly hampers his journey home. Ironically, he is the patron of the seafaring Phaeacians, who ultimately help to return Odysseus to Ithaca. |
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Odysseus |
The protagonist of the Odyssey. He fought among the other Greek heroes at Troy and now struggles to return to his kingdom in Ithaca. He is the husband of Queen Penelope and the father of Prince Telemachus. Though a strong and courageous warrior, he is most renowned for his cunning. He is a favorite of the goddess Athena, who often sends him divine aid, but a bitter enemy of Poseidon, who frustrates his journey at every turn. |
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Aegisthus |
Seducer of Clytemnestra and murderer of Agamemnon, killed by Orestes |
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Agamemnon |
Former king of Mycenae, brother of Menelaus, and commander of the Achaean forces at Troy. Odysseus encounters his spirit in Hades. He was murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus, upon his return from the war. He was later avenged by his son Orestes. Their story is constantly repeated in the Odyssey to offer an inverted image of the fortunes of Odysseus and Telemachus., (Greek mythology) the king who lead the Greeks against Troy in the Trojan War |
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Athena |
Daughter of Zeus and goddess of wisdom, purposeful battle, and the womanly arts. She assists Odysseus and Telemachus with divine powers throughout the epic, and she speaks up for them in the councils of the gods on Mount Olympus. She often appears in disguise as Mentor, an old friend of Odysseus. |
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Polyphemus |
One of the Cyclopes (uncivilized one-eyed giants) whose island Odysseus comes to soon after leaving Troy. He imprisons Odysseus and his crew and tries to eat them, but Odysseus blinds him through a clever ruse and manages to escape. In doing so, however, Odysseus angers his father, Poseidon. |
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Telemachus |
Odysseus’s son. An infant when Odysseus left for Troy, Telemachus is about twenty at the beginning of the story. He is a natural obstacle to the suitors desperately courting his mother, but despite his courage and good heart, he initially lacks the poise and confidence to oppose them. His maturation, especially during his trip to Pylos and Sparta in Books 3 and 4, provides a subplot to the epic. Athena often assists him. |
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Penelope |
Wife of Odysseus and mother of Telemachus. She spends her days in the palace pining for the husband who left for Troy twenty years earlier and never returned. Homer portrays her as sometimes flighty and excitable but also clever and steadfastly true to her husband. |
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Menelaus |
King of Sparta, brother of Agamemnon, and husband of Helen, he helped lead the Greeks in the Trojan War. He offers Telemachus assistance in his quest to find Odysseus when Telemachus visits him in Book 4. |
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Antinuous |
The most arrogant of Penelope’s suitors. He leads the campaign to have Telemachus killed. Unlike the other suitors, he is never portrayed sympathetically, and he is the first to die when Odysseus returns. |
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Eurymachus |
A manipulative, deceitful suitor. His charisma and duplicity allow him to exert some influence over the other suitors. |
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Helen |
Wife of Menelaus and queen of Sparta. Her abduction from Sparta by the Trojans sparked the Trojan War. Her beauty is without parallel, but she is criticized for giving in to her Trojan captors and thereby costing many Greek men their lives. She offers Telemachus assistance in his quest to find his father. |
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Ajax |
"In the teeth of the gods!" dude. |
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Ino |
Sea nymph that saves Odysseus by giving him her veil. |
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Cicones |
Trojan allies, city sacked by Odysseus after Troy fell, scene of a rather grisly beach party. |
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Lotus-Eaters |
Live on a plant whose fruit induces stupor and forgetfulness of home. Kids, don't do drugs. |
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