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The Odyssey

story characters and settings

NameDescription
Odysseus The protagonist of The Odyssey. A Greek hero most known for his cunning. The goddess Athena often sends him divine aid.
Telemachus Odysseus's son. He is 20 years old at the beginning of The Odyssey and his maturation provides subplot to the text.
Penelope Wife of Odysseus and mother of Telemachus.
Athena Daughter of Zeus and goddess of wisdom, purposeful battle, and the womanly arts. Helps Odysseus and Telemachus a lot.
Poseidon God of the sea and Odysseus's divine antagonist. He is the main reason Odysseus takes so long to get home, because he's mad Odysseus blinded his son the Cyclops Polyphemus.
Zeus King of gods and men, who mediates the disputes of the gods on Mount Olympus. He sometimes helps Odysseus or permits Athena to do the same.
Antinous The most arrogant of Penelope’s suitors, he leads the campaign to have Telemachus killed. He is the first to die when Odysseus returns.
Eurymachus A manipulative, deceitful suitor with some influence over other suitors.
Amphinomus Among the dozens of suitors, the only decent man seeking Penelope’s hand in marriage.
Eumaeus The loyal shepherd who, along with the cowherd Philoetius, helps Odysseus reclaim his throne after his return to Ithaca.
Eurycleia The aged and loyal servant who nursed Odysseus and Telemachus when they were babies. She keeps Telemachus’s journey secret from Penelope, and she later keeps Odysseus’s identity a secret after she recognizes a scar on his leg.
Melanthius A treacherous and opportunistic goatherd who supports the suitors, especially Eurymachus, and abuses the beggar who appears in Odysseus’s palace, not realizing that the man is Odysseus himself.
Melantho Sister of Melanthius and maidservant in Odysseus’s palace. Like her brother, she abuses the beggar in the palace, not knowing that the man is Odysseus. She is having an affair with Eurymachus.
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.
Polyphemus A Cyclops who is the son of Poseidon. He imprisons Odysseus and his crew and tries to eat them, but Odysseus escapes by blinding him.
Circe The beautiful witch-goddess who transforms Odysseus’s crew into swine when he lands on her island. With Hermes’ help, Odysseus resists her powers and then becomes her lover, living in luxury at her side for a year.
Laertes Odysseus’s aging father, who resides on a farm in Ithaca.
Tiresias A Theban prophet who inhabits the underworld. He shows Odysseus how to get back to Ithaca and allows Odysseus to communicate with the other souls in Hades.
Nestor King of Pylos and a former warrior in the Trojan War. Telemachus visits him in Book 3 to ask about his father, but he knows little of Odysseus’s whereabouts.
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.
Helen Wife of Menelaus and queen of Sparta. Her abduction from Sparta by the Trojans sparked the Trojan War. Her beauty is without parallel.
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.
Nausicaa The beautiful daughter of King Alcinous and Queen Arete of the Phaeacians. She discovers Odysseus on the beach at Scheria and ensures his warm reception at her parents’ palace.
Alcinous King of the Phaeacians, who offers Odysseus hospitality in his island kingdom of Scheria. He hears the story of Odysseus’s wanderings and provides him with safe passage back to Ithaca.
Arete Queen of the Phaeacians, wife of Alcinous, and mother of Nausicaa. Nausicaa tells Odysseus to make his appeal for assistance to her.
Created by: francescaluisa
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