Odyssey Terms

Ithaca

Ithaca

Home of Odysseus

Penelope

Wife of Odysseus, Mother of Telemachus

Basileus

"king" in mycenae. commanded army and presided over religious acts.

Nostos

Greek word for homecoming

Phaeacians

People living on the island of Scheria whose king was Alcinuos. Odysseus was shipwrecked here after leaving Calypso's island of Ogygia

Moly

Plant that Hermes offers Odysseus to ward off Kirke's magic

Laestrygonians

legendary clan of giant cannibals

Sirens

creatures, part woman and part bird, whose songs lure sailors to their death

Cimmerians

the people of Hade's island of the dead, they live outside the underworld

Kalypso

The beautiful nymph who falls in love with Odysseus when he lands on her island-home of Ogygia; holds him prisoner there for seven years until Hermes, the messenger god, persuades her to let him go.

Kirke

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.

Xenia

Greek code of hospitality; guest friendship

Tiresias

A Theban prophet who inhabits the underworld; meets Odysseus when Odysseus journeys to the underworld in Book 11. He shows Odysseus how to get back to Ithaca and allows Odysseus to communicate with the other souls in Hades.

aegis

a shield; protection

Aegisthus (Aigisthos)

son of Thyestes, seducer of Clytemnestra and murderer of Agamemnon, killed by Orestes

Kassandra

daughter of Priam and loved by Hermes and is given the gift of prophecy, she denies Hermes and he curses her prophecies to not be believed by anyone, like Trojan horse and her own death by agamemnon's wife

Ajax the Greater

2nd greatest fighter of Greeks, vied with Odysseus for Achilles' armor (lost)

Ajax the Lesser

A Greek hero; in the fall of Troy drags a Trojan princess from Athena's temple and rapes her; later is one of Penelope's suitors

Menelaos

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.

Klytaimnestra

Murderous wife of Agamemnon; lover of Aigisthos. Is killed by her son, Orestes

Antinous

The most arrogant of Penelope's suitors.; 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.

Nausicaä

The beautiful daughter of King Alcinous and Queen Arete of the Phaeacians; discovers Odysseus on the beach at Scheria and, out of budding affection for him, ensures his warm reception at her parents' palace.

Elpenor

Youngest member of Odysseus' crew. The morning of their departure from Circe's island, he falls from the rooftop and dies. Odysseus meets with his shade in Hades.

Eumaeus

A swineherd, an old and loyal servant to Odysseus

Eurykleia

The aged and loyal servant who nursed Odysseus and Telemachus when they were babies. She is well informed about palace intrigues and serves as confidante to her masters. 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.

Aiodos

a difficult term to translate, but roughly a "singer of tales" someone like Homer, who not only recites but invents epic poems, to the accompaniment of a stringed instrument, like the lyre. The composer and singer of epic song; Greek equivalent of Celtic bard and Germanic scop.

Aeolus

god of winds; gives Odysseus bag of winds

Athena

Goddess of wisdom and war

Electra

Daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra

Apollo

god of music, poetry, prophecy, and medicine

Orestes

son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra who eventually avenged his father's murder by killing Aegisthus

The Furies (Erinyes)

Female spirits who punished offenders against blood kin

Eumenides

the kindly ones Aeschylus's first surviving play tragedy; abt living persons and events that took place 8 years before Orestes is pursued to Athens by the vengeful Erinyes for the murder of his mother, Clytemnestra, and how he is tried before Athena and a jury of Athenians to decide whether his crime justifies the torment of the Erinyes

Telemachus

Odysseus and Penelope's son

Pylades

Pylades helped Orestes avenge his father's death by murdering Clytemnestra. He is a representative of and the mouthpiece for Apollo.