Key Names in the Odyssey

King of Ithaca; son of Laertes

Odysseus

son of Odysseus;

Telemachas

wife of Odysseus; the gracious daughter of Icarius

Penelope

the most powerful Cyclops; son of Poseidon; blinded by Odysseus

Polythemus

the Nymph with the plaited tresses; held Odysseus captive for 7 years; daughter of Titan Atlas

Calypso

the Earth-shaker

Poseidon

Daughter of the mighty Father; the goddess of the flashing eyes;

Bright-eyed Athene/Pallas Athene

Gatherer of Clouds; king of the Gods; Father of men and gods

Zeus

King of Mycenae; killed by wife and her lover - failed nostos

Agamemnon

Killed mother and her lover as revenge

Orestes

Lover of Clytemnestra; killed by Orestes

Aegisthus

Athene’s disguise; son of the wise prince Anchialus; chieftan of the sea-faring Taphians

Mentes

the Ithacan bard (singer and storyteller) who performs for Penelope's suitors in Odysseus's household

Phemius

Father of Odysseus

Laertes

The aged, loyal, and devoted wet nurse of Odysseus and his son, Telemachus; serves as Telemachus’ torch-bearer; daughter of Ops and granddaughter of Peisenor

the faithful Eurycleia

son of Eupeithes; most arrogant and prominent of the suitors

Antinous

son of Polybus; one of the two leading suitors for Penelope's hand in marriage, alongside Antinous

Eurymachus

The wise, venerable King of Pylos and a former leader in the Trojan War; the first person Telemachus seeks out for advice about his father, Odysseus's fate; recounts the fates of other Greek heroes, like Agamemnon

Nestor

Loyal friend of Odysseus; entrusted with Telemachus's care and the running of the palace in Odysseus's absence; Athena frequently appears disguised as him to offer counsel

Mentor

An Ithacan prophet; a loyal friend of Odysseus; interprets an omen of two eagles fighting as a sign of the suitors' coming destruction, warning them

Halitherses

Penelope's father; a Spartan king

Icarius