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Just an infant when his father left for Troy, Telemachus is still maturing when the Odyssey begins. He is wholly devoted to his mother and to maintaining his father's estate, but he does not know how to protect them from the suitors. After all, it has only been a few years since he first realized what the suitors' intentions were. His meeting with Athena in Book 1 changes things. Aside from improving his stature and bearing, she teaches him the responsibilities of a young prince. He soon becomes more assertive. He confronts the suitors and denounces the abuse of his estate, and when Penelope and Eurycleia become anxious or upset, he does not shy away from taking control.
Telemachus never fully matches his father's talents, at least not by the Odyssey's conclusion. He has a stout heart and an active mind, and sometimes even a bit of a temper, but he never schemes with the same skill or speaks with quite the same fluency as Odysseus. In Book 22, he accidentally leaves a weapons storeroom unlocked, a careless mistake that allows the suitors to arm themselves. While Odysseus does make a few mistakes in judgment over the course of the epic, it is difficult to imagine him making such an absentminded blunder. Telemachus has not yet inherited his father's brassy pride either. The scene with the bow captures the endpoint of his development perfectly. He tries and tries to string it, and very nearly does, but not quite. This episode reminds us that, at the close of the Odyssey, Telemachus still cannot match his father's skills but is well on his way. |
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| An island in western Greece where Odysseus rules as king, Penelope as queen and Telemakhos as prince. It is a cold and windy place. It has a farm on which Laertes lives. The Odyssey begins and ends in Ithaka. |
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Though she has not seen Odysseus in twenty years, and despite pressure the suitors place on her to remarry, Penelope never loses faith in her husband. Her cares make her somewhat flighty and excitable, however. For this reason, Odysseus, Telemachus, and Athena often prefer to leave her in the dark about matters rather than upset her. Athena must distract her, for instance, so that she does not discover Odysseus's identity when Eurycleia is washing him. Athena often comes to her in dreams to reassure or comfort her, for Penelope would otherwise spend her nights weeping in her bed.
Though her love for Odysseus is unyielding, she responds to the suitors with some indecision. She never refuses to remarry outright. Instead, she puts off her decision and leads them on with promises that she will choose a new husband as soon as certain things happen. Her astute delaying tactics reveal her sly and artful side. The notion of not remarrying until she completes a burial shroud that she will never complete cleverly buys her time. Similarly, some commentators claim that her decision to marry whomever wins the archery contest of Book 21 results from her awareness that only her husband can win it. Some even claim that she recognizes her husband before she admits it to him in Book 23. |
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| The aged and loyal servant who nursed Odysseus and Telemachus when they were babies. Eurycleia 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. She tells Odysseus which of the maids to kill after he kills the suitors. She is of great help and company to Penelope while Odysseus is away. She plays a big part in raising Telemakhos. |
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| The most arrogant of Penelope's suitors. Antinous 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. Odysseus kills him with a bow and arrow. He is inquisitive about Telemakhos' friend, Mentor. |
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| A manipulative, deceitful suitor. Eurymachus's charisma and duplicity allow him to exert some influence over the other suitors. He is the first to speak in the assembly in Book II. He is inquisitive about Telemakhos' friend, Mentor. |
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As goddess of wisdom and battle, Athena naturally has a soft spot for the brave and wily Odysseus. She helps him out of many tough situations, including his shipwreck in Book 5 and the mismatched battle of Book 22. She does not merely impart sense and safety to her passive charge, however. She takes an interest in Odysseus for the talents he already has and actively demonstrates. Although she reassures Odysseus during the battle with the suitors, she does not become fully involved, preferring instead to watch Odysseus fight and prevail on his own.
She also often helps Telemachus—as when she sends him off to Pylos and Sparta to earn a name for himself—but she has the most affection for Odysseus. Athena is confident, practical, clever, a master of disguises, and a great warrior, characteristics she finds reflected in Telemachus. Her role as goddess of the womanly arts gets very little attention in the Odyssey. Penelope works at the loom all the time but rarely sees Athena, and then usually only in dreams. Mentor is one of Odysseus' old friends. |
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| King of Pylos and a former warrior in the Trojan War. Like Odysseus, Nestor is known as a clever speaker. Telemachus visits him in Book 3 to ask about his father, but Nestor knows little of Odysseus's whereabouts. Nestor went with Menelaus after the fall of Troy. Nestor tells Telemakhos the story of Agamemnon's fate to show Telemakhos what might happen if he does not take care of the situation with the suitors soon. Nestor sends his own son Pisistratus with Telemakhos to Sparta. |
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| King of Sparta, brother of Agamemnon, and husband of Helen, he helped lead the Greeks in the Trojan War. He took Nestor with him after the fall of Troy. He offers Telemachus assistance in his quest to find Odysseus when Telemachus visits him in Book 4. Menelaos is impressed with Telemakhos' way of handling himself. He tells Telemakhos about how he defeats Proteus, ancient of the sea. |
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| Wife of Menelaus and queen of Sparta. Helen's 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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| The messenger god. He attends a meeting with all the gods except Poseidon in Book VI. He is sent to Kalypso's island by Zeus to tell her that Odysseus must at last be allowed to leave so he can return home. Kalypso retorts that everyone is always meddling in her affairs. He tells Odysseus how to avoid being turned into a swine (pig) at the island of Circe. He tells him about the molu flower, which is an amulet used to prevent being turned into a swine. |
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| God of the sea. As the suitors are Odysseus's mortal antagonists, Poseidon is his divine antagonist. He despises Odysseus for blinding his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus, and constantly hampers his journey home. Ironically, Poseidon is the patron of the seafaring Phaeacians, who ultimately help to return Odysseus to Ithaca. He gets mad at the gods for having a meeting without him in Book VI. He asks Zeus permission to turn a ship to stone in the sea. |
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| A goddess who rescues Odysseus from a storm stirred up by Poseidon by giving him an immortal veil that keeps him safe after his ship is wrecked. She commands Odysseus to throw his protective veil back into the water later on. Odysseus is mistrustful of her. She is slim-legged, lovely and nereid. |
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| The beautiful daughter of King Alcinous and Queen Arete of the Phaeacians. Nausicaa discovers Odysseus naked on the beach at Scheria while with her friends and handmaidens (also naked) and, out of budding affection for him, ensures his warm reception at her parents' palace. She tells him not to follow her to the palace of her father because she is worried that the townsmen will think they are in a romantic setting together. |
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| King of the Phaeacians, who offers Odysseus hospitality in his island kingdom of Scheria. Alcinous hears the story of Odysseus's wanderings and provides him with safe passage back to Ithaca. He is unhappy that Odysseus did not come with his daughter to see him because he thought it was rude of his daughter to handle the situation in that manner. |
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| Queen of the Phaeacians, wife of Alcinous, and mother of Nausicaa. Arete is intelligent and influential. Nausicaa tells Odysseus to make his appeal for assistance to Arete. |
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| A blind bard who sings of the quarrel between Odysseus and Achilles at Troy. Everyone listens with pleasure except Odysseus, who weeps at the painful memories that the story recalls. The king notices Odysseus's grief and ends the singing and the feast so that the games can begin. |
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| Thinks that Odysseus is of lowly birth because he has never learned a sport. He is told by Odysseus that he has a fine body but no brains. Later, Seareach gives Odysseus a sword and an apology for the mean things he said. |
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| Live in Ismarus. The men plunder the land and, carried away by greed, stay until the reinforced ranks of the Cicones turn on them and attack. Odysseus and his crew finally escape, having lost six men per ship. |
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| give some of Odysseus's men the intoxicating fruit of the lotus. As soon as they eat this fruit, they lose all thoughts of home and long for nothing more than to stay there eating more fruit. Only by dragging his men back to the ship and locking them up can Odysseus get them off the island. |
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| One of the Cyclopes (uncivilized one-eyed giants) whose island Odysseus comes to soon after leaving Troy. Polyphemus 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 Polyphemus's father, Poseidon. |
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| He keeps Odysseus on his island, Aiolia island, for a month to hear about his battles in Troy. Master of the winds, he helps Odysseus get within viewing distance of Ithaca. He gives Odysseus a bag of winds that he keeps under his head while he sleeps, but the crew thinks it is gold. Greedily, they open it and it sends them back to Aiolos. He then abandons the voyager, concluding that anyone so unlucky must be cursed. |
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| A tribe of giant cannibals encountered by Odysseus and his men. The men followed a road in their land and eventually met a young woman, who said she was a daughter of Antiphates, the king, and directed them to his house. However when they got there they found a gigantic woman, the wife of Antiphates. She called her husband, who immediately snatched up one of the men and started to eat him. The other two men ran away, but Antiphates raised a hue-and-cry, so that they were pursued by thousands of Laestrygonians, ogres, not men. They threw vast rocks from the cliffs, smashing the ships, and speared the men like fish. |
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| The beautiful witch-goddess who transforms Odysseus's crew into swine when he lands on her island. With Hermes' help, Odysseus resists Circe's powers and then becomes her lover, living in luxury at her side for a year. She advises him to go to the Underworld and speak to Tiresias. He comes back to Circe's island to get his fellow crew member who died there and was never buried, Elpenor. She also advises Odysseus to put beeswax in his crewmember's ears so they don't hear the song of the Sirens and has the crew members tie him to the mast of the ship. She also tells him to avoid Charybdis, which is a whirlpool, and stay far from Skylla, a six-headed monster with twelve tentacle legs who eats six crew members every time a ship passes her |
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| A Theban prophet who inhabits the underworld. Tiresias 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. |
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| The youngest man in Odysseus' crew. After staying on Circe's island for over a year, the crew heads to Hades but forgets Elepenor. He got drunk the night before they left and ended up on a rooftop and fell and died. When Odysseus finds him in Hades, he is surprised to see him dead because he didn't realize that he forgot him in the first place. Elpenor begs for a proper burial. |
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| The beautiful nymph who falls in love with Odysseus when he lands on her island-home of Ogygia. Calypso holds him prisoner there for seven years until Hermes, the messenger god, persuades her to let him go. |
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| Odysseus' dead mother. She dies grieving her son’s long absence and sees him only during his visit to the Land of the Dead. He meets her in the Underworld. He tries to hug her but can't because she's transparent and he begins to cry. |
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| Meets Odysseus in the Underworld after Odysseus speaks with Tiresias. Ajax refuses to speak to Odysseus in the Underworld because he lost a contest to Odysseus to see who could win Achilles' arms. He is embarrassed and killed himself over it. |
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The vultures - constantly "rifle" Tityos' (rapist) belly
Sisyphos - endlessly pushes boulder up the hill only for it to roll back down again
Tantalos - unable to get the apples from the tree, unable to get the water from the pond |
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| Beautiful women who live on an island and sing songs that lead men to the island, only for them never to leave. When Odysseus passes the island, Kirke instructs him put beeswax in his men's ears and have his men tie him to the mast of the ship. No matter how hard he screams to be untied, his men are to tie him tighter. His men remain faithful through this trip past the island. The Sirens represent temptation in the story. |
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| An enormous whirlpool that threatens to swallow the entire ship. Circe advises Odysseus and his men to avoid Kharybdis at all costs. Six of Odysseus' men get eaten by Skylla while looking at Kharybdis from afar. |
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| A six-headed monster who, when ships pass, swallows one sailor for each head. As instructed by Circe, Odysseus holds his course tight against the cliffs of Scylla's lair. As he and his men stare at Charybdis on the other side of the strait, the heads of Scylla swoop down and gobble up six of the sailors. |
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| Odysseus next comes to Thrinacia, the island of the Sun. He wants to avoid it entirely, but the outspoken Eurylochus persuades him to let his beleaguered crew rest there. A storm keeps them beached for a month, and at first the crew is content to survive on its provisions in the ship. When these run out, however, Eurylochus persuades the other crew members to disobey Odysseus and slaughter the cattle of the Sun. They do so one afternoon as Odysseus sleeps; when the Sun finds out, he asks Zeus to punish Odysseus and his men. |
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| The loyal shepherd who, along with the cowherd Philoetius, helps Odysseus reclaim his throne after his return to Ithaca. Even though he does not know that the vagabond who appears at his hut is Odysseus, Eumaeus gives the man food and shelter. |
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| Meets Telemakhos in the palace. Theoclymenos then speaks up and swears that Odysseus is in Ithaca at this very moment. He asks to join Telemakhos' crew because he said he killed his own cousin. He is running from the Akhaians. |
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| The brother of Melantho. Melanthius is 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. |
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| The brother of Melantho. Melanthius is 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. |
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| Trained by Odysseus some twenty years before, the discarded old dog, dying on a dung heap, recognizes his master as Odysseus and Eumaeus approach the palace. |
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| challenges Odysseus disguised as a beggar to a fight. He is terrified by Odysseus' physique. Odysseus fights Iros. Odysseus defeats him in the fight. |
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| Sister of Melanthius and maidservant in Odysseus's palace. Like her brother, Melantho abuses the beggar in the palace, not knowing that the man is Odysseus. She is having an affair with Eurymachus. |
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| Odysseus’ loyal cowherd, he assists him in his return to Ithaca and stands with the king and prince against the suitors. He is instructed to lock the gates during the battle in the hall at the end of the story so no one escapes and he abides. |
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| the suitor of Penelope who, retreating from Odysseus's party during the final stages of the battle in the latter's hall, gave a glancing blow to the carpus of Telemachus, to whom he fell shortly afterwards. In the Underworld, he told the story of the suitors' slaughter to Achilles and Agamemnon. |
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| Odysseus's aging father, who resides on a farm in Ithaca. In despair and physical decline, Laertes regains his spirit when Odysseus returns and eventually kills Antinous's father. |
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| A courageous Greek warrior, Ajax feels that he has been disrespected when he is passed over for the shield of Achilles. In his grief and disappointment he tries to sneak into the tents of the other Greek warriors and slay them. Casting a spell, Athena causes him to think that he has captured Odysseus and that he will torture him, but in reality he has killed sheep and cattle. When the spell wears off and he recovers his wits, Ajax is deeply shamed and kills himself |
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| Tells Odysseus that Ajax killed the Greek's cattle because he thought it was Odysseus, Menelaus and Agamemnon. She puts an enchantment/curse on Ajax; she makes him see the cattle as actual people. She takes Odysseus' side throughout the plot. She tells Odysseus to enter into the tent/lodge and see for himself. She warns Odysseus not to cross the gods as Ajax had. |
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| He receives Achilles' armor over Ajax. He is a sworn enemy to Ajax. He is on the same side as Menelaus and Agamemnon until the end of the story when he advocates that they give Ajax a proper burial. Odysseus offers to stay at the funeral but Teucer shoos him away. |
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| Warbride to Ajax and Teucer's sister-in-law. She has a son who is still a baby (Eurysaces). She enters a little while into the play and pleas that Ajax did not commit suicide. She is worried about how she and her son will survive after Ajax is dead. She and her son are to go to a different slave owner now that Ajax is dead. |
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| Ajax's brother and Tecmessa's brother-in-law. He shoos away Odysseus at Ajax's funeral. He risks his life by standing up to Agamemnon and Menelaus so that his brother can have a proper burial. Teucer is asked to watch Eurysaces by Ajax. Teucer commands that Ajax must not leave his house or else he will die. He is afraid his father will exile him for not being there for Ajax when he needed help. |
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| Agamemnon is a great Greek warrior and Menelaus' brother. Ajax plans to kill him. He appears after Ajax's suicide to support Menelaus's decree that Ajax not be buried. He and Teucer argue bitterly, and he also argues with Odysseus. Finally out of friendship with Odysseus, Agamemnon permits Ajax to be buried. |
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| Agamemnon's brother. Ajax planned to kill him. He does not want Ajax to receive a proper burial. He thought Ajax to be a great ally but found him to be worse than any Trojan. He is insulted by Teucer's words. |
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| Greek soldier left on island for ten years because of a sore on his foot that smells bad. He is owner of Heracles' never-failing bow that is coveted by the Greek army to bring about the fall of Troy. He is old but naive. He is surprised to see Neoptolemus on the island. He asks him who he is and where he is from. He does not know that Odysseus is on the island until later on. He is outraged once he finds out that Odysseus is involved. He wants his bow back at that instant and wants to kill Odysseus. |
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| Odysseus (in Philoctetes) |
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| He doesn't care about Philoctetes' feelings, he just wants to get the bow so he can win the war. He tells Neoptolemus that his plans of gently aquiring the bow are doomed to failure and that he knows this because he has the experience, so he says. He advises Neoptolemus that he ensnare Philoctetes with his words when going to acquire the bow. He tells Neoptolemus that if he follows Odysseus' plan he'll be a "wise man and good". |
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| the desert island Philoctetes has been staying on for ten years. All of the action of the play takes place on Lemnos from beginning to end. It is desolate. It is a place that no one sets foot on. There is a spring at which to drink. Philoctetes has a cool and quiet place to sleep there. |
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| Son of Achilles. He is sent to obtain Heracles' bow from Philoctetes in order to win the Trojan War. He wishes to obtain it in a gentle manner and disagrees with Odysseus' plan to do so otherwise, even though he is told he'll be a "wise man and good". He befriends Philoctetes and refuses to leave him alone on the island. He betrays Philoctetes by ending up taking the bow from the island but makes amends with him by insisting that he does not stay alone. He convinces Philoctetes not to shoot Odysseus. |
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| Heracles (in Philoctetes) |
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| Owner of the bow that will serve to help Odysseus and his men win the Trojan War. He comes in at the end of the play. He convinces Philoctetes to surrender his bow and go to Troy and be cured. Philoctetes obeys him. He predicts that Philoctetes will kill Paris and Troy will fall. |
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| Wife of Heracles and mother of Hyllus. She receives a potion from the centaur Nessus that she rubs on Heracles' robe and has it delivered to Heracles. She is jealous of Iole and Heracles' affair, but does not seek violence against Iole. The fact that Iole moved under the same roof as Deianira put her over the edge. After she finds out from Hyllus that he is dead, she immediately kills herself. |
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| Son of Deianira and Heracles. Hyllus tells Deianira that Heracles is dead and he is outraged at his mother for having killed him. He wants her out of his sight. Heracles tells Hyllus to marry Iole. Hyllus helps to bury his father but not his mother. |
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| Heracles' envoy (messenger). He is the second messenger who forces the first to tell the entire truth: Heracles' attack on Eurytus was not out of revenge, but instead out of the desire to possess the king's daughter, Iole. He delivers the robe to Heracles which kills him. Heracles thinks it is Lichas who tried to kill him so he gets smashed up against stones. |
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| Heracles' mistress and daughter of the king of Oechalia. She lives under the same roof as Deianira. She causes Deianira much anger because of this. She is one of the captured women of Oechalia. Heracles wants Hyllus to marry her. |
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| Heracles (Women of Trachis) |
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| Husband of Deianira and father of Hyllus. It was said that Heracles was to come home to Deianira after a year of absence. Heracles is having an affair with Iole. Heracles tells Hyllus to marry Iole. He tries on the robe given to him by Deianara and it latches onto his body. His body starts to burn and he dies. He thinks it was Lichas who tried to kill him so he has Lichas smashed up against stones. |
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