Characters

Question 1

Aegyptius

Answer 1

An old, wise Ithacan lord. His son, Antiphus was a soldier that travelled with Odysseus to Troy/Ilium. He was killed by Polyphemus, and Aegyptius is inconsolable.

He also has three other sons: Eurynomus, one of Penelope’s suitors; and two other sons that run his estate.

Question 2

Aeolus

Answer 2

The wind king who lives on the island of the winds, Aeolia.

Question 3

Agamemnon

Answer 3

Former king of Mycenae, brother of Menelaus, and commander of the Achaean forces at Troy. Odysseus encounters Agamemnon’s spirit in Hades. Agamemnon 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.

Question 4

Alcinous

Answer 4

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. His wife is Arete.

Question 5

Amphinomus

Answer 5

Among the dozens of suitors, the only decent man seeking Penelope’s hand in marriage. Amphinomus sometimes speaks up for Odysseus and Telemachus, but he is killed like the rest of the suitors in the final fight.

Question 6

Anticleia

Answer 6

Daughter of Autolychus. She is the mother of Odysseus; died of a broken heart when Odysseus didn’t return from Trojan War

Question 7

Antinous

Answer 7

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.

Question 8

Apollo

Answer 8

God of archery, music, poetry, dance, intellectual curiosity, and the protector of flocks and herds

Question 9

Arete

Answer 9

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.

Question 10

Argus

Answer 10

Odysseus’ loyal dog.

Question 11

Athene/Athena

Answer 11

Also known as Pallas Athena; birthed when sprung from Zeus’ head. Daughter of Zeus and goddess of wisdom, purposeful battle, and the womanly arts. Athena 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.

Question 12

Calypso

Answer 12

The beautiful nymph-goddess 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.
She is the daughter of the titan Atlas, who holds up the sky. Also, she is one of the nymphs of fountains, and streams

Question 13

Charybdis

Answer 13

A female monster who sucks in water three times a daily; thought to be a deadly whirlpool in the Straits of Messina.

Question 14

Circe

Answer 14

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 is renowned for her knowledge of magic and poisonous herbs; also daughter of the sun

Question 15

Cronus

Answer 15

Father of Zeus; Titan who ate all his children to keep them from overthrowing his rule. Titan of time?

Question 16

Cyclops (pl: cyclopes)

Answer 16

Race of brutish, one eyed giants who live solitary lives as shepherds on the present day island of Sicily

Question 17

Dawn

Answer 17

The goddess of dawn; described as having rosy fingers and rosy hair

Question 18

Eumaeus

Answer 18

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.

Question 19

Eurycleia

Answer 19

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.

Question 20

Eurylochus

Answer 20

A member of Odysseus’ crew.

Question 21

Eurymachus

Answer 21

A manipulative, deceitful suitor. Eurymachus’s charisma and duplicity allow him to exert some influence over the other suitors. Son of Polybus.

Question 22

Hades

Answer 22

The immortal god of death, and ruler of the Underworld.

Question 23

Halitheres

Answer 23

Mastor’s son. He is an old hero, and knows much of bird-lore, and soothsaying.

Question 24

Helen

Answer 24

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.

Question 25

Helios/Hyperion

Answer 25

The sun god; drives chariot with sun through the sky daily; Odysseus’ men eat his cattle on the island of Thrinacie, and die for it.

Question 26

Hephaestus

Answer 26

God of fire; god of artisans crafts, and arts. Husband to Aphrodite, but she is having an affair with Ares, the god of war.

Question 27

Hermes

Answer 27

The messenger of the gods; known for winged sandals.

Question 28

Laertes

Answer 28

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.

Question 29

Laestrygonians

Answer 29

A race of giant cannibals who threw rocks and boulders at Odysseus’ fleet, destroying all the ships and eating the corpses except Odysseus’ ship.

Question 30

Leocritus

Answer 30

Son of Euenor. Is one of the suitors.

Question 31

Lotus Eaters

Answer 31

A friendly people that fed themselves with the fruit of the lotus tree; those who ate the fruit forgot their friends & homes & lost all desire to return home.

Question 32

Melanthius

Answer 32

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.

Question 33

Melantho

Answer 33

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.

Question 34

Menelaus

Answer 34

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.

Question 35

Mentor

Answer 35

Mentor is an old friend of Odysseus, and is the same age as him. When Odysseus left for Troy, Mentor acted as steward of Ithaca, and kept things in order for Odysseus’ return.

Athena often uses Mentor’s voice to speak to Telemachus.

Question 36

Nausicaa

Answer 36

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

Question 37

Nestor

Answer 37

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.

Question 38

Noemon

Answer 38

Son of Phronius. A prominent Ithacan lord. Supplies Telemachus with a ship to sail to Pylos, and Sparta.

Question 39

Odysseus

Answer 39

The protagonist of the Odyssey. Odysseus fought among the other Greek heroes at Troy and now struggles to return to his kingdom in Ithaca. Odysseus 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 because Odysseus blinded his son, the cyclops Polyphemus.

Question 40

Peisenor

Answer 40

Telemachus’ herald (oversees events). He is a shrewd, and experiences counsellor. Peisenor gives Telemachus the speaker’s staff at the assembly of the Ithacan lords in Book 2.

Question 41

Penelope

Answer 41

Wife of Odysseus and mother of Telemachus. Penelope 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. She is considered very intelligent, and cunning. She promises her suitors that she will choose one of them to marry when she finishes weaving a death shroud for Laertes, Odysseus’ father, to wear at Odysseus’ burial.

Question 42

Persephone

Answer 42

Wife to Hades, and queen of the Underworld. Goddess of the harvest.

Question 43

Polyphemus

Answer 43

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.

Question 44

Poseidon

Answer 44

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.

Question 45

Scylla

Answer 45

A nymph who Circe changed into a frightful monster out of jealousy; has twelve feet and six heads, each with three rows of teeth; below the waist her body was made up of hideous monsters, like dogs, which barked unceasingly.
Believed to be on a dangerous rock in the Straits of Messina; whenever a ship passed, each of her heads would seize one of the crew.

Question 46

Sirens

Answer 46

Creatures with the head of a female and the body of a bird; the irresistible charm of their song lures sailors to their destruction on the rocks surrounding their island

Question 47

Telemachus

Answer 47

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.

Question 48

The Furies

Answer 48

Also known as the Fates, the three goddesses who control the destiny of everyone from the time they were born to the time they died.

Question 49

The Muses

Answer 49

Nine sisters; daughters of Zeus who inspire people to produce music, poetry, dance, and other arts (Calliope is the muse of epic poetry)

Question 50

Tiresias

Answer 50

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.

Question 51

Tiresias

Answer 51

Famous blind prophet from the city of Thebes Erebus: a region in the land of the dead

Question 52

Zeus

Answer 52

King of gods and men, who mediates the disputes of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is occasionally depicted as weighing men’s fates in his scales. He sometimes helps Odysseus or permits Athena to do the same.