The Odyssey Flashcards
Aegisthus
Aegisthus murdered Agamemnon. He would have then taken over Agamemnon’s kingdom had not Orestes, who was in exile in Athens. Nestor holds the courage of Orestes up as an example for Telemachus.
Agamemnon
He was the son (or grandson) of Atreus, king of Mycenae, and his wife Aërope and was the brother of Menelaus. After Atreus was murdered by his nephew Aegisthus (son of Thyestes), Agamemnon and Menelaus took refuge with Tyndareus, king of Sparta.
Aphrodite
Aphrodite is one goddess responsible for starting the Trojan War which is a war that Odysseus tries to come home from for 10 years.
Athena
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
Helen
was said to have been the most beautiful woman in the world, who was married to King Menelaus of Sparta, but was abducted by Prince Paris of Troy, resulting in the Trojan War
Hermes
Hermes is the messenger of the gods
Judgement of Paris
which was one of the events that led up to the Trojan War and to the foundation of Rome.
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.
Mentor
Mentor was a loyal friend and adviser to Odysseus, king of Ithaca. Mentor helped raise Odysseus’ son, Telemachus, while Odysseus was away fighting the Trojan War. Mentor became Telemachus’ teacher, coach, counselor and protector, building a relationship based on affection and trust.
Nestor
Nestor and those who were part of his army had safely returned to Pylos since they did not take part in the looting of Troy upon the Greeks’ victory in the Trojan War.
Odysseus
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.
Orestes
Orestes returns from Athens and avenges his father’s death by slaying both Aegisthus and his own mother Clytemnestra. In the Odyssey, Orestes is held up as a favorable example to Telemachus, whose mother Penelope is plagued by suitors.
Penelope
Penelope is the wife of the main character, the king of Ithaca, Odysseus. She only has one son by Odysseus, Telemachus, who was born just before Odysseus was called to fight in the Trojan War.
Posiden
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. … He sometimes helps Odysseus or permits Athena to do the same.
Suitors
Inside the house eats their food. wants to marry penelope.
