The Odyssey Characters

Question 1

Odysseus

Answer 1

Protagonist. You should definitely know this for sure.

Question 2

Telemachus

Answer 2

Odysseus’s son. He was an infant when Odysseus left him for Troy so he should be about 20 years old

Question 3

Penelope

Answer 3

Wife of Odysseus. Waits 20 years for him to get back to Ithaca where she’s waiting. Very loyal

Question 4

Athena

Answer 4

Daughter of Zeus. Godess of wisdom, battle, and the “Womanly” arts. Assists Odysseus and Telemachus throughout the book

Question 5

Poseidon

Answer 5

God of the sea. He hates Odysseus because he blinded Poseidons Cyclops son, Polyphemus. Makes going back to Ithica hard for Odysseus.

Question 6

Zeus

Answer 6

King of Gods and men. Sometimes assists Odysseus.

Question 7

Amphinomus

Answer 7

a suitor. sometimes speaks up and defends Telemachus or Odysseus. But he dies in the suitor battle.

Question 8

Eumaeus

Answer 8

Loyal shepard who helps out Odysseus and gives him a place to stay. Also helps him regain his throne in Ithica.

Question 9

Eurycleia

Answer 9

Loyal servant who nursed Telemachus and Odysseus as infants

Question 10

Melanthius

Answer 10

Brother of Melantho. supports the suitors, especially Eurymachus, and abuses the beggar who appears in Odysseus’s palace, not realizing that the man is Odysseus himself.

Question 11

Melantho

Answer 11

Sister of Melanthius. Like her brother, Melantho abuses the beggar in the palace, not knowing that the man is Odysseus. has an affair with Eurymachus.

Question 12

Calypso

Answer 12

The Nymph who has the paradise Island and tries to get Odysseus to stay. Pretty basic character. Even if you didn’t even read the book you should definitely get this one.

Question 13

Polyphemus

Answer 13

One of the Cyclops. Imprisons Odysseus then Odysseus, enraged, blinds him. This angers Poseidon.

Question 14

Circe

Answer 14

Witch-Goddess who turns men into pigs and animals.

Question 15

Laertes

Answer 15

Odysseus’s father.

Question 16

Tiresias

Answer 16

Prophet who resides in the underworld. Helps Odysseus and allows him to communicate with other souls in Hades

Question 17

Nestor

Answer 17

King of Phylos. Fought in the Trojan war. known as a clever speaker

Question 18

Menelaus

Answer 18

King of Sparta. brother of Agamemnon, and husband of Helen, he helped lead the Greeks in the Trojan War.

Question 19

Helen

Answer 19

Queen of Sparta. Wife of Menelaus. 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.

Question 20

Agamemnon

Answer 20

Former king of Mycenae, brother of Menelaus,. commander of the Achaean forces at Troy. Odysseus encounters Agamemnon’s spirit in Hades. 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 21

Nausicaa

Answer 21

The beautiful daughter of Alcinous and Queen Arete. Finds Odysseus on the beach and offers him protection.

Question 22

Alcinous

Answer 22

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.

Question 23

Arete

Answer 23

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.