Antinoös

Antinoös is the human face we get to put to the otherwise nameless group of evil suitors. As such, Antinoös represents unbecoming greed and impropriety. He eats, drinks, raids Odysseus’s supply of food and has no sense of restraint or respect for the King’s house and name. This shows that he, and as an extension, the rest of the suitors, abuse their role as guests in Odysseus’s house and show disrespect to their hostess (whose hand, ironically, they are trying to win). Thus they disregard the Greek value of hospitality, and in doing so, show themselves as something sub-human. Remember, we’ve seen throughout the course of the Odyssey that hospitality is a BIG DEAL in ancient Greece. Because it was held as one of Zeus’s personal rules for the mortals, breaking the law of hospitality is impious and even sacrilegious.

Antinoös’s lack of civility comes to light in certain key moments: when he tries to make beggar Odysseus fight with beggar Iros, when he throws a footstool at the beggar, and oh, yes, did we mention plotting to kill the Prince, his very host? Not cool, Antinoös. It’s no surprise that, given the incredible importance of hospitality and the incredible degree to which the suitors deny it, Athene wants ALL the suitors to die, die, die.

To top it all off, Antinoös is lazy. He is the first to suggest that the suitors should eat and drink whenever they are playing sports or resting. He is the most pig-like of the bunch, gorging himself silly and constantly getting drunk. The most apparent instance of his laziness occurs when the men are trying to string Odysseus’s bow. Seeing that the others have not come close to succeeding, Antinoös calls for them to stop and come eat; they will leave the bow for the morrow. It is appropriate that Antinoös is distracted with drinking wine when Odysseus puts an arrow through his throat.