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The Odyssey CharactersMeet the Cast
Odysseus
Odysseus is a Greek hero, King of Ithaka, son of Laertes, husband to Penelope, father of Telemach...
Telemachos
Telemachos is the son of Odysseus and Penelope. He is marked by his prudence and, as we are told...
Penelope
Penelope is the wife of Odysseus, mother of Telemachos, Queen of Ithaka, and the object of desire...
Athene
The daughter of Zeus, Athene is the goddess of wisdom and patroness of warfare. This combination...
Antinoös
Antinoös is the human face we get to put to the otherwise nameless group of evil suitors. As...
Agamemnon
Brother of Menelaos and a Greek King. He was married to the unfaithful Klytaimestra and killed up...
Agelaos
Sometimes spelled Agelaus. One of the suitors we see in Book XXI. He asks Telemachos to reason wi...
Telamonian Aias
Sometimes spelled Ajax. A Greek hero in the Trojan war whom Odysseus encounters in the Underworld...
Little Aias
Sometimes spelled Ajax. A Greek who fought in the Trojan war, and also an irreverent jerk who rap...
Aigisthos
Sometimes spelled Aegisthus. The treacherous lover of Agamemnon’s wife, Klytaimestra. He co...
Aigyptios
An Ithakan lord present at Telemachos’s meeting in Book II.
Aiolos
Sometimes spelled Aeolus, Eolus or Aeolos. God of the winds; he helps Odysseus and his men in Boo...
Aithon
The fake name that Odysseus gives when speaking with Penelope while in the guise of a beggar. The...
Achilleus
Sometimes spelled Achilles. A big Greek hero that fought against the Trojans. He’s already...
Alkinoös
Sometimes spelled Alcinous. King of the Phaiakians, husband of Arete, father to Nausikaa. He̵...
Amphimedon
One of the suitors. In the Underworld, he tells the story of the slaughter to Achilleus and Agame...
Amphinomos
Sometimes spelled Amphinomus. The good suitor, relatively speaking. Penelope seems to recognize t...
Antikleia
Odysseus’s mother; he converses with her in the Underworld and discovers that she has taken...
Antilochos
Sometimes spelled Antilochus. One of Odysseus’s war buddies with whom he converses in the U...
Antiphates
King of Lamos, the land of the not-so-human Laistrygones. He greets the Ithakans by attacking the...
Antiphos
Sometimes spelled Antiphus. One of the Ithakan men. He remains loyal to Odysseus; Telemachos cons...
Aphrodite
Goddess of love. In the land of the Phaiakians, the bard Demodokos sings a tale about Aphrodite c...
Ares
God of war. He is referenced in the Odyssey as the lover of Aphrodite, who was married. He...
Arete
Queen of the Phaiakians, wife to Alkinoös, and mother to Nausikaa. She’s the dominant...
Argos
Odysseus’s loyal dog. When his master return homes after nearly twenty years, Argos recogni...
Autolykos
Sometimes spelled Autolycus. Odysseus’s maternal grandfather. We only hear about him in a f...
Kassandra
Sometimes spelled Cassandra. A Trojan princess. She was raped and killed by Little Aias on the al...
Demodokos
Sometimes spelled Demodocus. The blind bard of the Phaiakians; has been traditionally thought (wi...
Dolios
Laertes’s housekeeper.
Eidothea
A nymph who comes into play in Menelaos’s story to Telemachos about that one time he was st...
Elpenor
One of the Ithakans unfortunate enough to be traveling with Odysseus, and even more unfortunate t...
Eperitos
The name that Odysseus gives to his father, Laertes, in Book XXIV, before revealing his true iden...
Eumaios
Sometimes spelled Eumaeus. The Ithakan swineherd who takes Odysseus in when he returns home in th...
Eupeithes
Antinoös’s father. We meet him post-slaughter, while he’s looking for a little v...
Eurykleia
Odysseus’s nurse when he was a little boy. She’s still around in the palace working a...
Eurylochos
Sometimes spelled Eurylochus. One of the Ithakans traveling with Odysseus on the way back from Tr...
Eurymachos
Sometimes spelled Eurymachus. One of the not-so-nice suitors. He even plots to kill Telemachos an...
Halitherses
An Ithakan augur and loyal to Odysseus. In Book II, he interprets the two vicious eagles as a sig...
Helen
Menelaos’s wife and instigator of the entire Trojan war. Although we don’t hear this...
Helios
God of the sun. You might be wondering what’s up with all this cattle – basically, He...
Hephaistos
Sometimes spelled Hephæstos. Aphrodite’s crippled blacksmith husband. Luckily, he marr...
Hermes
The messenger of the Gods. He doesn’t seem to have any real personality of his own, but he...
Iphitos
A minor character in the story of How Odysseus Got His Bow. Actually, Iphitos is the man who gave...
Iphthime
Penelope’s sister. She isn’t actually present in the Odyssey, but in Book IV Athene s...
Iros
Sometimes spelled Irus. Also known as Arnaeus. The real beggar of the palace in Ithaka. He gets t...
Kalypso
Sometimes spelled Calypso. The goddess who holds Odysseus hostage for purposes of sex.
Charybdis
Monster #2 of the worst duo ever. Skylla and Charybdis are the two monsters Odysseus and his men...
The Kikonians
Sometimes spelled the Cicones. The resident natives in Ismaros, where Odysseus first lands after...
Circe
The sorceress of the island Aiaia.
Ktimene
The daughter of Laertes, Odysseus’s sister.
Klytaimestra
Sometimes spelled Clytemnestra. Agamemnon’s no-good wife. She sleeps with Aigisthos while h...
Klytoneos
A Phaiakian prince, the son of Alkinoös and Arete. He wins the foot-race during the athletic...
Ktesippos
An evil suitor. Pretty much all he does in the Odyssey is to throw a cow’s foot at b...
The Cyclopes
Sometimes spelled Cyclopses or Kyklopes. The one-eyed monsters that the Ithakans encounter on the...
Laertes
Odysseus’s father. For some reason, he seems to live in a shack at the outskirts of Ithaka....
The Laistrygones
Sometimes spelled Laestrygonians. The scary and not-quite human folk that the Ithakans encounter...
Laodamas
A Phaiakian prince, the son of Alkinoös and Arete. He wins the boxing match during the athle...
Lotus Eaters
The name pretty much says it all. The Lotus Eaters eat the Lotus. Oh, and forget about their live...
Maron
The keeper of Apollo’s groves at Ismaros; he provides the Ithakans with wine.
Medon
The town crier of Ithaka. He’s called out as one of the men loyal to Odysseus, so he accord...
Melampous
Sometimes spelled Melampus. This is another minor name in a major digression over yet another min...
Melanthios
Sometimes spelled Melanthius. The Ithakan goatherd. Unlike many of the other, loyal servants we m...
Melantho
She’s the female version of Melanthios; a servant of the palace who is loyal to the suitors...
Menelaos
A King of Sparta and husband to Helen; he is the second man Telemachos visits in his search for O...
Mentes
Athene first takes the disguise of this man, friend of Odysseus and ruler of the Taphians, when s...
Mentor
Mentor can be confusing in the Odyssey since the name either refers to Mentor, the elderly...
Mykene
Sometimes spelled Mycenae. Agamemnon’s kingdom.
Nausikaa
Sometimes spelled Nausicaa. The Phaiakian princess, daughter of Alkinoös and Arete. Nausikaa...
Neleus
This guy is part of the digression regarding Theoklymenos, the hitchhiking fugitive seer that Tel...
Neoptolemos
Also known as Pyrrhus. Achilleus’s son. Achilleus asks for him in the Underworld, and Odyss...
Nestor
The King of Pylos and the first man Telemachos goes to visit while searching for news of his fath...
Noëmon
A wealthy ship-seller in Ithaka. Athene obtains a ship for Telemachos from him.
Orestes
Agamemnon’s son; he kills Klytaimestra and her lover Aigisthos as vengeance for his father&...
Patroklos
Sometimes spelled Patroclus. One of the shades Odysseus sees in the Underworld. Patroklos was Ach...
Peisistratos
Sometimes spelled Peisistratus or Pisistratus. Nestor’s son. He accompanies Telemachos to S...
Peiraios
One of Telemachos’s crewmen. When the Prince comes back to Ithaka at Athene’s urging,...
The Phaiakians
Sometimes spelled the Phaeacians. The hospitable people of Scheria who house Odysseus, listen to...
Phemios
Sometimes spelled Phemius. The resident bard in Ithaka. We first meet him as he saddens Penelope...
Philoitios
A cowherd in Ithaka and one of the servants who remain loyal to Odysseus. He fights on Odysseus&#...
Polyphemos
Sometimes spelled Polyphemus. The specific one-eyed monster that the Ithakans encounter on their...
Poseidon
God of the sea, as well as an ever-angry and vengeful grudge-holder. He’s the one who force...
Proteus
An island god we hear about in Menelaos’s tale to Telemachos; he reveals to the King how to...
Euryalos
A Phaiakian who competes in the athletic contests held during Odysseus’s stay. He taunts Od...
The Sirens
These are the dangerous females who lure men to their deaths with their voices. Odysseus becomes...
Skylla
Sometimes spelled Scylla. The first of the two horrible monsters Odysseus must pass with his men...
The Taphians
Mentes, the man Athene pretends to be when she first arrives in Ithaka, is the ruler of the Taphi...
Teiresias
Sometimes spelled Tiresias. The blind prophet whose help Odysseus seeks in the Underworld.
Theoklymenos
Sometimes spelled Theoclymenus. The hitchhiker fugitive seer who grabs a ride with Telemachos on...
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