THE ODYSSEY CHARACTER ONLY

• Scheria


  home of the Phaeacians
• ATHENA

  She 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.
• CASSANDRA


  She is the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba. She is loved and cursed later on by Apollo. She is the cause of Athena’s wrath against the Greeks.
• TELEMACHUS


  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.
• PENELOPE

  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
• MENTOR

  Odysseus most trusted friend among all the Ithacans. Used as a disguise by Athena.
• NESTOR

  King of Pylos and a former warrior in the Trojan War. Like Odysseus, Nestor is known as a clever speaker. Telemachus visits him to ask about his father, but Nestor knows little of Odysseus’s whereabouts.
• 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.
• CALYPSO


  The beautiful nymph 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.
• POSEIDON

  God of the sea. Odysseus’s divine antagonist. He despises Odysseus for blinding his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus, and constantly hampers his journey home
• PROTEUS


  The Old Man of the Sea. A shape shifting, prophetic herder of seals who gives Menelaus an information about Odysseus and helped him get home.
• INO


  She aids Odysseus when Poseidon sends a storm and wrecks the hero’s raft. She lends him her veil to keep him afloat until he reaches the land of the Phaeacians.
• NAUSICAA

  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
• POLYPHEMUS


  One of the Cyclops (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.
• AEOLUS

  King of the island of Aeolia. He bagged up all the winds except a gentle westerly wind, which would help Odysseus get home but his crew got greedy and, after deciding the mysterious bag must hold untold wealth, they opened the bag and released the other winds, which only prolonged their journey home
• CIRCE


  The beautiful witch-goddess who transforms Odysseus’s crew into swine when he lands on her island. With the help of Hermes, Odysseus resists Circe’s powers and then becomes her lover, living in luxury at her side for a year.
• PROPHET TIRESIAS

  A Theban prophet who inhabits the underworld. Tiresias meets Odysseus when Odysseus journeys to the underworld. He shows Odysseus how to get back to Ithaca and allows Odysseus to communicate with the other souls in Hades
• SCYLLA & CHARYBDIS
• SCYLLA & CHARYBDIS

  Scylla is a six-headed monster who, when ships pass, swallows one sailor for each head. Charybdis is an enormous whirlpool that threatens to swallow the entire ship.
• EUMAEUS


  The loyal shepherd who helps Odysseus reclaim his throne EUMAEUS 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.
• ARGOS


  Odysseus’s faithful dog
• EURYCLEIA


  The aged and loyal servant who nursed Odysseus and EURYCLEIA Telemachus when they were babies. She keeps Odysseus’s identity a secret after she recognizes a scar on his leg.
• Laertes & Anticleia


  Parents of Odysseus