The Odyssey (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Characters/People edit see section history

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• Odysseus (Ulysses): The main character, whose story is followed for the majority of the book, is followed from the end of the Trojan War in "The Iliad" on his journey home to his family. He is waylaid time and again, and must use his wit and intellect to get himself out of many dire situations. Odysseus is often viewed as the quintessential archetype representing the Ancient Greeks.
• Menelaus: King of Sparta and husband of Helen
• Antinous: One of Penelope's suitors.
• Polyphemus: is the gigantic one-eyed son of Poseidon and Thoosa in Greek mythology, one of the Cyclopes. His name means "everywhere famous".
• Telemachos: 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.
• Zeus: is the "Father of Gods and men", according to Hesiod's Theogony, who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family; he was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. As Walter Burkert points out in his book, Greek Religion, "Even the gods who are not his natural children address him as Father, and all the gods rise in his presence.
• Nausicaa: In Homer's Odyssey she is the daughter of King Alcinous and Queen Arete of Phaeacia. Her name, in Greek, means "burner of ships".
• Penelope: is the faithful wife of Odysseus, who keeps her suitors at bay in his long absence and is eventually reunited with him.Her name has traditionally been associated with faithfulness, and so it was with the Greeks and Romans, but some recent feminist readings offer a more ambiguous interpretation.
• Euryclea: Odysseus's nurse.
• Nestor: he son of Neleus and Chloris and the King of Pylos. He became king after Heracles killed Neleus and all of Nestor's siblings.
• King Alcinous: King of the Phaiakians of the Island Scheria, husband to Arete.
• Menelaos: King of Sparta, brother to Agamemnon, husband of Helen.
• Agamemnon: The son of King Atreus and Queen Aerope of Mycenae, the brother of Menelaus. When Helen, the wife of Menelaus, was abducted by Paris of Troy, Agamemnon commanded the united Greek armed forces in the ensuing Trojan War.
• Eumaeus Elatus: Swine herder at the lands of Ithaca.
• Helen of Troy: Wife of Menelaus and queen of Sparta. 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. She offers Telemachus assistance in his quest to find his father.
• Odysseus: stuborn moral and wity
• Athenæan Pallas: Goddess of Wisdom, patroness of Odysseus , helps him to be able to return home, also goddess of military strategy.
• Artemis: Goddess of the hunt
• Queen Arete: Wife of Alcinous, queen of Scheria.
• Poseidon: God of the Sea. Main antagonist of Odysseus. Tries to prevent Odysseus of going home
• Circe: A Goddess that turned the sailors into pigs and then helped Odysseus.
• Cyclops: One eye, ugly, large, violent, sons of poseidon.
• Aigisthos: New husband of Klytaimnestra, former wife of Agamemnon.
• Priam: King of Troy and father of Hector, Paris and Casandra
• Nausikaa: Daughter of Alcinous and Arete. Helps Odysseus to arrange a trip back home to Ithaca.
• Orestes: Son of Agamemnon and Klytaimnestra.
• Charybdis: a whirlpool that sucks in sailors.
• Antinoos: the leader of the suitors.
• Teiresias: the blind seer in the kingdom of the dead.
• Calypso: A nymph that wanted Odysseus to stay with her in her island.
• Odysseus (Greek): a very determined and honest man
• Philaetius: Add a description of this character.
• Atrides
• Glaucus
• Telemachus: Odysseus's son, throughout the story grows into manhood.
• Phoebus
• Hermes
• Prince Ulysses
• Aegysthus
• Phemius
• Pisander
• Demodocus
• Jove
• Argus
• Dolius
• Laertes
• Halitherses
• Ajax
• Neptune
• Pisistratus
• Eurymachus
• Minerva
• Laodamas
• Medon
• Peiraeus
• Elis
• Noman
• Pisenor
• Minos
• Peleus
• Philoetius
• Orion
• Butler
• Saturn
• Atlas
• Eupeithes
• Leto
• Melanthius
• Damastor
• Agelaus
• Hades
• Aegisthus
• Ctesippus
• Polybus
• Neleus
• Venus
• Mercury
• Mentor
• Mars
• Vulcan
• Aeolus
• Piraeus
• Diana
• Kalypso
• Idomeneus
• Demodokos
• Euryalos
• Iphimedeia
• Polybos
• Argives
• Leukothea
• Achilleus
• Autolykos
• Philoitios
• Eurykleia
• Dolios
• Phorkys
• Pelias
• Alkinoös
• Argos
• Helios
• Megapenthes
• Hera
• Hephaistos
• Diomedes
• Peisistratos
• Pallas Athene
• Eurymachos
• Diokles
• Arkeisios
• Peiraios
• Ikarios
• Amphinomos
• Lattimore
• Polyphemos
• Corfu
• Philoktetes
• Skylla
• Melanthios
• Ephialtes
• Eurylochos
• Aias Oïleus
• Herakles
• Eumaios
• Eurytos
• Antinoös
• Eurypylos
• Eupithes
• Oft
• Eumæus
• Diomede
• King of Ocean
• Icarius
• King Alcinoüs
• Achaia
• Argive Helen
• Juno
• Leiodes
• Nelëian Pylus
• Aurora
• Areta
• Antinoüs
• Jupiter
• Polypheme
• Saturnian Jove
• Anticlea
• Kallinus Tyrtaeus
• Melesigenes
• Mr. Payne Knight
• Pope
• Bentley
• Pluto
• F. A. Wolf
• Solon
• Grote
• Phaeacia
• Herodotus
• Lachmann
• Peisistratus
• Ceres

Quotes edit see section history

• “How lamentable is is that men blame the gods for their troubles, when their own wickedness brings them suffering over and above that which Destine decress for them.”

  Jupiter (Zeus)

• “And with these words the goddess of gleaming eyes departed to Olympus. There, men say, the home of the gods is secretly set for ever, unrocked by tempest, undrenched with rain, unassailed by snow; a cloudless sky stretches out above and a white radiance is everywhere. It is in this place that the blessed gods take their pleasure through all their days...”

  Narrator

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Ithaca: Odysseus' homeland, a rocky island on the west coast of Greece
• Troy: Ancient and mythical city/state located on the northwest coast of present day Turkey. It is best known for being the setting of the Trojan War described in the Greek mythology and especially in the Iliad. Also known as Illium
• Laertes
• Ilium
• Phmacia
• Ulyfres
• Ulyires
• Greece
• Calyplo
• Nauficaa
• Pylus
• Calypso
• Euryclea
• Tiresias
• Thesprotia
• Calypfo
• Ogygia
• Lotophagi
• Hades: The Underworld
• Scheria: Country of the Phaiakians
• Samos
• Phxacia
• Scylla
• Crete
• Egypt
• Lacedaemon
• Sparta: Home to Agamemnon
• Piraeus
• Neleus
• Heaven
• Dulichium
• Icarius
• Cyprus
• Peleus
• Phaeacia
• Lacedemonia
• Pylos: 'The Sandy Pylos', home to Nestor
• Aeaea: Calypso's island, where we first meet the hero Odysseus

First Sentence edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Homer (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. Nadia May (Narrator)
2. Richmond Lattimore (Translator)
3. Robert Fagles (Translator)
4. Andrew Lang (Translator)
5. Samuel Henry Butcher (Translator)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PA4025.A5 F34 1996
• Dewey: 791.4472

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Authors, A-Z › ( H ) › Homer
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Poetry › Ancient, Classical & Medieval
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Poetry › Epic
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Classics › Greek

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• Project Gutenberg: Free e-book

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