The Odyssey

Front 1

Ithaka

Back 1

home of Odysseus

Front 2

Mycenae

Back 2

home of King Agamemnon

Front 3

Sparta

Back 3

home of King Menelaus

Front 4

Pylos

Back 4

home of King Nestor

Front 5

Scheria

Back 5

The island home of the Phaeacians, and the kingdom of Alcinous.

Front 6

Troy

Back 6

A kingdom that was destroyed by the Greeks in the Trojan War.

Front 7

Eurycleia

Back 7

The faithful and devoted old nurse of Odysseus, recognizes him by the scar on his leg.

Front 8

Hector

Back 8

A Trojan prince and the greatest fighter of Troy in the Trojan War.

Front 9

Calypso

Back 9

The sea nymph who keeps Odysseus captive for nine years and who, in hope of making him her husband, offers him immortality.

Front 10

Lotus eaters

Back 10

A storm sent by Zeus sweeps Odysseus and his men along for nine days before bringing them to the land of the Lotus-eaters, where the natives give some of Odysseus’s men the intoxicating fruit of the lotus. As soon as they eat this fruit, they lose all thoughts of home and long for nothing more than to stay there eating more fruit.

Front 11

Kassandra

Back 11

A Trojan princess. She was raped and killed by Little Aias on the altar of Athene, which meant he had to die for his disrespect

Front 12

Charybdis

Back 12

Skylla and ********* are the two monsters Odysseus and his men have to pass on the way to Ithaka, and the latter is the one that swallows the sea and vomits it back up again.

Front 13

Skylla

Back 13

The first of the two horrible monsters Odysseus must pass with his men (the second is Charybdis). ****** has six heads and plucks six men from the ship as it passes. Odysseus has been instructed not to try to fight the monster, but rather to row by as quickly as possible.

Front 14

Helios

Back 14

God of the sun. Has some really awesome cattle that no one was allowed to touch, much less kill and eat.

Front 15

Nestor

Back 15

The King of Pylos and the first man Telemachos goes to visit while searching for news of his father. Provides another great example of good Greek hospitality; plying the Ithakan Prince with gifts, food, and even transportation to his next destination (Sparta).

Front 16

Orestes

Back 16

Agamemnon’s son; he kills Klytaimestra and her lover Aigisthos as vengeance for his father’s death. In the meeting of the gods at the beginning of the Odyssey, first on the agenda is murder and whether it was warranted.

Front 17

Penelope

Back 17

The wife of Odysseus.

Front 18

Phemios

Back 18

The resident bard in Ithaka. We first meet him as he saddens Penelope by singing of the Trojan war. Later, he is spared from the slaughter because he has been loyal to Odysseus during his absence.

Front 19

Philoitios

Back 19

A cowherd in Ithaka and one of the servants who remain loyal to Odysseus. He fights on Odysseus’s side against the suitors during the slaughter.

Front 20

Polyphemos

Back 20

The specific one-eyed monster that the Ithakans encounter on their way home. Poseidon’s son. Once the Greeks blind him and make their escape, he calls in a favor from daddy.

Front 21

Priam

Back 21

the son of Laomedon and was the king of Troy.

Front 22

Hades

Back 22

King of the Underworld, the god of death and the dead

Front 23

Persephone

Back 23

goddess of the underworld, daughter of Zeus and Demeter

Front 24

Proteus

Back 24

An island god we hear about in Menelaos’s tale to Telemachos; he reveals to the King how to escape the island he’s stuck on (namely, by traveling to Egypt and sacrificing to Zeus).

Front 25

Telemachos

Back 25

the son of Odysseus and Penelope.

Front 26

Teiresias

Back 26

The blind prophet whose help Odysseus seeks in the Underworld.

Front 27

Agamemnon

Back 27

Brother of Menelaos and a Greek King. He was married to the unfaithful Klytaimestra and killed upon his return from Troy by her and her lover, Aigisthos.

Front 28

Aigisthos

Back 28

The treacherous lover of Agamemnon’s wife, Klytaimestra. He conspired with her to kill her husband and was later murdered in revenge by Orestes, Agamemnon’s son.

Front 29

Achilleus

Back 29

A big Greek hero that fought against the Trojans. He’s already dead by the time the Odyssey begins, so we only see him in the Underworld.

Front 30

Alkinoös

Back 30

King of the Phaiakians, husband of Arete, father to Nausikaa. He’s the guy who asks Odysseus to tell his story.

Front 31

Antinoös

Back 31

the human face we get to put to the otherwise nameless group of evil suitors. As such, he 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.

Front 32

Arete

Back 32

Queen of the Phaiakians, wife to Alkinoös, and mother to Nausikaa. She’s the dominant one in her marriage, so Odysseus has to get her to like him in order to obtain help from her husband and her people.

Front 33

Iros

Back 33

The real beggar of the palace in Ithaka. He gets territorial when a new beggar (who we know to be Odysseus in disguise) starts poking around his turf.

Front 34

Atreus

Back 34

the king of Mycenae and father of Agamemnon and of Menelaus

Front 35

Demodokos

Back 35

The blind bard of the Phaiakians. Sings about Achilleus and Odysseus (oblivious that one of those men is present), and later of Aphrodite.

Front 36

Elpenor

Back 36

One of the Ithakans unfortunate enough to be traveling with Odysseus, and even more unfortunate to have wandered up to Circe’s roof and fallen to his death before the men departed. Odysseus converses with him in the underworld, where he asks for a proper burial; this character reminds us of the importance of such matters (like proper burials, even if it means your crew has to sail back to the island of a sorceress to do so).

Front 37

Eumaios

Back 37

The Ithakan swineherd who takes Odysseus in when he returns home in the guise of a beggar.

Front 38

Circe

Back 38

The sorceress of the island Aiaia.

Front 39

The Kikonians

Back 39

The resident natives in Ismaros, where Odysseus first lands after leaving Troy. The Ithakans plunder them, because they can.

Front 40

Klytaimestra

Back 40

Agamemnon’s no-good wife. She sleeps with Aigisthos while her husband is gone and kills Agamemnon when he finally does get home. She meets her death the same way her lover does – at the hands of her and Agamemnon’s son Orestes.

Front 41

Kyklops

Back 41

a member of a primordial race of giants, each with a single eye in the middle of its forehead.

Front 42

Laertes

Back 42

Odysseus’s father. For some reason, he seems to live in a shack at the outskirts of Ithaka. Penelope is weaving his funeral shroud.

Front 43

The Laistrygones

Back 43

The scary and not-quite human folk that the Ithakans encounter in Lamos on the way home from Troy. Their king is Antiphates, whom you may remember as the blood-drinking guy.

Front 44

Medon

Back 44

The town crier of Ithaka. He’s called out as one of the men loyal to Odysseus, so he accordingly isn’t slaughtered along with everyone else in sight.

Front 45

Menelaos

Back 45

A King of Sparta and husband to Helen; he is the second man Telemachos visits in his search for Odysseus, and it is in fact he who confirms the boy’s father is still alive and on Kalypso’s island.

Front 46

Nausikaa

Back 46

The Phaiakian princess, daughter of Alkinoös and Arete. She is the first of her people to find Odysseus, and it is she who brings him to the palace (somewhat indirectly) to ask for help from the Queen.

Front 47

Neoptolemos

Back 47

Achilleus’s son. Achilleus asks for him in the Underworld, and Odysseus responds with details of the boy’s accomplishments in battles, etc.

Front 48

Aiolos

Back 48

God of the winds; he helps Odysseus and his men in Book X, before he realizes there is no hope for the Ithakans.

Front 49

The Phaiakians

Back 49

The hospitable people of Scheria who house Odysseus, listen to his tale, and help him back to Ithaka, only to be destroyed by Poseidon after the fact. These are the people of King Alkinoös, Queen Arete, and the lovely Nausikaa.