Odyssey Study Guide Index Page
The Odyssey - Book 1 - in English | Summary | Notes | Major Characters | Quiz on The Odyssey - Book I
- The Muse - without the inspiration of the Muse, Homer couldn't write. There were 3 Muses originally, Aoede (song), Melete (pracice), and Mneme (memory), and later 9. They were the daughters of Mnemosyne (Memory). The Muse of song was Calliope.
- Zeus - king of the gods. Zeus attempts neutrality.
Known as Jupiter or Jove among the Romans and in some translations of the Odyssey. - Calypso - "The concealer." Daughter of Atlas, a goddess who lives in Ogygia where she detains Odysseus for 7 years.
- Poseidon - Sea and earthquake god who is angry with Odysseus and doesn't want to let him return to Ithaca.
- Athena - a war goddess who especially favors Odysseus and other heroes. Athena is on the side of the Greeks.
Known as Minerva among the Romans and in some translations of the Iliad. - Polyphemus - one-eyed cyclops son of Poseidon whome Odysseus blinded.
- Telemachus - Son of Odysseus who was left as a baby when Odysseus went off 20 years earlier to fight in the Trojan War.
- Mentes - Son of Anchialus, king of the Taphians, in whose guise Athena visits Telemachus.
- Aegisthus - Son of Thyestes. Cousin of Agamemnon. Rules Mycenae for seven years and is then killed by Orestes.
- Agamemnon - Tantalus' grandson, son of Atreus, husband of Clytemnestra, father of Orestes, Chrysothemis, Laodice, and Iphianassa. King of Mycenae and the Argives.
- Orestes - Son of Agamemnon who returns from Athens to Mycenae and slays Aegisthus after he has ruled for 8 years.
- Phemius - Son of Terpis, a bard from Ithaca.
- Menelaus - Son of Atreus, brother of Agamemnon, and husband of Helen. King of Lacedaemon. Wanders 8 years before returning home after the Trojan War.
- Nestor - Old king of Pylos, son of Neleus and Choris.
- Laertes - Son of Arceisius; aged father of Odysseus.
- Penelope - Wife of Odysseus and mother of Telemachus.
- Antinous - The most insolent of the suitors. He is the son of Eupeithes.
