Amnisos: port-city in Krete near Knossos and the location of the holy cave of Eileithuía, where Odysseus, bound for Troy, dropped anchor.
Amphialos: a Phaiákian.
Amphiaraos: seer of Argos, son of Oikleiês, grandson of Antíphatês; through the treachery of his wife, Eriphylê, he was fatally involved in the campaign against Thebes (“Seven Against Thebes”).
Amphílokhos: seer of Argos, son of Amphiaraos and Eríphylê, brother of Alkmáon.
Amphímedon: suitor, slain by Telémakhos, but not before wounding Telémakhos slightly.
Amphínomos: suitor from Doulíkhion, son of Nísos, slain by Telémakhos.
Amphion: (1) son of Zeus and Antiopê, husband of Niobe; with his brother Zêthos he built the walls of Thebes; (2) king of Orkhómenos in Boiotia, son of lasos, father of Khloris.
Amphithéa: wife of Autólykos, maternal grandmother of Odysseus.
Amphitrion: king of Tiryns, husband of Alkmênê; Zeus, disguised as Amphitrion, deceived Alkmênê and engendered Heraklês, making Amphitrion Heraklês’ mortal or foster-father. (Note: “Amphitryon” would be a preferable transliteration, and elsewhere Fitzgerald reproduces Greek upsilon with “y;” however, on the sonic basis of his spellings, see the note to this section.)
Amphitritê: sea goddess.
Amytháon: son of Krêtheus and Tyro, expert charioteer.
Anabesineus: a Phaiákian.
Andraimon: king of the Aetolians in Kalydon, father of Thoas.
Ankhíalos: father of Mentes of Taphos.
Antikleía: daughter of the archthief Autólykos, wife of Laërtês, mother of Odysseus and Ktimenê; her shade appears and speaks to Odysseus in Book XI.
Antiklos: Greek warrior at Troy and one of those enclosed in the wooden horse; hearing Helen imitating the voices of the wives of Greek heroes, he was on the verge of responding when Odysseus stifled him.
Antílokhos: son of Nestor, killed in the Trojan War by Memnon.
Antínoös: leader of the suitors, son of Eupeithês, he is the victim of Odysseus’ first arrow.
Antiopê: daughter of Ásopos, mother of Amphion and Zêthos by Zeus; her shade appears to Odysseus.
Antíphatês: (1) king of the man-eating Laistrygonês, he drank the blood of strangers visiting his land; (2) Greek commander, son of Melampous, brother of Mantios, father of Oikleiês, grandfather of Amphiaraos.
Ántiphos: (1) Ithakan spearman, son of Aigýptios, comrade of Odysseus, the last man eaten by Kyklops; (2) friend of Odysseus (clearly distinct from the first Ántiphos, since this one is still alive for Telémakhos to speak to in Book XVII).
Aphroditê: Olympian goddess, particularly of love in its erotic manifestations, daughter of Zeus and Dione, wife of Hephaistos, paramour of Ares.
Apollo: Olympian god, son of Zeus and Lêto, brother of Artemis; god of prophecy and music (he himself played the lyre); the epithet “far-darter” refers to the fact that he is a keen archer, whose arrows bring swift and painless death; the epithet “Phoibos” may refer to his brilliance, although a strong association with the sun seems not to have been part of his original nature (which is exceedingly complex).
Arês: an Olympian god, son of Zeus and Hêra, god of war, bloody and violent; adulterous lover of Aphroditê.
Arête: queen of Phaiákia, wife of Alkínoös, mother of Nausikaa, only daughter of Rhêxênor.
Arethousa: spring on Ithaka.
Arêtós: one of Nestor’s sons.
Argo: ship of the Argonauts.
Argos: (1) important city in the eastern Peloponnese, often used to denote the realm of Agamémnon, who actually ruled in Mykênai, and sometimes even the entire Peloponnese (q.v.); (2) Pelasgian Argos: Akhilleus’ domain; (3) Odysseus’ dog, left behind in Ithaka, who does not die before he sees his master return home; (4) monster slain by Hermês, not mentioned directly in Homer unless his epithet “Argeiphontês” refers to the deed; see further under Hermês, below.
Ariadnê: Kretan princess, daughter of Minos and Pasiphaae; helped Theseus escape the Labyrinth; Theseus took her with him, but she was killed by Artemis on the island of Dia; her shade appears to Odysseus.
Arkesilaos: son of Lyeus, leader of the Boeotians.
Arkeíos: son of Zeus, father of Laërtês, grandfather of Odysseus; hence “Arkeísiadês” as the patronymic of Laërtês.
Arnaios, nicknamed “Iros”: a public tramp and beggar in Ithaka, bested by Odysseus in a wrestling match.
Artakía: spring in the land of the Laistrygonês. Known also from the Argonautica, a fact which, along with other evidence, has lead scholars to argue that the Laistrygonian episode was transferred by the poet of The Odyssey to Odysseus’ story from the cycle of tales about Jason.
Artemis: Olympian god, daughter of Zeus and Lêto, sister of Apollo, famed for the hunt and archery.
Arubas Pasha: father of a Phoinikian woman who was captured by Taphian pirates and sold as a slave to the father of the then still-free Eumaios.
Ásopos: father of Antiopê, grandfather of Amphion and Zêthos.
Athena: Olympian god, daughter of Zeus, greatest champion of Odysseus.
Atlas: titan who holds up pillars of heaven, Kalypso’s father.
Atreus: son of Pelops and Hippodamia, brother of Thyestês, father of Agamémnon and Meneláos, the two brothers who are hence known as the Atreidai.
Attika: region of mainland Greece where Athens is located.
Autólykos: father of Antikleía, grandfather of Odysseus; thief and archtrickster under Hermês’ protection (later tradition makes Autólykos Hermês’ son); the name means “the wolf himself.” See also under Sísyphos, below.
Autonoë: female attendant of Penélopê.
Boiotia: large state on the mainland of Greece, north of Attika and the Gulf of Corinth, to its west lay Phokis, to its east the strait separating Euboia from the mainland.
Cape Malea: see Malea.
Damástor: father of Ageláos, who was one of the suitors.
Danaans: along with Akhaians and Argives, a third general name Homer applies to the Greeks, especially the host assembled at Troy. Although there may have been real tribal differences among them at an earlier stage, and although later commentators invented differences, Homer uses them without any apparent distinction.
Dawn: goddess; her Greek name is Eos; she precedes Hêlios’ chariot as the sun god traverses the heavens. In The Odyssey, she is presented as having a lusty appetite for mortal males, e.g., Tithonos (who became her spouse), Orion, and Kleitos, qq. vv.
Deïphobos: prince of Troy, son of Priam and Hekabê; after the death of Paris, Helen lived with him. In the sack of Troy, he was killed by Meneláos.
Delos: Aegean island, also known as Ortýgia, q.v.; birthplace of Apollo and Artemis, for further on which see under Lêto.
Dêmêtêr: Olympian goddess, “earth mother,” mother of Perséphonê; because she made love with the mortal Iasion, Zeus killed him.
Demódokos: blind Phaiákian minstrel.
Demoptólemos: suitor, killed by Odysseus.
Deukálion: son of Minos, father of Idómeneus and “Aithôn.”
Dia: Aegean island where Theseus abandoned Ariadnê and Artemis slew her. The name applied to several islands in antiquity. The most likely candidate for the original Dia is a small island just off the north coast of Krete (Sandia today), though it was soon identified with the more important Naxos, the largest of the Kyklades.
Dióklês: son of Ortílokhos, q.v., and father of two sons, another Ortílokhos and Krethon, both of whom died at Aeneas’ hand in The Iliad (V.541). He lived at Phêrai, where he gave hospitality to Telémakhos and Peisístratos both on their way from Pylos to Sparta and on the return trip.
Diomêdês: Greek, captain of some of the ships sailing home from Troy, he made land at Argos.
Dmêtor: a name invented by Odysseus in one of his Kretan tales for a traveler, son of lasos; the name means “Tamer.”
Dodona: oracle of Zeus in northwestern Greece.
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Dólios: (1) father of the nasty Ithakan goatherd Melánthios and the nasty maidservant Melántho; (2) slave and companion of Laërtês. The two Dólios’ are likely one and the same person (see note on XXIV.430–54).
Dorians: in Homer, listed as one of the races inhabiting Krete. They were a Greek-speaking people who invaded the Mycenaean world from the north (c. 1150–1000 B.C.E.), occupying most of the Peloponnese and some Aegean islands.
Doulíkhion: island near Ithaka. This is clear in Homer’s conception, but its geographical identity has been controversial since antiquity. It may well be Leukas, a Greek island or peninsula in the Ionian Sea to the northeast of Ithaka. Leukas is separated from the mainland by a shallow lagoon and connected to it by so narrow a strip of land (a feature we still call by a word derived from the Greek, “isthmus”) that it is often reckoned a true island (“peninsula” deriving after all from the Latin for “almost island”). Ancient tradition has it that it was unambiguously a peninsula until Corinthian settlers dug a canal across the isthmus.
Dymas: Phaiákian shipman, in the shape of whose daughter Athena appears to Nausikaa at night.
Eidothea: daughter of Proteus, she gives the advice to Meneláos that is necessary for him to force her father to answer the Greek’s questions.
Eileithuía: goddess of childbirth; the “Kretan,” speaking to Penélopê, claims that Odysseus, bound for Troy, dropped anchor in a cave holy to her.
Ekhenêos: eldest of the Phaiákians, he speaks first in Alkínoös’ hall after Odysseus has made his supplication to Arêtê.
Ekhéphron: one of Nestor’s sons.
Ékhetos: fierce king of Epeiros, he flays all strangers who come to his kingdom alive.
Élatos: suitor, killed by the swineherd.
Elis: coastal region in the northwestern Peloponnesos rich in pasture, where Ithakans such as Noêmon kept horses.
Elpênor: Ithakan, companion of Odysseus, who dies by falling from the roof of Kirkê’s house; unnoticed, he receives no burial rites; his shade appears to Odysseus.
Elysion: location in, or aspect of, the world of the dead; it was conceived as a pleasant meadow (see also note on IV.599ff.).
Enipeus: river in Thessaly or the northern Peloponnesos; equally, the river god, beloved of Tyro.
Epeioi: inhabitants of Elis.
Epeios: builder of the wooden horse.
Epeiros: northwestern region of mainland Greece, with the Ionian Sea on its west and Macedonia and Thessaly to the east. See also Thesprótia, below.
Ephialtês: giant, son of Iphimedeia and Poseidon; with his brother, Otos, he constituted a threat to the Olympian gods, so while still young, he was slain by Apollo.
Ephyra: site of indeterminate location (some scholars claim the Ephyra in Thesprótia is meant, others, an Ephyra in northern Elis); all that can be said with certainty is that it was known as a source of poisonous plants. Odysseus once stopped here.
Epikastê: mother of Oidipous, whom she unwittingly married; her shade appeared to Odysseus. Later tradition knows her as Jocasta.
Érebos: a name for Hades or a particularly dark place within Hades.
Erekhtheus: legendary hero and early king of Athens, son of the earth and foster son of Athena.
Eríphylê: treacherous wife of Amphiaraos, who betrayed her lord for gold; her shade appeared to Odysseus.
Erymanthos: large mountainous massif in the northern Peloponnèse, one of Artemis’ favorite hunting grounds.
Eteóneus: companion in arms to Meneláos.
Euboia: longish island off the east coast of Greece, separated from mainland Greece by a narrow strait.
Eumaios: born free but captured by slave traders, raised by Odysseus’ family, now Odysseus’ loyal swineherd, who hosts the disguised Odysseus on his first night back in Ithaka; one of the four who slay the suitors.
Eupeithês: father of Antínoös; mustered others to avenge the death of his son and all the suitors.
Eurýadês: suitor, killed by Telémakhos.
Eurýbâtes: according to the “Kretan,” Odysseus’ herald (see also note on XIX.290–91).
Eurýdamas: suitor, struck down by Odysseus.
Eurydíkê: wife of Nestor, eldest daughter of Klyménos.
Eurýkleia: daughter of Ops, granddaughter of Peisênor 2; while still a girl purchased by Laërtês, who kept her as a wife but never touched her; nurse to Odysseus and later Telémakhos. It is she who gives the “Kretan” a footbath and recognizes Odysseus by the scar on his thigh. As ordered, and on pain of death, she keeps the news to herself.
Eurýlokhos: relative of Odysseus, he stands out among Odysseus’ companions through his important role in several episodes (the approach to Kirkê’s house, the sacrifices before the first nekuia, the safe passage by the Sêirênes, and the slaughter of Hêlios’ cattle). See also note on XII.357.
Eurýmakhos: suitor, son of Pólybos 3.
Eurymedon: father of Periboia 1, grandfather of Nausíthoös, king of the Gigantês.
Eurymedousa: Nausikaa’s nurse.
Eurymos: one of the Kyklopês, father of Telemos.
Eurýnomê: housekeeper of Penélopê.
Eurýnomos: a suitor, son of Ántiphos.
Eurýpulos: son of Télephos, Keteian (q.v.) ally of the Trojans, killed by Neoptólemos.
Eurýtion: Thessalian centaur who, wine-crazed, initiated the rape and battle in Peiríthoös’ hall among the Lapíthai.
Eurytos: father of Íphitos of Oikhalía; vied with the gods in bowmanship but was killed by Apollo.
Gaia: the goddess Earth.
Gerênia: Spartan locale associated with Nestor (although the connection is probably bogus, Nestor’s epithet “Gerênios” originally having nothing to do with Gerênia).
Gigantês: giants, unsuccessful rebels against the Olympian gods.
Gortyn: Kretan city, about ten miles inland from the southern coast.
Gyrai: rocky outcropping in the Aegean Sea near Naxos, on which Aias, son of Oileus (see Aias 1, above), was shipwrecked, while Poseidon made it a safe haven for Agamémnon.
Halios: Phaiákian prince, one of the sons of Alkínoös and Arête.
Halithérsês: son of Mastor (hence the patronymic Mastóridês), soothsayer, friend of the house of Odysseus.
Hêbê: daughter of Zeus and Hêra, goddess of youth; Odysseus sees her with Heraklês’ phantom in the underworld.
Hektor: Trojan prince, son of Priam, greatest of Trojan warriors; as The Iliad reports, after slaying Akhilleus’ friend Patróklos, he is killed by Akhilleus, who drags his body around the citadel. In the final book of The Iliad, Priam comes to Akhilleus to ransom his corpse.
Helen: daughter of Lêda and Zeus or Tyndareus (the latter is her human foster-father if not her real father), wife of Meneláos, mother of Hermionê; as the most beautiful woman, she is Aphroditê’s gift to Paris of Troy, whence the Trojan War.
Hêlios: the sun as divine being, son of Hyperion, consort of the Oceanid Persê, who bore him Aiêtês and Kirkê; owner of sacred cattle which he grazes on the island Thrinákia, some of which Odysseus’ companions, in contravention of their captain’s strictest orders, slay and eat.
Hellas: from the time of Hesiod, immediately after Homer, the name for all of Greece (as it is in modern Greek). In The Odyssey it appears most frequently paired with “the Argive midlands” (e.g., I.395, IV.777, 869, XV. 106), so that in these instances Hellas would seem to refer to central Greece. The pairing “Hellas and Phthia” appears frequently in The Iliad to denote the kingdom of Pêleus, Akhilleus’ father, and so once in The Odyssey (XI.587, where in fact it is the shade of Akhilleus speaking about his father).
Hephaistos: son of Zeus and Hêra, divine smith, husband of Aphroditê, cuckolded by Arês—but he gets his revenge.
Hêra: Olympian goddess, daughter of Kronos, at once Zeus’ sister and consort; implacable enemy of the Trojans and supporter of the besieging Akhaians, she saved Agamémnon from the storm on the ocean which ravaged Aias.
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Heraklês: hero, son of Zeus and Alkmênê, foster-son of Amphitrion, husband of Megarê.
Hermês: Olympian god, son of Zeus and Maia, divine messenger and escort of the souls of the dead to the underworld. Hermês frequently is given the epithet “Argeiphontês,” the original sense of which is uncertain: traditionally explained as “killer of [the monster] Argos,” that exploit may well have been invented to make sense of the epithet; other scholars interpret it as “brilliant” or “shining.”
Hermionê: daughter of Helen and Meneláos, bride of Neoptólemos. (Later tradition has her marry Orestês, and out of this contradiction it seems poets and other mythographers created a fierce rivalry between the sons of Akhilleus and Agamémnon for Hermionê, which continues the fierce rivalry between the fathers celebrated in The Iliad.)
A Guide to the Odyssey: A Commentary on the English Translation of Robert Fitzgerald Page 40