Characters

Question 0

Philoetius

Answer 0

Cow herd loyal to Odysseus

Question 1

Eumaeus

Answer 1

A swine herd loyal to Odysseus.

Question 2

Odysseus

Answer 2

The protagonist. Fought among the other Greek heros at Troy and now struggles to return home to Ithaca.

Question 3

Telemachus

Answer 3

Odysseus and Penelope’s son. A natural obstacle to the suitors. He is helped by Athene.

Question 4

Penelope

Answer 4

Wide of Odysseus and mother of Telemachus. Homer portrays her as sometimes flighty and excitable but also clever and steadfastly true to her husband.

Question 5

Athene

Answer 5

Daughter of Zeus and goddess of wisdom, purposeful battle, and the womanly arts.

Question 6

Poseidon

Answer 6

God of the sea. Odysseus’ divine antagonist - he despises Odysseus for blinding his son, Polyphemus.

Question 7

Zeus

Answer 7

King of the gods. He sometimes helps Odysseus and permits Athene to do the same.

Question 8

Antinous

Answer 8

The most arrogant suitor. He leads the campaign to have Telemachus killed. Unlike other suitors, he is never portrayed as sympathetic and e is the first to die when Odysseus returns.

Question 9

Eurymachus

Answer 9

A manipulative, deceitful suitor. His charisma and duplicity allows him to influence the other suitors.

Question 10

Amphinomus

Answer 10

Amount the dozens of suitors, the only decent man seeking Penelope’s hand in marriage. Sometimes speaks up for Odysseus and Telemachus, but he is killed with the rest of the suitors in the final fight.

Question 11

Eumaeus

Answer 11

The loyal shepherd who helps Odysseus reclaim his throne after his return to Ithaca.

Question 12

Eurycleia

Answer 12

The aged and loyal servant who nursed Odysseus and Telemachus when they were babies. She keeps Telemachus’s journey secret from Penelope, and keeps Odysseus’s identity a secret after she recognises his scar.

Question 13

Melantho

Answer 13

Sister of Melanthius and maidservant in Odysseus’s palace. She abuses the beggar in the palace, not knowing the man is Odysseus.

Question 14

Melanthius

Answer 14

The brother of Melantho. A treacherous and opportunistic goatherd who supports the suitors and abuses Odysseus-the-beggar.

Question 15

Calypso

Answer 15

The beautiful nymph who falls in love with Odysseus and holds him prisoner on her Island, Ogygia, for 7 years.

Question 16

Polyphemus

Answer 16

The cyclops who imprisons Odysseus and his crew and tries to eat them. Odysseus blinds him and Polyphemus’s father, Posiedon curses Odysseus and his men.

Question 17

Circe

Answer 17

The beautiful witch-goddess who transforms Odysseus’s crew into pigs. Odysseus stays on her island as her lover for 1 year.

Question 18

Laertes

Answer 18

Odysseus’s ageing father, who lives on a farm in Ithaca.

Question 19

Tiresias

Answer 19

A Theban prophet who inhabits the underworld. Tiresias meets Odysseus in the underworld and he shows Odysseus how to get back to Ithaca and allows Odysseus to communicate with the other souls down there.

Question 20

Nestor

Answer 20

King of Pylos and former warrior in the Trojan War. He is a clever speaker and Telemachus visits him in Book 3.

Question 21

Menelaus

Answer 21

King of Sparta, brother of Agamemnon, and husband of Helen, he helped lead the Greeks in the Trojan War.

Question 22

Helen

Answer 22

Wife of Menelaus and queen of Sparta. She offers Telemachus help in his quet to find his father.

Question 23

Agamemnon

Answer 23

Former king of Mycenea, brother of Menelaus, and commander of the Achean forces at Troy. Odysseus meets him in Hades.

Question 24

Nausicaa

Answer 24

The beautiful daughter of king Alcinous and queen Arête of the Phaeacians. She discovers Odysseus on the beach

Question 25

Alcinous

Answer 25

King of the Phaeacians. Offers Odysseus hospitality in his island kingdom of Scheria.

Question 26

Arête

Answer 26

Queen of the Phaeacians, wife of Alcinous, and mother of Nausicaa. Odysseus clasps her knees and asks for help in book 7.

Question 27

Peiraeus

Answer 27

Loyal friend of Telemachus

Question 28

Arnaeus

Answer 28

Another beggar who challenges Odysseus-the-beggar to fight.

Question 29

Iphitus

Answer 29

Gave Odysseus the bow that the suitors have to string and shoot to win Penelope's hand in marriage.

Question 30

Theodymenus

Answer 30

A prophet fleeing from Argos.

Question 31

Antiphates

Answer 31

The king of the Laestrygones.

Question 32

Aeolus

Answer 32

In book 10 he gives Odysseus a bag of winds to help him return to Ithaca.

Question 33

Demodocus

Answer 33

Odysseus' bard.