A Guide to the Odyssey: A Commentary on the English Translation of Robert Fitzgerald (56 page)

Ageláos: suitor, son of Damástor.

Aiaia: Kirkê’s island, known in the stories about Jason and the Argonauts as Aia.

Aíakos: son of Zeus and Aigina, grandfather of Akhilleus. See also Myrmidons. (Fitzgerald once spells it “Aíakhos.”)

Aias and Aîas: (1) Aias son of Oïleus and impious ravisher of the Trojan princess Kassandra: his actions brought the wrath of the gods, and of Athena in particular, on the victorious Greek army at Troy as it was about to embark on its way home. (2) Aîas, son of Télamon and one of the greatest Greek warriors at Troy; he contended with Odysseus for the right to wear the arms of the slain Akhilleus, lost the debate, went mad, and committed suicide. (On both Aiases, see note on IV.533–34.)

Aiêtês: son of Helios and Perse, brother of Kirkê. (Though his role as Medea’s father and opponent of Jason is now extant only in later literature, it may well have been known to the first audience of
The Odyssey;
compare “baleful Aiêtês” in X.151 [139]. It is clear that versions of Jason’s journey in the
Argo
predate
The Odyssey;
on this, see further under Artakía, below.)

Aigai: locale closely associated with Poseidon. Its exact geographical site, even in Homer’s mind, is difficult to determine: in Akhaia or on (or near) Euboia are possibilities.

Aigísthos: son of Thyestês, nephew of Atreus, first cousin of Agamémnon; lover of Klytaimnéstra, usurper and then murderer of Agamémnon, murdered by Orestês.

Aigýptios: Ithakan elder.

Aigýptos: Egypt or the Nile. See note on IV.511.

Aiolos: lord of the winds, ruler of the floating island Aiolia; as son of Hippotês, his patronymic is Hippotadês.

Aison: king of Iolkos, son of Krêtheus and Tyro, father of Jason.

Aithôn: the name Odysseus gives himself when speaking to Penélopê and claiming to be a Kretan prince. “Aithôn” claims to be the younger brother of Idómeneus and the grandson of Minos. See note on XIX.195–239.

Akastos: king of Doulíkhion, island near Ithaka.

Akhaians: most common Homeric name for the Greeks.

Akhilleus: son of Pêleus and Thetis, hero of
The Iliad
, the greatest Greek warrior, slayer of Hektor but himself victim of Paris (aided by Apollo). His ghost appears in both underworld scenes in
The Odyssey
(Books XI and XXIV).

Akroneus: a Phaiákian.

Aktoris: a slave of Penélopê, “daughter of Aktor” possibly Eurýnomê. See note on XXIII.256.

Alkandrê: wife of Pólybos 1, host of Meneláos and Helen in Egyptian Thebes, she gave Helen precious gifts.

Álkimos: father of Mentor.

Alkínoös: king of the Phaiákians, grandson of Poseidon, brother of Rhêxênor, father of Nausikaa by Arête, his wife.

Alkippê: female attendant of Helen.

Alkmáon: son of Amphiaraos and Eríphylê, brother to Amphílokhos.

Alkmênê: wife of Amphitrion; deceived by Zeus, disguised as Amphitrion, she conceived Heraklês; her shade appeared to Odysseus.

Alpheios: river god, named after a river in Arkadia and Elis near Olympia, father of Ortílokhos, grandfather of Dióklês.

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.

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.