I hope that you will find this site exciting and learn something from it! This site is all about the characters in the book, "The Odyssey". Below, you will find the descriptions of the main characters in the book and you will even find a description of the author, Homer. Thanks to everyone who helped by giving me their character trackings (it REALLY helped).
Odysseus is the main character in the book The Odyssey. Odysseus is the king of Ithaca and has a wife and son. He ventures out to sea to fight at the trojan war. He is very successful but is cursed by the sea god, Poseidon, after blinding his son. Poseidon refused to let Odysseus get home so Odysseus went through many obstacles to get back home.
Penelope is the wife of Odysseus and has a son named Telemachus. In the book, she is being courted by a large amount of suitors. She mourns constantly for her son and husband to return home to her and she is neglecting the throne and the kingdom. Penelope shows how much she misses her son in the following quote: "And now my darling boy, he's off and gone in a hollow ship! Just a youngster, still untrained for war or stiff debate." (page 150; line 919)
King Nest is respected and favored by the gods. He known around the world for training horses and he is very humble. The people on his island show hospitality for strangers. This may be a way to gain allies. Odysseus and King Nestor fought together in the Trojan war, so they are close and know each other well.
King Menelaus is an honorable man and is always respectful to everyone. He is very easy going and likes to tell stories. His wife is the beautiful Helen of Troy. When Agamemnon was murdered, Menelaus felt guilty because he wasn't around to save him.
The suitors are disrespectful and rude. They live in Odysseus' house and eat his food. They also destroy his prized possessions and court his wife. The two leaders of the suitors are Eurymachus and Antinous.
Eumeaus is the swineherd that works for Odysseus. He is very loyal to Odysseus and, even though he believes that Odysseus is dead, he still takes care of his pigs.
Zeus is the ruler of the gods and lives on top of Mount Olympus. He was the sixth child of Cronus and Rhea. Cronus was the ruler of the gods before Zeus conquered him and took over his position in power. In the Odyssey, Zeus lets Athena, his daughter, help Odysseus through his journey.
She is known for her wisdom and her skills at the lume. She was, amazingly, born from the head of Zeus, so she has no mother. In the book, Athena has pity for Odysseus and Telemachus. She guides them through their journeys and helps them as much as possible. She is kind hearted and urges Telemachus to grow up and mature. A good example of where Athena is trying to make Telemachus become independent is in this quote, "You must not cling to your boyhood any longer- it's time you were a man..." (page 175; line 253)
Poseidon is the sea god and the earthquake god. In the book, Odysseus stabs his son, the Cyclops, in his eye and blinds him. Poseidon wants to avenge his son, so he creates problems at sea for Odysseus; this makes Odysseus' journey take longer.
Calypso is a very beautiful nymph who holds Odysseus captive for seven long years. She can be wicked and stubborn, but when she is threatened or scared, she will listen to what they have to say. She is quick to conclusions and she doesn't like it when people disagree with her. She has very random mood swings and likes to "stretch" the truth. In the process of holding Odysseus captive, she lost his trust, faith and respect.
Hermes is known as the giant killer. His father is Zeus and in the book, Zeus tells him to go to Calypso's house and tell her to release Odysseus. When Calypso greets Hermes, she says, "God of the golden wand, why have you come? A beloved, honored friend, but it's been so long, your visits much too rare. Tell me what's on your mind. I'm eager to do it, whatever I can do...whatever can be done." (page 155; line 98)This line shows that Hermes visited Calypso occasionally. Do you think they had a relationship?
The Cyclops is a cannibal and eats the men on Odysseus' ship. He holds them captive in his cave and never lets them out. Odysseus eventually thinks of a way to free himself from the Cyclops. Odysseus and his crew (what's left of them) stab the Cyclops in the eye and blind him.
Sirens are known for using their voices to capture men. They sing deadly songs whenever ships pass by and eat the men that jump out of the ships, in hope of finding the women who sing the beautiful songs. The sirens are sometimes seen as mermaids or as half bird, half woman.
Scylla is a man-eating monster with six heads. Whenever a ship passes by her cave, she snatches up as many men as she can and eats them with her six heads. She lives on a cliffside, opposite the whirlpool of Charybdis.
Homer was the man who decided to write down the stories of the Odyssey, instead of telling them orally. This made it easier to keep track of the different adventures of Odysseus and his crew. Homers view of man is very interesting. His word for soul is psyche. Homer put theories in writing.
I hope these descriptions are useful while you read the book. Again, thanks to everyone in Mrs. Shigemitsu's class for helping me with these descriptions!!!
http://www.threshold-rpg.com/images/calypso-header2.jpg
http://perso.club-internet.fr/llicha/mangas/ulysse31/poseidon.jpg
http://www.crystalinks.com/sirens.jpg
http://www.elysiumgates.com/mt_olympus/images/traditionalathena.gif
http://www.unites.uqam.ca/arche/hermes/hermes.gif
http://books.regehr.org/covers/0140268863.gif
*~LiNkS~*
Picture of Poseidon
Picture of calypso
Picture of Odysseus and the Sirens
Telemachus and Mentor
Picture of Athena
Picture of Hermes
