ODYSSEY MYTHOLOGY
Odyssey Gods and Monsters
The gods, monsters and mortals of the epic — all on one page
The Odyssey is not only a voyage story; it is also a story with a very large cast. One god protects the hero, another blocks his way; an enchantress tries to turn him into a pig and then gives him sailing directions; a giant, a whirlpool and a song take his crew from him in turn.
This glossary gathers the important names of the epic under three headings: the gods, the monsters, and the people of the voyage. Where a name has a page of its own, you will find a link to the fuller article.
Gods and divine powers
- Athena
- The protector of Odysseus; goddess of intelligence, craft and measured war. She intervenes throughout the voyage, changes shape, and argues the hero’s case before Zeus. In the game her favour is added directly to your dice.
- Poseidon
- Lord of the sea and the real obstacle of the epic. He turns on Odysseus because his son Polyphemus was blinded; the storms that delay the homecoming for years are his work. In the game his wrath raises your storm risk. (Full page: Polyphemus)
- Zeus
- King of the gods and guardian of the law of hospitality. It is he who orders Calypso to release Odysseus, and he who strikes with lightning the crew that ate the cattle of the Sun.
- Hermes
- Messenger of the gods. He gives Odysseus the herb moly against Circe’s potion, and carries Zeus’s order to Calypso. (Full page: Circe)
- Helios
- The sun god. His cattle on the island of Thrinacia are sacred; the crew that touches them receives the harshest punishment in the epic. He is also Circe’s father. (Thrinacia)
- Aeolus
- Keeper of the winds. He gives Odysseus a bag holding every contrary wind; when the crew open it thinking it is gold, the fleet is blown back with Ithaca already in sight. (Aeolia)
- Persephone and Hades
- Queen and king of the land of the dead. Odysseus goes down into their country but never meets them; he speaks with shades and turns back for fear that Persephone might send up a gorgon’s head. (The Underworld)
Monsters and dangers
- Polyphemus
- Son of Poseidon, the one-eyed Cyclops. He eats men in his cave, is blinded by the “Nobody” trick, and the prayer he makes to his father shapes the course of the whole voyage. (Full page: Polyphemus)
- The Sirens
- Bird-women whose singing draws sailors onto the rocks. Circe’s advice is exact: wax in the men’s ears, rope around the captain. (The Sirens)
- Scylla
- The six-headed monster on the rocky side of the strait. She takes six men from every ship that passes; she cannot be fought, only outrun. (Scylla and Charybdis)
- Charybdis
- The whirlpool on the other side of the strait, which swallows and vomits the whole sea three times a day. Scylla takes six men; Charybdis takes the whole ship. (Scylla and Charybdis)
- The Laestrygonians
- Giant cannibals living around a harbour shaped like a stone bowl. The fleet’s greatest loss happens here: eleven of twelve ships stay in that harbour. (The Laestrygonians)
- The Lotus-eaters
- They use no violence at all; the fruit they offer simply erases the wish to go home. The softest and most dangerous trap in the epic. (Land of the Lotus-Eaters)
People and immortals of the voyage
- Odysseus
- King of Ithaca and hero of the epic. The inventor of the wooden horse, the man of many devices; he comes home alone after twenty years. (Full page: Odysseus)
- Penelope
- Wife of Odysseus, queen of Ithaca. She holds off the suitors for years with the trick of the shroud, announces the contest of the bow, and tests her husband with the secret of their bed. (Full page: Penelope)
- Circe
- The witch-goddess of Aeaea. First she turns the crew into swine, then she gives the sailing directions for the land of the dead and every danger that follows. (Full page: Circe)
- Calypso
- The nymph of Ogygia. She keeps Odysseus for seven years, offers him immortality, and at the gods’ command sends him off on a raft. (Full page: Calypso)
- Telemachus
- Son of Odysseus and Penelope. He is an infant when his father sails; the opening books of the epic follow his search for news of him. (Ithaca)
- Tiresias
- The blind seer of Thebes. In the land of the dead he gives Odysseus his prophecy: do not touch the cattle of the Sun, or ship and companions are lost. (The Underworld)
- Eurylochus
- Odysseus’s second in command and his most stubborn opponent. He is the one who refuses to enter Circe’s hall and brings word back, and the one who argues for eating the cattle on Thrinacia. (Circe’s Island (Aeaea))
- Nausicaa
- Daughter of Alcinous, king of the Phaeacians. She finds the shipwrecked Odysseus on the shore, gives him clothes and good sense, and teaches him how to enter the palace. (Phaeacia (Scheria))
- Alcinous and Arete
- King and queen of the Phaeacians. They listen to Odysseus’s story and send him home to Ithaca in one of their own ships. In that palace it is Queen Arete who really decides. (Phaeacia (Scheria))
- Anticleia
- The mother of Odysseus. She died of longing while her son was at Troy; her own shade tells him so in the land of the dead. (The Underworld)
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