The Odyssey

Acastos – a king in western Greece (XIV)

Achaians – one of the three principal peoples of ancient Greece; Homer uses the term interchangeably with Greeks (VIII)

Acheron – a river in the land of the dead; it is the “river of woe” across which Charon ferries the dead (X)

Achilles – son of Thetis and Peleus; principal Greek hero of the Trojan War; he was killed by Paris (VIII)

Actoris – a maid of Penelope (XXIII)

Adreste – serving woman of Helen (IV)

Agamemnon – king of Mycene and Argos; High King of Greece and commander-in-chief of the Greek forces at Troy; husband of Clytaimnestra; father of Orestes; brother of Menelaos; brother-in-law of Helen (I)

Agelaos Damastorides – one of Penelope’s suitors (XX)

Aiaia – Circe’s island (X)

Aias – next to Achilles, he was the bravest of the Greeks at Troy; he fought with Odysseus (and lost) for the armor of the slain Achilles (III) [His Latin name is the more familiar Ajax; in Book IV, Homer refers to a hero of the Trojan War noted for his insolence and conceit

Aias Telamoniades – a son of Telamon; he quarreled with Odysseus over Achilles’ armor (XI)

Aietas – the brother of Circe; a son of Helios; possessor of the Golden Fleece [He is the father of Medea who helped Jason steal the Golden Fleece but later murdered both Jason’s second wife and his children by Medea.] (X)

Aigai – a city in Achaia, favored by Poseidon (V)

Aigisthos – in Book I co-murderer of Agamemnon, his cousin, with his lover Clytaimnestra, Agamemnon’s wife. He was, in turn, murdered by Orestes; in Book IV a Greek name for the Nile River

Aigyptios – a respected elder of Ithaca, father of Antiphos and Eurynomos (II)

Aiolia – the floating island home of Aiolos (X)

Aiolos – in Books X, the mortal king in charge of the winds; in Book XI, the father of Cretheus

Aison – a son of Tyro and Cretheus; he was king of Thessaly and father of Jason (XI)

Aithon – the name Odysseus claims as his own when he speaks with Penelope while he is disguised as a beggar (XIX)

Aitolia – a section of central Greece named for Aitolos, the son of Endymion, the man beloved by Artemis in his dreams (XIV)

Alcandre – queen of Egyptian Thebes during the Trojan War; she and her husband entertained Menelaos and Helen on their way home (IV)

Alcinoos – king of the Phaiacians; a son of Nausithoos; the husband of Arete; the father of Nausicaa (VII)

Alcippe – serving woman of Helen (IV)

Alcmaion – the second of Amphiaraos and Eriphyle; he was one of the second Seven Against Thebes ten years after the siege laid by the first Seven (XV)

Alcmene – the mother of Heracles; the last mortal lover of Zeus (II)

Alector – a Spartan whose daughter married Megapenthes (IV)

Aloeus – the husband of Iphimedeia; the putative father of Otos and Ephialtes (XI)

Alpheios – an important river in Greece (III)

Amnisos – a place in Crete (XIX)

Amphiaraos – the son of Oicles, grandson of Antiphates, great-grandson of Melampus; he too was a great soothsayer who participated in the Calydonian Boar Hunt and was one of the original Seven Against Thebes; he also sailed on the Argo with Jason on the quest for the Golden Fleece (XV)

Amphilochos – the second son of Amphiaraos (XV)

Amphimedon – one of Penelope’s suitors (XXII)

Amphinomos – among her suitors, the most pleasing to Penelope (XVI)

Amphion (Iasides) – a son of Antiope and co-builder of Thebes; the lord of Orchomenos in Boeotia (XI)

Amphithea – Odysseus’ maternal grandmother; Anticleia’s mother; Autolycos’ wife (XIX)

Amphitrite – a sea goddess, wife of Poseidon; her name is often used as an epithet for the sea itself (III)

Amphitryon – the husband of Alcmene [but not Heracles’ father] (XI)

Amythaon – a son of Cretheus and Tyro; he was the father of Bias and Melampus. He reestablished the Olympic Games (XI)

Anchialos – father of Mentes in Book I; a Phaiacian in Book VIII

Andraimon – a captain of the Aitolians in the Trojan War; he was the father of Thoas (XIV)

Anticleia – the mother of Odysseus; wife of Laertes; and daughter of Autolycos (XI)

Anticlos – one of the Achaians in the Wooden Horse (IV)

Antilochos – eldest son of Nestor; he accompanied his father to Troy and became a great friend of Achilles, whom he told of the death of Patroclos; Memnon killed him while the young man tried to help his father whose chariot horses had been shot by Paris; he, Achilles, and Patroclos were all buried in the same grave (III)

Antinoe – a maid in the service of Penelope (XVIII)

Antinoos – ringleader of Penelopeia’s suitors; he is the most brutal, cruel, and insolent of them all (I)

Antiope – the daughter of Asopos; the mother of Amphion and Zethos (XI)

Antiphas – an elder of Ithaca (XVII)

Antiphates – in Book X, the king of the Laistrygonians; in Book XV, he is a son of the soothsayer Melampus and the father of Oicles; he was killed in the Trojan War

Antiphos – one of Odysseus’ men; he is one of the six devoured by Polyphemos; an older son of Aigyptios

Aphrodite – goddess of love; wife of Hephaistos; lover of Ares (VIII)

Apollo – god of fine arts, medicine, music, poetry, eloquence; he was the son of Zeus and Leto (IV)

Arceisades – “son of Arceisios,” epithet for Laertes (IV)

Arceisios – the father of Laertes; the paternal grandfather of Odysseus (XIV)

Ares – the god of offensive war; the lover of Aphrodite (VIII)

Arestos – fifth son of Nestor (III)

Arete – queen of Phaiacia; wife of Alcinoos; daughter of Rhexenor; mother of Nausicaa (VII)

Argeiphontes – an epithet of Hermes, it means slayer of Argos, a hundred-eyed giant (I)

Argo – the ship Jason and the Argonauts sailed in to search for the Golden Fleece (XII)

Argos – in Book III, the principal city of Argolis and part of Agamemnon’s kingdom; in Book V, the hundred-eyed giant lulled to sleep and slain by Hermes; in Book XVII, Odysseus’ faithful hunting dog

Ariadne – a daughter of King Minos; she helped Theseus defeat her brother, the Minotaur, and escape the Labyrinth; she was killed by Artemis; (XI)

Arnaios – a beggar in the palace of Odysseus and the chief errand boy of the suitors (XVIII)

Artacie – a spring on Lamos (X)

Artemis – daughter of Zeus and Leto, sister of Apollo; her arrows, like those of her twin brother Apollo, bring sudden and painless death (V)

Arybas – a native of Sidon, whose daughter was carried away by pirates (XV)

Asopos – a river and a river god in Boeotia; he was the father of Antiope (XI)

Asphalion – one of Menelaos’ attendants (IV)

Asteris – a rocky islet between Ithaca and Samos (IV)

Athena – goddess of wisdom and defensive warfare; sided with the Greeks in the Trojan War; daughter of Zeus; niece of Poseidon (I)

Athenaia – a variant spelling of Athena (IV)

Athens – at the time of Odysseus, a relatively minor city in Greece (III)

Atlas – a Titan; son of Iapetos and Clymene; brother of Prometheus; father of Calypso; he held the earth on his shoulders (I)

Atreides - “son of Atreus,” an epithet that may apply equally to Menelaos or Agamemnon [You will have to decide from the context.]

Atreus – the father of Agamemnon and Menelaos (III)

Atrytone – epithet of Athena (IV)

Attica – the region that surrounds Athens (III)

Autolycos – father of Anticleia and maternal grandfather of Odysseus; a noted horse thief (XI)

Boethoides – “son of Boethois” [a patronymic] (IV)

Broadsea – mocks Odysseus at the Phaiacian games (VIII)

Cadmos – founder of Thebes and father of Ino (V)

Calypso – a daughter of Atlas who lived on the island of Ogygia. She received the shipwrecked Odysseus hospitably and offered him immortality if he would remain with her (I)

Cassandra – a daughter of King Priam; she was the captive mistress of Agamemnon; the god Apollo had given her the gift of prophecy but cursed her so that no one would ever believe her after she refused to sleep with him (XI)

Castor – the son of Leda and Tyndareos; half-brother of Polydeuces; semi-immortalized by Zeus (XI)

Castor Hylacides – Castor “son of Hylacos”; the pretended father of Odysseus in one of his tales (XIV)

Cauconians – a people, presumably near Pylos (III)

Cephallenia – the largest of the Ionian islands west of the Greek mainland, it is the center of the kingdom of Ithaca where Odysseus ruled (XX)

Chalcis – chief city of Euboea (XV)

Charybdis – a monstrous daughter of Poseidon and Gaia; Zeus threw her into the sea where she gulps waters eternally and spew them out again (XII)

Chios – Greek island in the Aegean Sea; its harbor can accommodate eighty ships (III)

Chloris – wife of Neleus and mother of Nestor (XI)

Chromios – a son of Neleus and Chloris; one of Nestor’s brothers (XI)

Ciconians – the Thracians of Ismaros, raided by Odysseus (IX)

Cimmerians – a people near the land of the dead (XI)

Circe – the goddess and enchantress of Aiaia; a daughter of Helios; sister of Aietas (IX)

Cleitos – the second son of Mantios; he was carried off by Eos; Apollo made him the greatest prophet in the living world (XV)

Clymene -she could have been any of several mythological heroines (XI)

Clytaimnestra – the faithless wife of Agamemnon; she took Aigisthos, her husband’s cousin, as her lover after she learned Agamemnon had sacrificed their daughter in order to get good winds for the Greeks (III)

Clytios – a citizen of Ithaca in whose house Telemachos stored the guest gifts he had received on his journey (XVI)

Clytoneos – a son of Alcinoos; he won the foot-race during the games held in Odysseus’ honor (VIII)

Clymenos – father of Eurydice [Nestor’s wife] (III)

Cnossos – the principal city of Crete (XIX)

Cocytus – a river in the land of the dead; it is the “river of wailing” (X)

Crataiis – the mother of the sea monster Scylla; she is also known as Hecate, a goddess of both the moon and the dead (XII)

Creion – the father of Megara (XI

Crete – largest island in the Aegean Sea [traditional birthplace of Athena] (III)

Cretheus Aiolides – a son of Aiolos; husband of Tyro; father of Aison, Pheres, and Amythaon (XI)

Cronides – epithet of Zeus; it means “son of Cronus” (I)

Cronion – a variant of Cronides (I)

Crunoi – a place on the western coast of Greece, opposite the Greek mainland (XV)

Ctesios Ormenides – the father of Eumaios (XV)

Ctesippos – a particularly surly suitor of Penelope (XX)

Ctimene – the sister of Odysseus (XV)

Cyclopes – one-eyed giants, cannibalistic shepherds; sons of Poseidon (I)

Cyclopians – another; way of saying Cyclopes, the one-eyed, cannibalistic shepherds (VII)

Cydonians – one of the peoples of Crete (III)

Cyprus – large island in the Mediterranean Sea southeast of Greece (VIII)

Cythereia – epithet for Aphrodite, derived from the island Cythera in the Ionian Sea to which Aphrodite floated when she first rose from the sea foam (VIII)

Damostorides – “son of Damastor”; an epithet of Agelaos (XXII)

Danaans – the people of Argos (part of Agamemnon’s kingdom), later applied to all Greeks (I)

Deiphobos – a son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy; after the death of Paris, he married Helen by force; he was one of the great heroes of the Trojan War (IV)

Delos – an island in the Aegean Sea, sacred to Apollo (VI)

Demeter – sister of Zeus; she loved Iasion (V)

Demodocos – blind bard at the court of Alcinoos (VIII)

Demoptolemos – one of Penelope’s suitors (XXII)

Deucalion – the name Odysseus gives Penelope as that of the father of the beggar he pretends to be (XIX)

Dia – an island in the Aegean Sea (XI)

Diomedes – next to Achilles, the mightiest Greek hero at Troy; he was a loyal supporter of Agamemnon and a favorite of Athena; he accompanied Odysseus and others in the Trojan Horse (III)

Dionysos – the god of wine, the theater, and fertility; he married Ariadne after Theseus abandoned her on the island of Dia (XI)

Dmetor Iasides – the king of Cyprus at the time of the Trojan War (XVII)

Dodona – a city in Epirus; site of the most famous oracle of Zeus, probably the oldest of the Greek oracles, built by Deucalion after the Flood (XIV)

The Dog – Cerberos, the three-headed canine guardian of Hades (XI)

Dolios – a faithful servant in the House of Odysseus; he came with Penelope when she married Odysseus as a gift from her father; he cared for Laertes and the gardens (IV)

Dorians – one of the great peoples of Greece, descendants of Doros; their homeland lay between Mt. Ossa and Mt. Olympos (XIX)

Dulichion – a large island in Odysseus’ domain

Dymas – a Phaiacian, father of Nausicaa’s best friend (VI)

Echeneos – one of the elders (advisors) of the Phaiacian court (VII)

Echephron – second son of Nestor (III)

Echetos – a cruel king somewhere in northern Greece (XXI)

Eidothea – a daughter of Proteus (IV)

Eileithyia – a goddess of childbirth; the cave mentioned here was sacred to her (XIX)

Elatos – a suitor of Penelope (XXII)

Elis – a region in the Peloponnesus (IV)

Elpenor – one of Odysseus’ men, one of the more careless ones (X)

Elysian – pertaining to Elysium, the home of the blessed in the Greek afterlife; also called the Blessed Isles and Paradise (IV)

Enipeus – a river in Thessaly; Tyro loved the god of that river (XI)

Eos – the goddess of the dawn; a sister of Helios; her epithet is “rosy-fingered” [her son Memnon killed Antilochos while that son of Nestor was trying to help his father whose chariot horse had been shot by Paris.] (IV)

Epeians – the people of Elis (XIII)

Epeios – builder of the Trojan Horse (VIII)

Ephialtes – son of Poseidon and Iphimedeia; brother of Otos; he was a gigantic child killed by Apollo (XI)

Ephyra – a place of unknown location, apparently in Western Greece (II)

Epicaste – the mother and wife of Oidipos (XI)

Erebos – the dark place of the dead (X)

Erechtheus – a king of Athens; he built the Erechtheum, a white marble temple on the Acropolis, sacred to Athena (VII)

Erembans – an unidentified people visited by Menelaos during his eight-year-long wanderings (IV)

Eriphyle – the wife of Amphiaraos; she caused his death (XI)

Eriunios – epithet of Hermes (VIII)

Erymanthos – a mountain in the northwest Peloponessus (VI)

Eteocretans – a people of Crete [thought to mean True-Cretans] (XIX)

Eteoneus [Boethoides] – one of Menelaos’ noble attendants (IV)

Ethiopians – a black-skinned people believed to live at both the rising and sitting points of the sun (I)

Euboea/Euboia – the second largest island in the Aegean Sea east of central Greece (III)

Eumaios – the noble swineherd of Odysseus (XIV)

Eumelos – Iphthime’s husband; Penelope’s brother-in-law (IV)

Eupeithes – father of Antinoos; he is also a prince (high-ranking man) of Ithaca (I)

Euryades – a suitor of Penelope (XXII)

Eurybates – the herald Odysseus took with him to Troy (XIX)

Eurycleia – the aged nurse of Odysseus, still a supervisor of other servants (I)

Eurydamas – one of Penelope’s suitors (XVIII)

Eurydice – Nestor’s wife (III)

Eurylochos – second in command of Odysseus’ fleet; he is a relative of Odysseus, though sometimes at odds with him (X)

Eurymachos – the richest of Penelope’s suitors (I)

Eurymedon – king of the Giants (VII)

Eurymedusa – Nausicaa’s nurse; she had been captured during a Phaiacian raid on Apeira (VII)

Eurynome – the housekeeper (chief of all the maids) in the palace of Odysseus (XVII)

Eurynomos – one of Penelope’s suitors; a younger son of Aigyptios (XXII)

Eurypylos Telephides – the leader of the Keterians; Neoptolemos killed him at Troy (XI)

Eurytion – a drunken centaur (XXI)

Eurytos – the king of Oichalia; the father of Iphitos; he challenged Apollo to a bow contest, for which arrogance Apollo slew him (VIII)

Gaia – Mother Earth (VII)

Geraistos – a promontory on the island of Euboea (III)

Giants – offspring of Uranus [the heavens] and Gaia [Mother Earth] (VII)

Gorgon – a monster whose gaze turned those who beheld it into stone (XI)

Gortyn – a place in Crete (III)

Graces – minor goddesses who served Aphrodite as attendants known for their youth, beauty, modesty, and - of course - grace (VIII)

Gyraian - pertaining to Gyrai a rocky island in the Aegean Sea (IV)

Hades – god of the dead; also the name of the realm of the dead; the brother of both Zeus and Poseidon; husband of Persephone (IV)

Halios – a son of Alcinoos; he danced alone with Laodamas (VIII)

Halitherses Mastorides – an Ithacan prophet more knowledgeable in interpreting bird omens than any other man (II)

Helen – wife of Menelaos; her abduction by Paris lead to the Trojan War (IV)

Helios – the sun god who sees all (VIII)

Hephaistos – god of the forge; son of Zeus; husband of Aphrodite (VII)

Hera – queen of the gods, wife of Zeus (IV)

Heracles – son of Alcmene and Zeus; one of the greatest - perhaps the greatest - of Greek heroes; a great archer; the killer of Iphitos; he was immortalized and married to Hebe [Youth] (VIII)

Hermeias – a variant of Hermes (VIII)

Hermes – god of wealth, travelers, trade, eloquence, thieves, and heralds; he was the messenger of the gods (King’s Messenger); he conducted the dead to Hades; layer of the hundred-eyed Argos; and great-grandfather of Odysseus; took no side in the Trojan War (I)

Hermione – daughter of Menelaos and Helen; wife of Pyrrhus [son of Achilles] (IV)

Hippotades – “son of Hippotas,” an epithet of Aiolos (X)

Hypereia – the former home of the Phaiacians, near the island of the Cyclopes (VI)

Hyperesia – misspelling in book of Hypereia (XV)

Hyperion – father of the sun (Helios) and moon; often used as the epithet of the sun (I)

Iardanos – a river in Crete (III)

Iasion – hero beloved by Demeter (V)

Icarios – father of Penelopeia (I)

Icmalios – a master worker in precious metals and ivory (XIX)

Idomeneus – king of Crete who went to the Trojan War and became a great hero; on his way home from Troy, he rashly promised Poseidon that if he escaped a dangerous tempest, he would sacrifice what he first saw on Crete: the first thing he saw was his son (III)

Ilion – an alternate and sacred name for Troy (VIII)

Ilios – an alternate name for Troy; its epithet is usually “sacred” (II)

Ino – the mortal name of Leucothea; she was a daughter of Cadmos; she was once mortal, but was changed into a sea goddess (V)

Iolcos – a place in Thessaly where Pelias was king (XI)

Iphicles – lord of Phylace; he captured Melampus (XI)

Iphimedeia – the mother of Otos and Ephialtes by Poseidon (XI)

Iphitos Eurytides – the “son of Eurytos”; a friend of the young Odysseus who was foully murdered by Heracles, he gave Odysseus the great bow (XXI)

Iphthime – a sister of Penelope (IV)

Iros – the nickname of the chief beggar in the precinct of Odysseus’ palace [See footnote on p. 204.] (XVIII)

Ismaros – a city in Thrace, home of the Ciconians (IX)

Ithaca – the main island of Odysseus’ kingdom (I)

Ithacos – brother of Neriatos and Polyctor who, with him, were the legendary founders of the kingdom of Ithaca (XVII)

Itylos – the son of Procne who was herself turned into a nightingale

Lacedaimon – region surrounding Sparta in southern Greece; it is named for a son of Zeus - Sparta was named for his wife (III)

Laerces – Nestor’s court gold smith (III)

Laertes – father of Odysseus; father-in-law of Penelopeia; grandfather of Telemachos; husband of Anticleia (I)

Laertiades – “son of Laertes,” an epithet of Odysseus (IV)

Laistrygonians – a giant cannibalistic people (X)

Lamos – a city of the Laistrygonians (X)

Lampetie – a daughter of Helios; she and her sister, Phaethusa, guarded the sun god’s cattle on the island of Thrinacia; she informed Helios of Odysseus’ men’s sins (XII)

Laodama – eldest son of Alcinoos (VII); won boxing match and challenged Odysseus to compete in the games (VIII)

Lapiths – the people of Peirithoos (XXI)

Leda – wife of Tyndareos; the mother of Castor, Polydeuces, Helen and Clytaimnestra (XI)

Leiodes – a weak but well-meaning suitor of Penelope with prophetic skill (XXI)

Lemnos – an island in the Aegean Sea where Hephaistos landed when Zeus cast him out of Heaven (causing his lameness); the Lemnians cared for the young god and earned their island sacred status thereby (VIII)

Leocritos (Euenorides) – a suitor of Penelope whose insolence and bloodthirst rivaled that of Antinoos

Lesbos – an island in the Aegean Sea whose inhabitants were skilled in music, whose women were noted for their beauty (IV)

Leto – mother by Zeus of Artemis and Apollo; she was assaulted by Tityos (XI)

Leucothea – Ino’s name as a sea goddess (V)

Libya – the name used by the ancients for most of Africa (IV)

Madam Night – one of the most ancient goddesses; her children include the Fates, Thanatos [Death], Sleep, Dreams, Momus [Adverse Criticism], Care, Nemesis, Discord, Fraud, Eris [Jealousy], and others (XII)

Maia – the oldest and loveliest of the Pleiades; she was the mother of Hermes by Zeus [Our month of May is named for her.] (XIV)

Maira – the wife of Helios; the mother of Phaethoosa and Lampetie (XI)

Malea – the southeastern cape on the mainland of Greece (III)

Mantios – the second son of the soothsayer Melampus (XV)

Marathon – a famous plain near the sea, about eighteen miles from Athens (VII)

Maron Euanthides – a priest of Apollo in Ismaros (IX)

Medon – the herald who served as the messenger of Penelope’s suitors (IV)

Megapenthes – an illegitimate son of Menelaos by a slave girl (IV)

Megara – wife of Heracles; daughter of Creion (XI)

Melampus – a celebrated soothsayer and physician of Argos; he could foretell the future and understand the speech of all creatures (XV)

Melanthios o’ Dolios – Odysseus’ faithless goatherd who was a son of Dolios (XVII)

Melantho – a daughter of Dolios; sister of Melanthios; she was Penelope’s servant, the one who told the suitors that Penelope was unraveling Laertes shroud by night (XVIII)

Memnon – a son of Eos; he was the handsomest of men; he fought for the Trojans (XI)

Menelaos – king of Sparta (Lacedaimon); husband of Helen; brother of Agamemnon, uncle of Orestes (I)

Mentes – king of the Taphians; Athena appears as Mentes in Book I when she initially visits Ithaca

Mentor – in book III, a steward impersonated by Athena when she guides Telemachos in;

in Book XVII, a loyal friend and advisor of Odysseus and the guardian and teacher of Telemachos

Mesaulios – a slave on the estates of Odysseus but purchased by Eumaios in the master’s absence (XIV)

Messene – a territory in southwestern Greece (XXI)

Minos – a son of Zeus by a mortal woman; he was king of Crete and after his death a judge in the land of the dead; he was also the father of Ariadne and Phaidra (XI)

Mimas – a mountainous promontory of Asia Minor, opposite Chios (III)

Mulios – an impressive herald and servitor of the suitor Amphinomos (XVIII)

Mycene – in Book II, a fabulous heroine of the past; in Book III, the city of Agamemnon

Myrmidons – originally ants, they were turned into soldiers and accompanied Achilles to the Trojan War (III)

Naiads – the water nymphs of lakes, rivers, springs, and fountains (XIII)

Nausicaa – daughter of Alcinoos and Arete (VI)

Nausithoos – a son of Poseidon; father of Alcinoos (and Rhexenor); grandfather of Arete (VII)

Neaira – the mother of Phaethusa and Lampetie (XII)

Neion – a mountain of Ithaca (I)

Neleus – the father of Nestor; a son of Poseidon and Tyro; founder of Pylos (III)

Neriton – a mountain on Ithaca (IX)

Neoptolemos – the son of Achilles; husband of Hermione [Menelaos and Helen’s daughter] (XI)

Neritos – brother of Ithacos and Polyctor who, with him, were the legendary founders of the kingdom of Ithaca (XVII)

Nestor – king of Pylos; only son of Neleus not killed by Heracles; in the Trojan War he distinguished himself by his eloquence, justice, prudence, and wisdom; he lived three generations as a paragon of heroes (I)

Nestorides – “son of Nestor”; epithet usually used of Peisistratos (IV)

Nisos Aretiades – the father of Amphinomos (XVI)

Noeman – an Ithacan ship-owner and friend of Telemachos (II)

Oceanos – the waters surrounding the world and the god of those waters (X)

Ogygia – island home of Calypso (I)

Oicles – the son of Antiphates (grandson of Melampus) and father of Amphiaraos (XV)

Oidipos – a hero of Thebes; after unwittingly killing his own father, he saved Thebes from the Sphinx for which he was given the queen (his own mother) as his wife (XI)

Oinops – the “father of Leiodes” or a nickname/epithet for Leiodes [Oinops means “wine face.”] (XXI)

Old Man of the Sea – a name the Greeks gave to both Proteus and Phorcys (IV)

Olympos – the mountain atop which the Greek gods dwelt (I)

Ops Peisenorides – father of Eurycleia; son of Peisenor (I)

Orestes – son of Agamemnon; he took vengeance on his father’s murderers (I)

Orchomenos – Minyeian city in Boeotia (XI)

Orion – a hero loved by Eos and killed by Artemis (V)

Orsilochos – a son of Idomeneus [according to one of Odysseus’ tales] (XIII)

Ortilochos – father of Diocles, son of Alpheios

Ortygia – a place of uncertain location where Artemis killed Orion (V)

Ossa – a mountain in Thessaly (XI)

Otos – a son of Poseidon and Iphimedeia and brother of Ephialtes; he was a gigantic child killed by Apollo (XI)

Paieon – a celebrated physician who cured the wounds the gods and goddesses had received during the Trojan War (IV)

Pallas – an epithet of Athena; it was adopted by Athena after she accidentally caused the death of her friend by the same name

Pandareos – father of Procne who was herself turned into a nightingale (XIX)

Panopeus – a city in Phocis (XI)

Paphos – city on Cyprus, near which Aphrodite rose from the sea and where she was specially worshipped (VIII)

Parnassos – one of the highest mountains in Greece; named for Parnassos, a son of Poseidon (XIX)

Patroclos – a Greek hero noted for prudence; he was Achilles’ best friend and it was because of his death at the hands of Hector that Achilles reentered the war and brutally killed Hector (III)

Peiraios Clytides – a good friend of Telemachos who takes in Theoclymenos on his friend’s behalf (XV)

Peirithoos – a hero of earlier times and companion of Theseus; he was king of the Lapiths who punished Eurytion and precipitated a deadly war between themselves and the Centaurs (XXI)

Peisandros Polyctorides – one of Penelope’s suitors (XVIII)

Peisenor – in Book II, the official herald of Ithaca; in Book I the father of Ops and grandfather of Eurycleia

Peisistratos – youngest of Nestor’s six sons; Telemachos’ travelling companion (III)

Pelasgians – the earliest inhabitants of Crete (XIX)

Peleides – “son of Peleus,” an epithet of Achilles (XI)

Peleus – the father of Achilles; the husband of Thetis; one of the Argonauts (XI)

Pelias – a son of Tyro and Poseidon; king of Iolcos (XI)

Pelion – a mountain in Thessaly (XI)

Periboia – mother of Nausithoos; daughter of Eurymedon (VII)

Periclymenos – a son of Neleus and Chloris; one of Nestor’s brothers (XI)

Perimedes – one of Odysseus’ men (XI)

Perithoos – the heroic companion of Theseus; king of the Lapiths who punished Eurytion (XI)

Pero – the daughter of Neleus and Chloris; a great beauty (XI)

Persephoneia – daughter of Demeter and wife of Hades; the goddess of the dead (X)

Perseus – fourth son of Nestor (III)

Phaethusa – a daughter of Helios; she and her sister, Lampetie, guarded the sun god’s cattle on the island of Thrinacia (XII)

Phaiacians- the people of King Alcinoos (V)

Phaidimos – king of Sidon during the Trojan War; Menelaos was entertained by him on his own way home (IV)

Phaidra – a daughter of Minos and Pasiphae; sister of Ariadne; a wife of Theseus; she fell into an obsessive love for her stepson Hippolytus (XI)

Phaistos – a city in Crete (III)

Pharos – a small island in the bay of Alexandria, Egypt; long after Homer, it was the site of a lighthouse (IV)

Pheidon – king of Thesprotia (XIV)

Phemios (Terpiades) – “son of Terpias”; the minstrel hired by the suitors to entertain them, but not a suitor himself nor one of their supporters (I)

Pherai – in Book IV, a place in Thessaly, the home of Eumelos; in Book III, a palace between Pylos and Sparta, the home of Diocles (iii)

Pheres – a son of Cretheus and Tyro (XI)

Philoctetes – the greatest archer in Greece; Odysseus had brought him to Troy after the death of Achilles; he killed Paris, the son of Priam whose abduction of Helen had precipitated the war (III); he is the only man to have beaten Odysseus with the bow and arrow (VIII)

Philoitios – the faithful cowherd of Odysseus (XX)

Philomeleides – a wrestler of Lesbos, thrown by Odysseus (IV)

Phoenicia – a province in Asia Minor at the east end of the Mediterranean [today Syria and Israel occupy parts of what used to be Phoenicia] (IV)

Phoibos – an epithet for Apollo as a sun god (III)

Phorcys – father of Thoosa, the Sirens, and Scylla [all by his sister Ceto] (I)

Phronios – father of Noeman (II)

Phrontis Onetorides – a skillful pilot on one of Menelaos’ ships (III)

Phylace – the home of Iphicles (XI)

Phylaces – the owner of fine cattle which Melampus tried to steal for his brother Bias (XV)

Phylo – serving woman of Helen (IV)

Pleiades – the seven daughters of Helios and Neo (V)

Poias – the father of Philoctetes (III)

Polites – a dear companion of Odysseus (X)

Polybos – father of Eurymachos in most Books of the Odyssey; in Book IV, king of Egyptian Thebes during the Trojan War; he and his wife entertained Helen and Menelaos on their way home; in Book VIII, a Phaiacian craftsman who made Nausicaa’s ball; in Book XXII, a suitor of Penelope [They are not the same man.]

Polycasta – the youngest daughter of Nestor (III)

Polyctor – brother of Ithacos and Neritos who, with him, were the legendary founders of the kingdom of Ithaca (XVII)

Polydamna – wife of Thon, king of Egypt during the Trojan War; she entertained Helen and gave her a drug that banished care and melancholy (IV)

Polydeuces – the son of Leda and Tyndareos; half-brother of Castor; semi-immortalized by Zeus (XI)

Polypheides – the first son of Mantios (XV)

Polyphemos – one-eyed son of Poseidon; chief of the Cyclopes; he ate six of Odysseus’ men before Odysseus blinded him (I)

Pontonoos – herald of Alcinoos (VII)

Poseidon – god of the sea; sided with the Greeks during the Trojan War; a brother of Zeus and uncle of Athena; he had many sons by many lovers (I)

Pramneian – a wine used medicinally (X)

Priam – king of Troy during the Trojan War (III)

Procris – the wife of Cephalus; she was killed by her husband at the climax of a series of jealous interludes (XI)

Proteus – a sea god; a son of Oceanos and Tethys; Poseidon gave him the gift of prophecy and the power to assume different shapes (IV)

Psyria – an island off Chios (III)

Pylos – the coastal kingdom of Nestor; its epithet is “sandy” (I)

Pyriphlegethon – a river in the land of the dead; it is the “river of fire” (X)

Pytho – Delphi (the center of prophecy sacred to Apollo on the slopes of Mt. Parnassos); a priestess of Apollo at or from Delphi (VIII)

Rhadamanthys – a son of Zeus and Europa; brother of King Minos. When he died, Zeus appointed him one of the three judges in Hades (VII)

Rheithron – the harbor of Ithaca (I)

Rhexenor – son of Nausithoos; brother of Alcinoos; father of Arete; Apollo killed him for his arrogance in challenging Apollo to a bow contest (VII)

Salmoneus – father of Tyro; a son of Aiolos and Enarete; brother of Sisyphos; husband of Alcidice; king of Elis; arrogant and insolent, he had his subjects call him Zeus. The real Zeus killed him with a thunderbolt. (XI)

Same – a large island next to Ithaca and in the domain of Odysseus; it is also called Cephallenia and Samos (I)

Scheria – the island on which the Phaiacian kingdom is located (V)

Scylla – a sea nymph who scorned the attentions of a sea god (Glaucus); when Circe fell in love with Glaucus, she caused Scylla to be transformed into a monster (XII)

Scyros – the island from which Odysseus brought Neoptolemos to Troy (XI)

Sidonians – inhabitants of Sidon, the most important city of Phoenicia (IV)

Sintians – friends of Hephaistos in Lemnos who spoke a barbaric [non-Greek] language (VIII)

Sirens – three sea nymphs, daughters of Achelous and Calliope (the Muse of epic poetry); their names were Leucosia, Ligeia, and Parthenope; they were part bird and part woman (XII)

Sisyphos – a son of Aiolos; brother of Salmoneus; he ravished Tyro, his own niece; he is also said to have ravished Anticleia (XI)

Sparta – the inland kingdom of Menelaos; it is also called Lacedaimon (I)

The Spinner – an epithet for Clotho, the Fate who spins the thread of life (III)

Stratios – third son of Nestor (III)

Styx – the river in the land of the dead by which the gods swear; it is located in the land of the dead; the nymph Styx was a daughter of Oceanos and Tethys. She was the mother, by Pallas, of three daughters - Nike (Victory), Strength, and Valor. Styx was the first divine being to aid Zeus in his battle against the Titans. Zeus rewarded her by taking her and her children to Olympos, and by making her the goddess by whom all swore the most inviolable oaths. (V)

Syrie – an island of uncertain location; it was Eumaios’ original home (XV)

Taigetos – a mountainous range in Lacedaimon (VI)

Tantalos – he is eternally tormented in Hades for having served his son, Pelops, in a stew to the gods (XI)

Taphians – the people of Taphos, an island kingdom near Ithaca (I)

Teiresias – a Theban seer (prophet) who retained his powers even in the Underworld (X)

Telemos Eurymedes – a famous Cyclopean seer or prophet (IX)

Temese – place alleged to her destination by Athena disguised as Mentes (I)

Telepylos – a city of the Laistrygonians (X)

Tenedos – a small island in the Aegean Sea opposite Troy and sacred to Apollo where the Greeks withdrew their ships when they left the Wooden Horse in Troy and were trying to persuade the Trojans that they had left Asia (III)

Theban – from Boeotian Thebes (X)

Thebes – in Greece, the capital of Boeotia and a mythological nexus point of important stories; in Egypt the city ruled by Polybos and an important Egyptian religious and political center (IV)

Themis – a Ttitaness; the mother of the Fates and an ancient goddess of justice (II)

Theoclymenos – a soothsayer of Argolis and descendant of Melampus (XV)

Theseus – the great hero of Athens; he carried away Ariadne to Crete after she helped him to defeat the Minotaur and escape the Labyrinth (XI)

Thesprotia – a country in northwestern mainland Greece (XVII)

Thesprotian – of a northwest portion of mainland Greece [called Thesprotia] (XIV)

Thoas – king of Aitolia; a son of Andraimon and Gorge; as a former suitor of Helen, he took forty ships to Troy (XIV)

Thon – King of Egypt during the Trojan War; he entertained Menelaos and Helen during their return home from the war (IV)

Thoosa – mother of Polyphemos (I)

Thrace – a large country north of the Aegean Sea and east of Macedonia, populated by warlike, barbarous, but brave people. They drank heavily and made cruel sacrifices of their enemies on their altars. Since the climate was severe and the people harsh, it was called the home of Ares (VIII)

Thrasymedes – sixth son of Nestor (III)

Thrinacia – the island of Helios where his sacred cattle were pastured (XI)

Thyestes – father of Aigisthos; brother of Atreus; he had once ruled Mycene (IV)

Tityos – giant son of Gaia; he assaulted Leto and was punished eternally for it (VII)

Tritogeneia – an epithet for Athena; it means “thrice-born,” “born on the third day,” or “third child” (III)

Tryo – should be Tyro (XI)

Tydeides – “son of Tydeos”; an epithet for Diomedes [Tydeos was one of the Seven Against Thebes who in that battle severed his killer’s hand and ate the man’s brains before he himself died.] (III)

Tyndareos – the mortal father of Castor and Clytaimnestra (XI)

Tyro – a beautiful but mistreated daughter or Salmoneus and Alcidice, the mother of Neleus who was Nestor’s father. She was imprisoned. After she was released by her sons Neleus and Pelias, Tyro married Cretheus, the founder of Iolcos, and became the mother of Aison [the father of Jason], Amythaon, and Pheres. (II)

Youth – Hebe, the goddess of youth, to whom Zeus married the deified Heracles (XI)

Zacynthos – an island that is part of the kingdom of Ithaca, noted for its abundant wood (I)

Zephyros – the god who is the west wind (IV)

Zethos – in Book XI, he is a son of Antiope and co-builder of Thebes; in Book XIX, he is the father of Itylos

Zeus – the chief Greek god, ruler of heaven and earth, of all gods and all men; brother of Poseidon and Hades; husband of Hera; father of Athena; god of oracle at Dodona; took no side in the Trojan War (I)