Curated category
Characters in the Odyssey
- HeraThe name Hera appears on clay tablets from Pylos and Thebes written in the Linear B script, dating to the Mycenaean period.
- AphroditeThe name Aphrodite appears in the Cypriot syllabary as a-po-ro-ta-o-i, read right to left, during the eleventh century BC.
- MenelausMenelaus stood as a descendant of Pelops, son of Tantalus. His family history began with the House of Atreus. Agamemnon and Menelaus were sons of Atreus and…
- OdysseusAncient vase inscriptions from Magna Graecia bear the variant name Oulixes, while other pottery shards display Oliseus or Olyteus.
- ApolloThe name Apollo appears in Linear B tablets as the fragment ]pe-rjo-[, yet scholars debate whether this represents the god himself or a different figure…
- HadesIn ancient Greek, the name Hades meant "the unseen one," a direct contrast to his brother Zeus who represented the brightness of day.
- AthenaThe name Athena likely comes from the city of Athens, which in ancient Greek is called Athenai. This plural toponym designates the place where she presided…
- HephaestusA clay tablet from Knossos bears the inscription A-pa-i-ti-jo. This Linear B script dates to the Mycenaean period and offers the earliest written evidence of…
- PersephoneA clay tablet from Pylos, dated between 1400 and 1200 BC, bears the reconstructed name *Preswa. John Chadwick identified this as a goddess who could be…
- AresThe name Ares appears in Mycenaean Linear B tablets as the syllabic form a-re. This earliest attested version dates to the Bronze Age, long before classical…
- AgamemnonScholars have debated the meaning of Agamemnon for centuries. One theory suggests the name means very steadfast or unbowed.
- EosThe Proto-Greek form of the dawn goddess is reconstructed as auhōs. This linguistic root connects her to the Vedic goddess Ushas, the Lithuanian goddess…
- ScyllaOdysseus and his crew sail through a narrow channel of water where Scylla lives on one side. The distance between her lair and the whirlpool of Charybdis…
- TelemachusA young man stands on the shore of Ithaca, watching waves crash against rocks that have seen no father for twenty years.
- ErinyesUranus lay upon the earth as his son Cronus struck with a sickle. Drops of blood fell from the wound and stained the soil below.
- OceanusScholars have struggled for decades to explain the name Oceanus. M. L. West described its etymology as obscure and impossible to derive from Greek itself.
- Helen of TroyHelen of Troy was said to be the most beautiful woman in the world. Around the year 1604, the playwright Christopher Marlowe gave her the line most people…
- MemnonEos, the goddess of dawn, stood at the edge of the world and wept for her son. Her tears fell upon the black skin of Memnon, king of Aethiopia.
- Nestor (mythology)Nestor of Gerenia was the son of King Neleus and Chloris, daughter of King Amphion. Some accounts name his mother Polymede instead.