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=//The Odyssey// - General Information=



Themes:
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 * 1) Homeric Hero - strong in word and deed
 * 2) Loyalty
 * 3) Hospitality
 * 4) Disguise
 * 5) Development and growth of Telemachus
 * 6) Justice
 * 7) Homeric Similes

Characters:
**Polyphemus** - One of the Cyclopes (uncivilized one-eyed giants) whose island Odysseus comes to soon after leaving Troy. He is the son of Poseidon
 * Odysseus** – main character
 * Telemachus** (about 20) – Odysseus’s son
 * Penelope** – Odysseus’s wife
 * Athene** - Daughter of Zeus and goddess of wisdom, purposeful battle, and the womanly arts.
 * Poseidon** - God of the sea.
 * Zeus** - King of gods and men, who mediates the disputes of the gods on Mount Olympus.
 * Antinous** – leader of the suitors
 * Eurymachus** – another suitor
 * Eumaeus** – a shepherd who helps Odysseus at the end of the story
 * Calypso** - The beautiful nymph who falls in love with Odysseus when he lands on her island-home of Ogygia. Calypso holds him prisoner there for seven years until Hermes, the messenger god, persuades her to let him go
 * Circe** - The beautiful witch-goddess who transforms Odysseus’s crew into swine when he lands on her island. With Hermes’ help, Odysseus resists Circe’s powers and then becomes her lover, living in luxury at her side for a year.
 * Laertes** - Odysseus’s aging father, who resides on a farm in Ithaca.
 * Tiresias** - A Theban prophet who inhabits the underworld. Tiresias meets Odysseus when Odysseus journeys to the underworld in Book 11. He shows Odysseus how to get back to Ithaca and allows Odysseus to communicate with the other souls in Hades.
 * Nestor** - King of Pylos and a former warrior in the Trojan War. Like Odysseus, Nestor is known as a clever speaker. Telemachus visits him in Book 3 to ask about his father, but Nestor knows little of Odysseus’s whereabouts.
 * Menelaus** - King of Sparta, brother of Agamemnon, and husband of Helen, he helped lead the Greeks in the Trojan War. He offers Telemachus assistance in his quest to find Odysseus when Telemachus visits him in Book 4.
 * Helen** - Wife of Menelaus and queen of Sparta. Helen’s abduction from Sparta by the Trojans sparked the Trojan War. She offers Telemachus assistance in his quest to find his father.
 * Agamemnon** - Former king of Mycenae, brother of Menelaus, and commander of the Achaean forces at Troy. Odysseus encounters Agamemnon’s spirit in Hades. Agamemnon was murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus, upon his return from the war. He was later avenged by his son Orestes.
 * Nausicaa** - The beautiful daughter of King Alcinous and Queen Arete of the Phaeacians. Nausicaa discovers Odysseus on the beach at Scheria
 * Alcinous** - King of the Phaeacians, who offers Odysseus hospitality in his island kingdom of Scheria. Alcinous hears the story of Odysseus’s wanderings and provides him with safe passage back to Ithaca.
 * Arete** - Queen of the Phaeacians, wife of Alcinous, and mother of Nausicaa. Arete is intelligent and influential.

Characteristics of an Epic:
An //epic// or //heroic poem// is: Epics also //tend// to have the following characteristics:
 * A long narrative poem;
 * On a serious subject;
 * Written in a grand or elevated style;
 * Centered on a larger-than-life hero.
 * An opening [|in medias res];
 * An invocation to the Muse;
 * A concern with the fate of a nation or people;
 * A correspondingly large scale, often ranging around the world (and in Milton's case, beyond the earth and into heaven);
 * The intervention of supernatural figures, who are interested in the outcome of the action (the system of gods, demons, angels, and such is often called //machinery//);
 * Extended [|similes], generally called //epic similes//;
 * Long catalogues, whether of ships, characters, or places;
 * Extensive battle scenes;
 * A few stock episodes, including a visit to the underworld.