Sísyphos: known from The Iliad as the son of Aiolos (eponymous hero of the Aiolians and not the king of the winds) and the father of Glaukos, in The Odyssey he appears in Odysseus’ vision of the underworld, his torment being to push a boulder to the top of a hill only to have it roll back down. Such labor is ever since known as “Sisyphean.” Only later accounts try to explain what the crime was for which he was punished. In some of these accounts he is directly entwined in Odysseus’ family: for example, he is supposed to have stolen the cattle of Odysseus’ grandfather Autólykos and to have abducted his daughter Antikleía, so that in some accounts it is Sísyphos who is in fact Odysseus’ father.
Skylla: cave-dwelling monster inhabiting a cliff across a narrow strait from Kharybdis (q.v.). Skylla barks like a dog and with each of her six mouths grabs one of Odysseus’ companions as they sail past. Ancient geographers already identified this strait with the Strait of Messina, which divides Sicily from the toe of the Italian boot.
Skhería: home of the Phaiákians. Later Greek tradition identified it with Korkyra or Korfu, but in Homer it is not certain that it is even an island. See note on VI.11.
Skyros: island east of Euboia with legendary connections to Akhilleus. After Akhilleus’ death, Odysseus reports that he brought Akhilleus’ son, Neoptólemos, from Skyros to join the Akhaian siege of Troy.
Sparta: major city-state in the Peloponnese, center of Lakedaimon, seat of Meneláos and Helen.
Stratíos: one of Nestor’s sons.
Styx: river in Hades; the strongest oath an immortal could make was to swear by the River Styx.
Sunion Point: promontory forming the southeast point of Attika and commanding a wide vista of the Aegean Sea.
Syrie: island home of Eumaios, near Ortýgia. Its true location is uncertain.
Talemos: one of the Kyklopês.
Tántalos: king of Sipylos, he appears in Odysseus’ vision of the underworld, his torment to be unable to drink of the water in which he stands or to eat of the fruit that hangs over his head. As with the case of Sísyphos, genealogy and explanation of the crime which merited this punishment postdate The Odyssey. According to the most widespread accounts he is a son of Zeus and the father of Pelops, and his crime was an offense against the gods, either the theft from their table of the divine nectar and ambrosia their favor had permitted him to share or a revelation of their secrets.
Taphians: inhabitants of the island(s) of Taphos, between Leukas and Akarnia. (The major island is probably to be identified with Meganisi.) Ruled by Mentês, they were a seafaring people, and as is true of many such people in The Odyssey, pirates and slave-traders. See under Arubas Pasha and Mesaúlios, above, for instances of such activity.
Taÿgetos: mountain range dividing Lakonia and Messênia, one of Artemis’ favored hunting grounds.
Teirêsias: blind seer of Thebes, dead by the time of the events narrated in The Odyssey. Odysseus consults him in the underworld. Teirêsias alone among the buried dead is able to remember, know things of the world, and speak without drinking the blood Odysseus offers to the other ghosts.
Télamon: father of Aîas 2 (“Télamonian Aîas”), famed in other sources both as one of the Argonauts and as a participant in that earlier siege, under Heraklês’ command, of Troy, at the time ruled by Laomedon.
Telémakhos: son of Odysseus and Penélopê.
Telemos: wizard among the Kyklopês, son of Eurymos, who had foretold that Polyphêmos would lose his eye at Odysseus’ hand.
Télephos: father of Eurýpulos, q.v.
Témesê: Tamassos, important center of copper production on Kypros (q.v.), south of present-day Nikosia.
Ténedos: small island just across from Troy, first staging point of the Greek forces before they set out for their homes.
Terpis: “father” of Phêmios, q.v.
Thebes: (1) most important city of Boiotia, according to the legends founded by Kadmos and fortified with walls built by Amphion and Zêthos; (2) city in upper Egypt, famous in Greek sources for its wealth and “hundred gates.”
Theoklýmenos: an Argive seer, with many seers among his forebears, i.a. his father, Polypheidês, and his great-grandfather Melampous. Exiled for having killed a cousin, he takes passage with Telémakhos in Pylos and sails to Ithaka with him. Once there, he proclaims to a doubting Penélopê that Odysseus is already in Ithaka and to the suitors that they are a doomed lot (Books XVII and XX, respectively).
Thesprótia: coastal region of western mainland Greece, part of Epeiros roughly across from the island of Korkyra; to Eumaios, Odysseus as the Kretan describes being washed up on the shore and given shelter by the king, Pheidon, q.v. Thesprótia is sometimes used to stand for all of Epeiros, and Dodona is also described as being in Thesprótia.
Thessaly: northern region of mainland Greece west of Mounts Olympos, Ossa, and Pelion and south of Macedonia.
Thetis: nereid (i.e., daughter of the sea god Nereus), she bore Akhilleus to Pêleus. This pairing was arranged by Zeus, who would himself have liked to lie with Thetis but renounced her when informed of the prophecy that the son of Thetis would be stronger than his father.
Thoösa: nymph, daughter of Phorkys, Polyphêmos’ mother by Poseidon.
Thrace: Greece’s far north, on the northern coast of the Aegean and running north to the Black Sea, with Macedonia to the west.
Thrasymêdês: one of Nestor’s sons.
Thrinákia: island sacred to Hêlios, where the sun god pastured his herd of cattle, which Odysseus’ companions, acting against dire warnings, slaughtered.
Thyestês: father of Aigísthos, brother of Atreus and thus uncle of Agamémnon and Meneláos. The enmity between Thyestês and his brother, with whom he contested the right to the throne in Argos, is continued by his son Aigísthos and Atreus’ son Agamémnon (first cousin of Aigísthos, q.v.).
Tithonos: son of Laomedon, mortal beloved by Dawn, he became her consort; their son was Memnon. According to later elaboration of the myth (Homeric Hymn 4), Dawn requested immortality for her lover but forgot to ask for eternal youth, condemning Tithonos to age without ever being able to die.
Títyos: giant, son of Gaia, violator of Lêto, slain by Apollo and Artemis and now suffering eternal punishment in Hades. The story that Rhadamanthos visited him in Euboia (see VII.345–48) seems a trace of an earlier tradition according to which Títyos was no giant, “son of earth,” but a hero, son of Zeus and Elare, who dwelt in a Euboian cave.
Troy: important city on the northwest coast of Asia Minor, less than four miles inland from the coast and less than three miles from the Dardanelles. The nearest modern settlement is Hissarlik. Like most ancient citadels, it was built on a mound, which grew higher as new cities were constructed on the ruins of earlier cities. Modern archeology (Heinrich Schliemann began excavations in 1870, Wilhelm Dörpfeld taking over in 1882 and working through 1894; a team from the University of Cincinnati under Carl Biegen worked in the 1930s; excavations continue to produce important discoveries today) has established a series of multiple Troys, with the earliest dating back to the late fourth millennium B.C.E. The most important Troys are Troy VI (1900–1340 B.C.E.—all dates approximate), which marked a major leap in the size of the settlement area, and Troy VII, both with subphases. These phases and subphases are distinguished by differences in material culture. Some of the discontinuities suggest an earthquake or a fire and a peaceful change of populations.
Do any of these transitions reflect a real Trojan War? The Trojan War was traditionally dated between 1250 and 1170 B.C.E. Recent scholarship seems to support Troy VIIa, burned ca. 1220–1210 B.C.E, as the prime candidate for the Iliadic Troy. On the other hand, it is likely that the “Trojan War” represents many sieges and campaigns. Troy would be an attractive anchor for such stories, for a number of reasons. Given its commanding position on the northern Aegean trade routes, particularly those running through the Dardanelles into the Black Sea, it was likely to have been rich and very much hated by all those whose free tr
ade it tried to encumber. Stories of its true wealth, exaggerated as stories always are, no doubt attracted storytellers as it all along attracted marauding forces. And finally, its position on the eastern edge of the Greek sphere meant, particularly as Greece was expanding and colonizing in a westerly direction, that it could be inflected as an “eastern” city and could bear all the connotations the “East” (i.e., Orient) always has had for the “West”: rich, luxurious, tyrannical, less than manly, and inevitably conquerable.
What is ultimately most important for a reading of The Odyssey is the Troy of The Iliad and the epic-cycle. From the extant Iliad we know of a rich and nearly impregnable citadel—The Iliad is the best source of the architectural and topographical details—ruled by Priam and ably defended for a decade by his sons, sons-in-law, and the troops he could rely on from allies and vassal states throughout Asia Minor. While the details are to some extent fictionalized, from everything we know about the period, this must be an essentially accurate picture of the way a city would withstand the assault of a besieging army. In sum, memories of a historical expedition and sack are possibly buried in The Iliad, but they are transformed, likely beyond recognition, by epic convention.
Tyndáreus: husband of Leda, father of Klytaimnéstra, father or foster-father of Kastor and Polydeukês (at least later Zeus was claimed to be the true father of one or both boys, the so-called Dioskouroi; see note under Kastor, above), and foster-father of Helen, whom Homer calls Zeus’ daughter (although at times he also calls her Tyndáreus’ daughter). As brother of Ikários, he is Penélopê’s uncle.
Tyro: daughter of Salmoneus, wife of Krêtheus, she is mother of Pelias and Neleus by Poseidon, who appeared to her in the figure of the river god Enipeus, with whom she was infatuated; she later bore her mortal husband three children, Aison, Pherês, and Amytháon; her shade appears to Odysseus.
Zakýnthos: wooded island near Ithaka, so named to this day.
Zêthos: son of Zeus and Antiopê; with his brother, Amphion, he built the walls of Thebes; his wife, Aedon, killed his only child, Itylos.
Zeus: chief of the Olympian gods, son of Kronos, brother and consort of Hêra, father of Athena, Apollo, Hermês, Heraklês, Helen, and many other gods and heroes.
1The translator’s spellings are meant as a guide to readers’ pronunciation, not as consistent transliterations. For example, Fitzgerald writes “Kikonês” to indicate that the word should be pronounced as a three-(i.e., Ki-kō-nes) rather than a two-syllable word (Ki-kōnz), as English speakers might otherwise have done. Likewise, “Gigantês,” “Kyklopês,” and “Laistrygonês.” A strict system of transliteration would have demanded that he represent the final vowel of all three words as an “e,” since in Greek it is a short “e” [epsilon], not a long “e”
Bibliography
Suggestions for Further Reading
The secondary literature on Homer is vast, and it would be easier to list far too much than too little. I have emphasized books and (a very few) articles of recent vintage; each of the items will give access to earlier scholarship, much of which is still of great value. With an eye on the requirements of most users of this volume, I have restricted these “suggestions for further reading” to material in English, at the same time taking comfort in the fact that, again, the notes and bibliographies of the works cited will give readers access to the richly international world of Homeric scholarship. Finally, I have arranged the list in categories; needless to say, many of the books could be placed under more than one heading.
I. COMMENTARIES
Heubeck, Alfred, et al. A Commentary on Homer’s Odyssey: Alfred Heubeck, Stephanie West, and J. B. Hainsworth, Volume I: Introduction and Books I-VIII; Alfred Heubeck and Arie Hoekstra, Volume II: Books IX-XVI; Joseph Russo, Manuel Fernández-Galiano, and Alfred Heubeck, Volume III; Booh XVII-XXIV. Oxford, 1988, 1989, and 1992, respectively. [Referred to in the Commentary as HWH 1, HWH 2, and HWH 3.]
Stanford, W. B. The Odyssey of Homer, vol. 1, Books I-XII; vol. 2, Books XIII-XXIV. 2nd edition. London: Macmillan, 1959 and 1958, respectively (both volumes frequently reprinted, with addenda, through 1971).
Note: These two commentaries on the Greek text have been indispensable in my work on The Odyssey, Stanford my constant companion in reading the poem for some twenty years now, and the Oxford commentary more recently. Both are excellent in very different ways. They may also be of great value to readers of The Odyssey with little or no Greek. Both have helpful introductory sections, and indexes to lead users to longer notes on specific issues. Finally, the line numbers of the Greek originals of the translated passages appear in the running heads of the Fitzgerald translation, and these should be sufficient to get users to the appropriate pages in the commentaries for detailed analysis.
II. GENERAL AND SELECTED DETAILED STUDIES ON THE ODYSSEY
Austin, Norman. Archery at the Dark of the Moon: Poetic Problems in Homer’s Odyssey. Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1975.
Bergren, Ann. “Helen’s ‘Good Drug’: Odyssey IV 1–305.” In S. Kresic, ed. Contemporary Literary Hermeneutics and Interpretation of Classical Texts. Ottawa, 1981. Pp. 201–14.
Clarke, Howard W. The Art of the Odyssey. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1967.
———, ed. Twentieth Century Interpretations of the Odyssey: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1983.
Clay, Jenny Strauss. The Wrath of Athena: Gods and Men in the Odyssey. Princeton, 1983.
Dimock, George E. The Unity of the Odyssey. Amherst, 1989.
Fenik, Bernard. Studies in the Odyssey. Hermes Einzelschriften 30. Wiesbaden, 1974.
Finley, John. Homer’s Odyssey. Cambridge, Mass., 1978.
Finley, Moses I. The World of Odysseus. Rev. ed. New York, 1978.
Foley, Helene. “‘Reverse Similes’ and Sex Roles in the Odyssey.” Arethusa 11 (1978), 7–26.
Griffin, Jasper. Homer: The Odyssey. Cambridge, 1987.
Katz, Marylin Arthur. Penélopê’s Renown: Meaning and Indeterminacy in Homer’s Odysseus. Princeton, 1991.
Murnaghan, Sheila. Disguise and Recognition in the Odyssey. Princeton, 1987.
Page, Denys L. Folktales in Homer’s Odyssey. Cambridge, Mass., 1973.
Peradotto, John. Man in the Middle Voice: Name and Narration in the Odyssey. Princeton, 1990.
Pucci, Pietro. Odysseus Polutropos: Intertextual Readings in the Odyssey and Iliad. Ithaca, 1987.
Schein, Seth L. “Odysseus and Polyphemus in the Odyssey.” Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 11 (1970), 73–83.
Segal, Charles. “Kleos and Its Ironies in the Odyssey.” L’antiquité classique 52 (1983), 22–47.
———. “The Phaeacians and the Symbolism of Odysseus’ Return.” Arion 1 (1962), 17–64.
Thornton, A. People and Themes in Homer’s Odyssey. Dunedin and London, 1970.
Winkler, John J. “Penélopê’s Cunning and Homer’s.” In The Constraints of Desire. New York, 1990. Pp. 129–61.
Woodhouse, W.J. The Composition of Homer’s Odyssey. Oxford, 1930; rpt. 1969.
III. HOMER, THE HOMERIC POEMS, ISSUES OF COMPOSITION
Carpenter, Rhys. Folk Tale, Fiction and Saga in the Homeric Epics. Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1946.
Clarke, Howard. Homer’s Readers: A Historical Introduction to the Iliad and the Odyssey. Brunswick, N.J., 1981.
De Jong, Irene J. F. Narrators and Focalizers: The Presentation of the Story in the Iliad. Amsterdam, 1987.
Fenik, Bernard. Typical Battle Scenes in the Iliad: Studies in the Narrative Techniques of Homeric Battle Descriptions. Hermes Einzelschriften 21. Wiesbaden, 1968.
Ford, Andrew. Homer: The Poetry of the Past. Ithaca, 1992.
Griffin, Jasper. Homer on L ife and Death. Oxford, 1980.
———. “Homeric Words and Speakers.” Journal of Hellenic Studies 106 (1986), 36–57.
Hainsworth, J. B. The Flexibility of the Homeric Formula. Oxford, 1968.
Hoekstra, Arie. Homeric Modifications of Formulaic Prototypes. Amsterda
m, 1965.
Janko, Richard. Homer, Hesiod and the Hymns: Diachronic Development in Epic Diction. Cambridge, 1982.
Kirk, Geoffrey. The Songs of Homer. Cambridge, 1962.
Lord, Albert B. The Singer of Tales. Cambridge, Mass., 1960.
Lüthi, Max. The European Folktale: Form and Mature. Tr. John D. Niles. Philadelphia, 1982.
Martin, Richard P. The Language of Heroes: Speech and Performance in the Iliad. Ithaca, 1989.
Moulton, Carroll. Similes in the Homeric Poems. Hypomnemata 49. Göttingen, 1977.
Nagler, Michael N. Spontaneity and Tradition: A Study in the Oral Art of Homer. Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1974.
Nagy, Gregory. The Best of the Achaeans: Concepts of the Hero in Archaic Greek Poetry. Baltimore, 1979.
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