Mnemosyne — Classical Greek Myth Library

Stories (62)

• Hermes as Psychopomp: Leading the Suitors’ Shades
  Olympian gods · Homeric — *Odyssey* 24
• Elpenor’s Shade and Burial Plea (*Odyssey* 11)
  Heroes — Odyssey nekyia / companions of Odysseus · Homeric — first shade at the trench; plea for burial rites
• Odysseus Meets Anticleia (*Odyssey* 11)
  Heroes — Odyssey nekyia / family of Odysseus · Homeric — mother and son at the blood-trench
• Odysseus’s Feigned Madness and Palamedes
  Trojan · Epic Cycle — *Cypria* / Apollodorean (recruitment ruse; Palamedes’s test)
• Menelaus and Helen: Wandering before Sparta (*Odyssey* 4)
  Trojan — Nostoi · Homeric — *Odyssey* 4 (+ *Nostoi* / Apollodorean Egypt)
• Nestor’s Safe Return to Pylos
  Trojan — Nostoi · Homeric — *Odyssey* 3 / Epic Cycle — *Nostoi* (Proclus)
• Telemachy: Athena at Ithaca; Telemachus Seeks News (*Odyssey* 1–4)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Nostoi · Homeric — *Odyssey* 1–4 (Telemachy)
• Nekyia: Odysseus in the Underworld (*Odyssey* 11)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Nostoi · Homeric — *Odyssey* 11 (+ Apollodorean summary)
• Return to Ithaca: Disguise and Eumaeus (*Odyssey* 13–16)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Nostoi · Homeric — *Odyssey* 13–16 (compressed)
• Bow Contest and Slaughter of the Suitors (*Odyssey* 21–22)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Nostoi · Homeric — *Odyssey* 21–22 (+ Apollodorean)
• Recognition by Penelope: The Marriage Bed (*Odyssey* 23)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Nostoi · Homeric — *Odyssey* 23
• Laertes; End of the Blood-Feud (*Odyssey* 24)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Nostoi · Homeric — *Odyssey* 24 (+ Apollodorean close)
• Telegony: Telegonus Kills Odysseus (Epic Cycle End)
  Trojan — Epic Cycle close / post-*Odyssey* · Epic Cycle — *Telegony* (Proclus summary; Eugammon of Cyrene attrib.)
• Death of Palamedes at Troy
  Trojan — Cypria / early war · Epic Cycle — *Cypria* (Proclus) / Apollodorean (+ tragic and Dictyan elaborations labeled where late)
• Eurycleia Washes Odysseus’s Feet: The Scar (*Odyssey* 19)
  Trojan — Odyssey / recognition on Ithaca · Homeric — nurse’s recognition by the boar-scar
• Penelope’s Bow Contest (*Odyssey* 21)
  Trojan — Odyssey / return to Ithaca · Homeric — bow contest isolated from the slaughter in Book 22
• Slaughter of the Suitors (*Odyssey* 22)
  Trojan — Odyssey / return to Ithaca · Homeric — mnesterophonia isolated from the bow contest
• Penelope’s Shroud: The Web Trick (*Odyssey*)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Ithaca during Odysseus’s absence · Homeric — shroud for Laertes; ruse told and exposed
• Telemachus at Sparta: Menelaus and Helen (*Odyssey* 4)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Telemachy · Homeric — Spartan visit isolated from the Telemachy overview
• Melanthius the Goatherd (*Odyssey*)
  Trojan — Odyssey / return to Ithaca · Homeric — disloyal goatherd isolated from Eumaeus and the slaughter
• Penelope’s Bed Test: Recognition of Odysseus (*Odyssey* 23)
  Trojan — Odyssey / return to Ithaca · Homeric — olive-bed token isolated from the slaughter and Laertes
• Penelope’s Dream of the Geese and the Eagle (*Odyssey* 19)
  Trojan — Odyssey / recognition on Ithaca · Homeric — dream omen; Odysseus as eagle; suitors as geese
• Laertes in the Garden: Recognition of Odysseus (*Odyssey* 24)
  Trojan — Odyssey / return to Ithaca · Homeric — father–son recognition by orchard tokens
• Menelaus Wrestles Proteus in Egypt (*Odyssey* 4)
  Trojan — Odyssey / nostoi / Telemachy · Homeric — Proteus of Pharos; Egyptian detention
• Theoclymenus Prophesies the Suitors’ Doom (*Odyssey*)
  Trojan — Odyssey / return to Ithaca · Homeric — Melampodid seer; bird-omen and hall vision
• Antinous: First of the Suitors to Die (*Odyssey* 22)
  Trojan — Odyssey / mnesterophonia · Homeric — Antinous shot at the wine-cup
• Amphinomus: Warning Spurned, Death by Telemachus (*Odyssey*)
  Trojan — Odyssey / suitors / mnesterophonia · Homeric — the “good” suitor Athena still dooms
• Eurymachus: Death of the Suitors’ Spokesman (*Odyssey* 22)
  Trojan — Odyssey / mnesterophonia · Homeric — Eurymachus’s failed bargain and death after Antinous
• Leodes the Suitor-Diviner Slain (*Odyssey* 22)
  Trojan — Odyssey / mnesterophonia · Homeric — sacrificial diviner among the suitors; futile plea
• Suitors’ Shades and Amphimedon’s Tale (*Odyssey* 24)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Book 24 / underworld aftermath · Homeric — Hermes leads the suitors; Amphimedon narrates to Agamemnon
• Odysseus Returns Chryseis to Chryses (*Iliad* 1)
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / Book 1 · Homeric — voyage to Chryse; hecatomb; plague ends; Chryses’ prayer
• Arete: Phaeacian Queen and Counselor (*Odyssey*)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Scheria · Homeric — Arete’s authority among the Phaeacians; Odysseus’s appeal
• Telemachus at Pylos with Nestor (*Odyssey* 3)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Telemachy · Homeric — first stop of Telemachus’s voyage; Nestor’s nostos-lore
• Athena as Mentor (*Odyssey*)
  Trojan — Odyssey / divine guidance of Telemachus and Odysseus · Homeric — Athena’s recurring disguise as Odysseus’s Ithacan friend Mentor
• Odysseus’s Scar: Autolycus and the Parnassian Boar (*Odyssey* 19)
  Trojan — Odyssey / recognition digression · Homeric — flashback that explains the scar Eurycleia recognizes
• Philoetius the Loyal Cowherd (*Odyssey*)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Ithacan household / mnesterophonia · Homeric — cattle-herd who stands with Odysseus against the suitors
• The Suitors Ambush Telemachus (*Odyssey*)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Telemachy / suitors’ plot · Homeric — Antinous’s ship lies in wait at Asteris; Athena saves the return
• Helen Drugs the Wine with Nepenthe (*Odyssey* 4)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Telemachy / Sparta · Homeric — Helen’s Egyptian drug that ends grief in the mixing-bowl
• Melantho: The Disloyal Maid (*Odyssey*)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Ithacan household / suitors · Homeric — Melantho insults the beggar Odysseus; sister of Melanthius
• Phemius the Singer Spared (*Odyssey* 22)
  Trojan — Odyssey / mnesterophonia / mercy · Homeric — Phemius pleads; Telemachus intercedes; Odysseus spares the bard
• Medon the Herald Spared (*Odyssey* 22)
  Trojan — Odyssey / mnesterophonia / mercy · Homeric — Medon hides under a chair; Telemachus saves him with Phemius
• Halitherses Prophesies in the Ithacan Assembly (*Odyssey* 2)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Telemachy / Ithacan politics · Homeric — Halitherses reads the bird-omen; Eurymachus scorns him
• Antinous Hurls the Footstool at Odysseus (*Odyssey* 17)
  Trojan — Odyssey / beggar in the hall / guest-abuse · Homeric — first major outrage against the disguised king
• Ctesippus Throws the Cow’s Heel (*Odyssey* 20–22)
  Trojan — Odyssey / suitors’ outrages / mnesterophonia · Homeric — Ctesippus’s “guest-gift”; later killed by Philoetius
• Punishment of Melanthius the Goatherd (*Odyssey* 22)
  Trojan — Odyssey / mnesterophonia / household justice · Homeric — Melanthius fetches arms for the suitors; is tortured and mutilated
• Hanging of the Disloyal Maidservants (*Odyssey* 22)
  Trojan — Odyssey / mnesterophonia / household purge · Homeric — Eurycleia counts twelve guilty maids; Telemachus hangs them
• Ajax Carries Achilles’ Body from the Fight (*Aethiopis*)
  Trojan — Epic Cycle / *Aethiopis* / death of Achilles aftermath · Cyclic — Ajax bears the corpse while Odysseus covers the retreat
• Odysseus Enters Troy in Disguise; Helen Recognizes Him (*Little Iliad*)
  Trojan — Epic Cycle / *Little Iliad* · Cyclic / Apollodorean / Euripidean reminiscence — spy mission before the horse
• Athena Disguises Odysseus as a Beggar (*Odyssey*)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Ithaca recognition sequence / divine metamorphosis · Homeric — withered flesh, rags, and staff; later restorations
• Odysseus’s Cretan Lies (*Odyssey*)
  Trojan — Odyssey / false autobiographies / *pseudologia* · Homeric — Cretan persona told to Athena, Eumaeus, and Penelope
• Demodocus Sings the Wooden Horse (*Odyssey* 8)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Phaeacian court / Trojan War in song · Homeric — bard’s lay of the horse; Odysseus weeps
• Circe Transforms Odysseus’s Crew into Swine (*Odyssey* 10)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Aeaea · Homeric — drugs, wand, and pig-pens; Eurylochus escapes
• Elpenor Falls from Circe’s Roof (*Odyssey* 10–11)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Aeaea / Nekyia prelude · Homeric — drunken fall; unburied shade; burial plea and fulfillment
• Tiresias’s Prophecy of the Inland Oar (*Odyssey* 11)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Nekyia / nostos beyond Ithaca · Homeric — Poseidon’s wrath; Helios’s cattle warning; oar mistaken for winnowing-fan; gentle death from the sea
• Catalogue of Heroines in the Nekyia (*Odyssey* 11)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Nekyia / heroic genealogy in Hades · Homeric — blood-drinking shades of famous women; Hesiodic-style catalogue embedded in nostos
• Rhesus Slain in the Dolonia (*Iliad* 10)
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / Night raid · Homeric — Odysseus and Diomedes kill the Thracian king and take his horses
• Agamemnon Tests the Army (*Diapeira*, *Iliad* 2)
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / Book 2 assembly · Homeric — false dream aftermath; Agamemnon’s test; flight to the ships; Odysseus restores order
• Euryalus Insults Odysseus (*Odyssey* 8)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Phaeacian games / guest ethics · Homeric — Broadsea’s taunt; discus throw; apology gift
• Eumaeus’s Origin: The Phoenician Nurse and the Traders
  Trojan / Returns — *Odyssey* / swineherd’s autobiography · Homeric — princely birth on Syria; nurse’s betrayal; sale to Laertes
• Tityos: Assault on Leto and the Vultures
  Local and lesser — underworld punishment / Letoids · Homeric (*Odyssey* 11) / Apollodorean (birth; assault; death by Apollo and Artemis)
• Scylla and Charybdis: Origin and Metamorphosis
  Local and lesser — Sicilian strait aetiology (separate from *Odyssey* 12 encounter) · Ovidian Roman transmission of Circe–Glaucus–Scylla metamorphosis; Greek notices of Charybdis as daughter of Poseidon and Gaia
• Euthymus and the Hero of Temesa (Pausanias)
  Local and lesser — Locrian / South Italian hero combat · Pausanian — haunted Temesa; Homeric sailor-daimon; boxer Euthymus frees the city

Places appearing with them

• Achaean council
• Achaean ship
• Alcinous’s palace
• Amyclae
• Argos
• Assembly
• Assembly place
• Asteris
• Aulis / Chalcis
• Autolycus’s house
• Bridal chamber
• Chryse
• Circe’s house
• Circe’s land
• Countryside
• Dulichium
• Earth / Euboea
• Edge of Ocean
• Egypt
• Elysian plain
• Eumaeus’s steading
• Forest path
• Gates of Hades
• Gates of the Sun
• Greek ships
• Hades
• House of Autolycus
• Inland place far from sea
• Inland place of the winnowing-fan
• Islands of the Blessed
• Ithaca
• Ithaca palace road
• Laertes’ farm and orchard on Ithaca
• Land of Dreams
• Locri
• Marriage chamber
• Meadow of asphodel
• Megaron
• Megaron of Odysseus’s palace
• Messenia
• Mount Etna
• Mount Helicon
• Mount Parnassus
• Mycenae
• Mysia
• Ocean’s edge
• Ocean’s stream
• Odysseus’s hall, Ithaca
• Odysseus’s palace
• Odysseus’s palace hall
• Ogygia
• Palace hall on Ithaca
• Panopeus
• Phoenicia
• Pool
• Pytho
• Road to Ithaca’s town
• Road to Sparta
• Rock of Scylla
• Scheria
• Sea between Ithaca and Samos
• Sea voyage
• Sea-shore altar of Poseidon
• Ship approaching Ithaca
• Ships
• Ships on the shore
• Shore
• Shore of Aeaea
• Shore of the grey sea
• Sidon
• Storeroom
• Strait of Messina
• Syria
• The deep
• Thebes
• Thesprotia
• Thrinacia
• Trojan camp
• Trojan camp’s edge
• Underworld
• Whirlpool of Charybdis
• White Rock

Themes

• Abduction
• Binding
• Birth
• Contest
• Divine Council
• Exile
• Hospitality
• Hubris
• Marriage
• Metamorphosis
• Petrification
• Prophecy
• Revenge
• Sacrifice
• Succession
• Theft
• Underworld
• War