ENG 448: Linguistics and Literature

Dr. Felix Mercado Prepared by: Pinky Mariel G. Mangaya

Professor October 19, 2019

HOMERIC EPITHETS IN “THE ODYSSEY”

Homer's ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey'' have shaped the literary imagination of generations.
Throughout these vast works, people, places, and things are characterized with distinctive
compound adjectives, known as Homeric epithets.

The epic poems of Homer were first sung, even before they were written down two
millennia ago. The fact that they were meant to be experienced through hearing meant that
repeated words, or combinations of words, were a way of holding listeners' attention and creating
consistent characterization. Epithets are simply words characteristically attached to people (or
things!) as descriptors. Homeric epithets are used strategically. The naming of important people,
places, and things in the poems thus becomes a motif, providing familiarity for listeners and
readers experiencing a vast poetic narrative.

Homer wrote the Odyssey in a poetical meter called dactylic hexameter. This means that
there are six metrical units, or feet, in each line. Homer uses the various colorful epithets to fit in
with the meter's rhythm. So, for example, when he refers to Odyssey as "a man of many
schemes" or "much enduring," he isn't simply making reference to Odysseus's character; he's also
paying close attention to how the lines of the epic poems should be read.

Here are some of the epic poems other typical epithets:

ATHENA grey-eyed goddess; daughter of Zeus; sprang from Zeus' head

fully grown and wearing armor; goddess of warfare
CHARYBDIS dangerous whirlpool over which Odysseus must navigate
CIRCE goddess; daughter of Helios the sun-god; turns half of Odysseus'
companions into swine; Odysseus spends one year with her
EUMAOIS Odysseus' loyal swineherd; Odysseus visits the swineherd's hut
and receives xenia from him; Odysseus blesses him
EURYKLEIA Odysseus' nurse from his childhood; she recognizes the boar
wound on Odysseus' thigh; will identify the disloyal maids
whom Telemachus will hang
CALLIOPE muse of epic poetry
HELEN daughter of Zeus and Leda; sister of Clytaimestra; wife of
Menelaus; most beautiful woman in the world; kidnapped by
Paris causes the Trojan War
CALYPSO nymph; keeps Odysseus on her island for 7 years; wants him to
be her immortal husband; orders delivered by Hermes from Zeus
to release Odysseus

CASSANDRA given the gift of prophecy; cursed by Apollo for not returning his
love; raped by Ajax while praying to Athena at a temple

MENELAUS red-haired king; brother of Agamemnon; husband of Helen;

visits Proteus to learn news of Odysseus; shows xenia to
Telemachus

NAUSIKAA girl of the pretty braids; daughter of King Alcinous and Queen
Arete; welcomes Odysseus to the island of the Phaikaians; shows
xenia

NESTOR lives on Pylos; friend of Odysseus; welcomes Telemachus; sends

Telemachus with Nestor's son Peisistratos to visit Menelaos on
Sparta

ODYSSEUS polutropos; man skilled in all ways contending; master of land

ways and sea ways; patient hero; husband of Penelope; father of
Telemachus; polumetis

PENELOPE wife of Odysseus; mother of Telemachus; skilled in weaving;

suggests the axe contest with Eurytos' bow as a means of
choosing a husband

POSEIDON brother of Zeus; angered by Odysseus' poking out the eye of

Poseidon's son Polyphemus; turns the Phaechian ship to stone
when Odysseus arrives on Ithaca

SCYLLA six-headed, human-devouring monster; Odysseus sacrifices men

to her on his way to Helios' island

TEIRESIAS in the nekuia, the The ban prophet that Odysseus consults about
his future
TELEMACHUS son of Odysseus and Penelope; travels to visit Nestor and
Menelaus; forgets to lock the storeroom with the suitors'
weapons

ZEUS ruler of the Olympian gods; father of Athena; patron of justice,

suppliants, and xenia; King of the gods who prefers to remain
neutral in the war but intervenes after a plea for help.

PHILOTIOS Odysseus' cowherd, who is loyal to his master; fights with

Odysseus and Telemachus to defeat the suitors
HERMES Is the messenger of the gods. He gave Odysseus a magical herb
Moly to protect him from Circe’s witchery and he convinced
Calypso to let him off from her island
CIRCE She turns Odysseus’ crewmen to animals. Enchanting and
bewitching daughter of sun god.
HELIOS God of the sun. Odysseus’ men upset him when they eat his
cattle on his island

References:

Hamilton, E.(2001). Mythology Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes. New York

https://study.com/academy/lesson/greek-mythology-literature-books-characteristics.html

www.warnerbooks.com