The Odyssey Characters & Character Analysis

The Odyssey Characters

Achilles

Son of the mortal man Peleus and the sea goddess Thetis, Achilles is the best warrior at the siege of Troy. Odysseus encounters his shade (spirit) in the underworld in Book II while waiting for the seer Tiresias to tell him how he is to return home after being delayed for ten years.

Achilleus

See Achilles

Aeacides

See Achilles

Aeolus

The son of Hippotas, Homer describes him as "beloved of the immortal gods" (X.2) and relates that Zeus put him in charge of the winds, letting him "hold them still or start them up at his pleasure" (x'22). He and his family (six sons married to six daughters) live on Aeolia, a floating island. After listening to Odysseus's tales of Troy, he agrees to help and makes Odysseus a present of a bag containing all the adverse winds that could blow him off his proper...
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