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ATHENA
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Grey-eyed goddess;
daughter of Zeus;
sprang from Zeus' head fully grown and wearing armor;
goddess of warfare
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CHARYBDIS
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Dangerous whirlpool over which Odysseus must navigate
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CIRCE
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Goddess;
daughter of Helios the sun-god;
turns half of Odysseus' companions into swine;
Odysseus spends one year with her
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EUMAOIS
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Odysseus' loyal swineherd;
Odysseus visits the swineherd's hut and receives xenia from him;
Odysseus blesses him
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EURYKLEIA
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Odysseus' nurse from his childhood;
she recognizes the boar wound on Odysseus' thigh; will identify the disloyal maids whom Telemakhos will hang
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CALLIOPE
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Muse of epic poetry
[Bonus: learn the names of the nine muses]
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HELEN
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Daughter of Zeus and Leda; sister of Klytaimestra; wife of Menelaos; most beautiful woman in the world; kidnapping by Paris causes the Trojan War
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KALYPSO
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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
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KASSANDRA
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Given the gift of prophecy; cursed by Apollo for not returning his love; raped by Ajax while praying to Athena at a temple
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MENELAOS
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Red-haired king; brother of Agamemnon; husband of Helen; visits Proteus to learn news of Odysseus; shows xenia to Telemakhos
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NAUSIKAA
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Girl of the pretty braids; daughter of King Alkinoos and Queen Arete; welcomes Odysseus to the island of the Phaikaians; shows xenia
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NESTOR
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Lives on Pylos; friend of Odysseus; welcomes Telemakhos; sends Telemakhos with Nestor's son Peisistratos to visit Menelaos on Sparta
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ODYSSEUS
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Polutropos; man skilled in all ways contending; master of land ways and sea ways; patient hero; husband of Penelope; father of Telemakhos; polumetis [much wisdom]
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PENELOPE
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Wife of Odysseus; mother of Telemakhos; skilled in weaving; suggests the axe contest with Eurytos' bow as a means of choosing a husband
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POSEIDON
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Brother of Zeus; angered by Odysseus' poking out the eye of Poseidon's son Polyphemos; turns the Phaiakian ship to stone when Odysseus arrives on Ithaka
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