main Characters in the Iliad and the Odyssey
The Gods
ZEUS
Zeus is the king of the Greek Gods. He is the god of the
sky and thunder. Even
though he was married to Hera, the goddess of
marriage, Zeus is well
known for his many affairs and having many children with different women.
Some of his many children include Ares, Athena, and Helen of Sparta.
In the Iliad, Zeus disguises himself as a
swan and rapes Leda, the queen of Sparta.
Leda became pregnant with two eggs, each having twins in them. She gave birth to
Helen, Clytemnestra, Castor, and Pollux(together known as Gemini.
Zeus then finds a beautiful sea nymph named Thetis.
He is afraid to be with her because a prophecy said that her son would be more powerful than his father. Zeus gives Thetis anything that she wants so that she will stop tempting him. Soon Thetis falls in love with a human,
King Peleus, and asks if she can marry him.
Zeus agrees and even throws them a huge party.
HERA
Hera is the wife and older sister of Zeus. She is the goddess of
childbirth and marriage.
At Thetis’ party, Eris
is mad that she is not invited, so she brings a golden apple that
says “Kallisti”, meaning to the best. Athena,
Aphrodite, and Hera have a huge fight,
asking Zeus who is going to get the apple.
Zeus tells Paris to choose who gets the
apple. They all bribe him. Hera offers him power over China.
Poseidon
Poseidon is the king of the sea. In the Iliad,
Poseidon takes the form of human and helps to
defeat the Trojans.
In the Odyssey, Poseidon punishes Odysseus and his crew when Odysseus claims that he doesn’t need the gods and that he is better than them.
He proves to Odysseus that without the gods, humans are nothing.
Hades is the king of the Underworld.
He is married to Persephone, the queen of the underworld.
HADES
Aeolus
Aeolus is the god of wind. In the Odyssey, Aeolus helps
Odysseus by letting only the wind moving towards Ithaca blow.
Achilles
Achilles is the child of Thetis and King Peleus. When he was born, Thetis
wanted to make sure that he was
immortal, so she dipped him in the river Styx by his foot.
Achilles was asked to fight in the Trojan war. Thetis
does not want him to go, but before
he leaves, she
gets him special
armor. He leaves to fight in Troy with his bestfriend Patroclus.
While he is in Troy, he finds a beautiful servant named
Brisius. After Agamemnon
doesn’t get what he wants, he goes after Brisius.
Achilles gets upset and refuses to
fight for him.
After Achilles refuses to fight, Patroclus fights as Achilles, hoping
to scare the Trojans.
Instead, Patroclus is killed, leaving Achilles tremendously upset. Achilles goes back to in order to get revenge on Hector for killing his best friend. Achilles kills hector, then drags him around the walls of Troy behind a chariot.
The gods are mad at Achilles because he has disrespected
Hectors body.
They punish him in return by being
killed as well. Achilles
is shot by an arrow in his only vulnerable spot, his heel.
Aphrodite is the goddess of love. When the
three goddesses are fighting about the
golden apple from Eris, Aphrodite offers Paris any woman in the
world that he wants. She helps Paris get Helen to go with him.
Aphrodite
Circ e
Circe is a goddess that lives on
an island near
Ithaca. Odysseus gets
shipwrecked on her island and stays there for seven years. She tries to
turn Odysseus and his crew into animals.
Calypso
Calypso is a sea nymph. She keeps Odysseus from Penelope for a year, but Hermes tells her that she
needs to let him leave and go back to his home.
Eris
Eris is the goddess of fighting. When she is not invited to Thetis’
party, she is angry, so she
brings a golden apple to the party, starting a huge fight between Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite.
Athena is the goddess of defensive war
and wisdom. When she is bribing Paris, she offers him to
be the best warrior that lived.
Athena
The Humans
Odysseus
Odysseus is the main character in the
Odyssey. He ends the war by creating the Trojan horse. After he ends the war, he
claims that he does not need the gods.
The gods get mad at
him, and he is punished by spending ten years at sea, trying to get
home to his family.
Penelope
Penelope is Odysseus’ wife. When
Odysseus leaves for the war, she is left to fend for herself and take care of
Ithaca. After Odysseus is gone for 20 years, suitors take over her kingdom, and try to win her heart and marry her.
Telemachus
Telemachus is the son of Odysseus and Penelope. He has to learn
how to be a man by himself because Odysseus left to fight when he was a small baby.
He was raised by Odysseus’
good friend, Umaus After
Odysseus is gone for many years,
Telemachus goes searching for him.
Helen
Helen is the daughter of Zeus and Lada. She is also known as “Golden Helen”. Helen does not age like a
normal human because she is
partially immortal bacause Zeus is
her father. In the Iliad, Helen is take by Paris from her husband,
Menelaus. The Trojan war starts because Paris takes Helen.
Menelaus
Menelaus is the best warrior in Sparta. He is married to Helen of Sparta. He is brothers with Agamemnon.
Agamemnon is the brother of Menelaus. He is married to
Clytemnestra, Helens sister. He is the King of Mycenae.
Agamemnon
Paris
Paris is the last son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba.
Hecuba has a dream that Paris is going to destroy
Troy, so she decides to leave him on a hill. A shepherd finds the baby and adopts him. After Paris has grown up, Zeus lets him decide who should get a golden
apple between Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena. Paris
chooses Aphrodite, and she gives him Helen of Sparta.
He kidnaps Helen, and when Menelaus finds out, he attacks Troy. This started the Trojan War.
Hector
Hector is the future king of Troy. He is married to Andramache and is one of the fifty children of King Priam and
Queen Hecuba. Hector is killed by
Achilles in a duel, then Achilles drags his body around the walls of Troy.
