In Homeric accounts Alcinous is presented as king of the Phaeacians and, in many sources, as son of Nausithous and brother of Rhexenor; other traditions give variant parentage (for example descent from Phaeax) and different localizations of his court. Later mythographic summaries (e.g., Conon) adapt his genealogy into local foundation narratives that pair him with Locrus and link Phaeacian kinship to colonial origins. Across these variants he consistently appears as the dynastic ruler of an island people who host voyagers.
Primary sources provide little direct physical description of Alcinous himself. Homeric passages emphasize his palace, the courtly setting, and his social comportment: he presides at grand feasts, entertains through storytelling and athletic displays, and conducts judgment in the assembly. Family members associated with him in the narratives include his wife Arete and daughter Nausicaa; Homer also references sons and kin but does not supply a consistent portrait of his person.
Alcinous' capacities are political and social rather than supernatural. He rules the Phaeacians, commands resources (ships, gifts, hospitality), presides over feasts and games, and exercises adjudicative authority (for example, Apollonius Rhodius' account of his judgment concerning Medea). He can grant asylum and material aid to favored guests and arrange their safe transport, functioning as a patron and protector in the epic itineraries.
Abas
Abas (Ancient Greek: Ἄβας, gen.: Ἄβαντος) is not a single mythic being but a recurring personal name borne by multiple mortals and minor mythic figures in Greek epic and genealogical traditions — kings, founders, seers, warriors, attendants, a centaur, and a youth transformed by a goddess. The name is glossed in the sources as 'guileless' or 'good-hearted' and appears across Argive, Theban, Trojan, Euboean, and other local cycles.
Achilles
A legendary Greek heroic figure of epic poetry, son of the sea‑nymph Thetis and the mortal Peleus, celebrated as the greatest of the Greek warriors at Troy whose anger and fate shape events in the Trojan War cycle.
Adrastus
Adrastus (Ancient Greek: Ἄδραστος or Ἄδρηστος) is a legendary king of Argos in the Greek mythic-historical tradition, best known as the leader of the expedition of the Seven against Thebes and as a figure tied to oracular counsel, dynastic marriages, and local hero cults.
Agenor of Troy
Agenor (Ancient Greek: Ἀγήνώρ) is a mortal Trojan heroic figure in the Greek epic tradition notable for confronting Achilles during a rout in Iliad Book 21; Apollo carries Agenor away in a veil of mist and then impersonates him to distract Achilles, allowing the Trojans to reach safety. Later authors vary about his battlefield kills and his eventual death.
Ajax (Aias)
Ajax (Ancient Greek: Aias) is a human heroic figure of the Trojan-cycle tradition and the tragic protagonist of Sophocles' play Ajax. In the surviving tradition he is a mortal Salaminian warrior celebrated for physical strength and martial reputation whose wounded honor, rage, and resulting suicide are the focus of Sophocles' drama.
Ajax the Great
Ajax the Great (Ancient Greek: Αἴας, Aíās) is a mortal heroic figure of the Trojan War cycle, famed as a towering, steadfast Greek champion and defender of the Achaean ships. Prominent in Homer’s Iliad, he is portrayed as second only to Achilles in martial standing and as a paragon of defensive strength and reliability.
Alcimede
Alcimede (Ancient Greek Ἀλκιμέδη, 'mighty cunning') is a mortal woman of heroic-age Greek myth: daughter of Phylacus and Clymene, wife of Aeson, and in several traditions the mother of the hero Jason. She functions as a genealogical and maternal figure in the Argonautic cycle rather than as a supernatural being.
Alcmeonis
A lost early Greek epic poem (Ancient Greek: Ἀλκμεωνίς / Ἀλκμαιωνίς) traditionally counted among the Theban cycle; known only from a small number of fragmentary references, it narrated the story of Alcmaeon’s killing of his mother Eriphyle in vengeance for the death of his father Amphiaraus.
Amphialus (Amphialos)
Amphialus (Ancient Greek: Άμφίαλος, Amphialus/Amphialos, lit. 'of two seas') is a recurring personal name in classical Greek epic, genealogical tradition, and later pastoral/romance literature. The name is applied to several distinct mortal figures — a Phaeacian athlete in the Odyssey, various seafaring companions and suitors in Homeric summaries, a son of Neoptolemus and Andromache in genealogical accounts, and a noble/warrior character in early modern Arcadian romances — rather than to a single supernatural being.
Amphinomus
Amphinomus (Ἀμφίνομος) is a personal name borne by several human figures in Greek tradition, most notably a princely suitor of Penelope in Homer's Odyssey; other bearers appear in local genealogies, a Catanian civic legend, and a later historical record as a geometer. The sources treat Amphinomus as mortal personages rather than a supernatural being.
Andromache
Andromache (Ancient Greek Ἀνδρομάχη) is a human figure of ancient Greek literary tradition: the wife of Hector of Troy who exemplifies virtuous fidelity, ritual mourning, and the losses suffered by women in war. She appears in Homeric epic and later classical sources as grieving spouse, captive concubine after Troy's fall, and later queen in post-war narratives.
Antimachus of Teos
Antimachus of Teos (Greek: Ἀντίμαχος ὁ Τήϊος) is an early Greco-Ionian epic poet cited in later antiquity as the putative author or ascription-anchor for fragmentary Theban-cycle material (notably sometimes the Epigoni). Later authors quote or reference him for sententiae and as a chronological marker; his identity is contested and sometimes conflated with the much later Antimachus of Colophon.
Community Record
- [1]Alcinous - Wikipedia. Wikipedia entry 'Alcinous', summarizing Homer, Apollonius Rhodius, and Cononwiki
- [2]The Odyssey, by Homer (Project Gutenberg). Homer, Odyssey (reception of Odysseus at the palace of Alcinous; books VI–XIII)literary
- [3]The Odyssey, Book VII. Odyssey, Book VII — descriptions of Alcinous' palace and receptionliterary
- [4]The Odyssey, Book VIII. Odyssey, Book VIII — descriptions of feasts, games, and gift-giving at Alcinous' courtliterary
- [5]Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica (summary). Summary of Argonautica reporting Alcinous' hosting of the Argonauts on Drépané and his adjudication regarding Medealiterary
- [6]Conon, Fifty Narrations (summary). Conon's summary (via secondary compilation) giving a variant linking Alcinous with Locrus and colony-founding traditionsliterary
- [7]Wikidata: Alcinous. Wikidata entry for Alcinous (identification as mythical king; genealogical notes)other
- [8]The Odyssey, Butler translation (Book VIII excerpt). Project Gutenberg / Butler translation excerpt describing Alcinous' reception of Odysseusliterary