Menelaus

Menelaus
Menelaus
King of Sparta
Member of theAchaeans
	Marble bust of Menelaus,Vatican Museums
Genealogy
Parents	AtreusandAerope
Siblings	Agamemnon
Consort	Helen
Offspring	Hermione,Nicostratus,Megapenthes,Pleisthenes

InGreek mythology,Menelaus(/ˌmɛnəˈleɪ.əs/;Greek:ΜενέλαοςMenelaos,'wrath of the people',^[1]fromAncient Greekμένος(menos)'vigor, rage, power' andλαός(laos)'people') was aGreekking ofMycenaean(pre-Dorian)Sparta.According to theIliad,the Trojan war began as a result of Menelaus's wife, Helen, fleeing to Troy with the Trojan princeParis.Menelaus was a central figure in theTrojan War,leading the Spartan contingent of the Greek army, under his elder brotherAgamemnon,king ofMycenae.Prominent in both theIliadandOdyssey,Menelaus was also popular in Greek vase painting andGreek tragedy,the latter more as a hero of the Trojan War than as a member of the doomed House ofAtreus.

Description

In the account ofDares the Phrygian,Menelaus was described as "of moderate stature, auburn-haired, and handsome. He had a pleasing personality."^[2]

Family

Menelaus was a descendant ofPelopsson ofTantalus.^[3]He was the younger brother ofAgamemnon,and the husband ofHelen of Troy.According to the usual version of the story, followed by theIliadandOdysseyofHomer,Agamemnon and Menelaus were the sons ofAtreus,king ofMycenae,andAerope,daughter of theCretankingCatreus.^[4]However, according to another tradition, Agamemnon and Menelaus were the sons of Atreus's sonPleisthenes,with their mother being Aerope,Cleolla,or Eriphyle. According to this tradition Pleisthenes died young, with Agamemnon and Menelaus being raised by Atreus.^[5]Agamemnon and Menelaus had a sisterAnaxibia(orAstyoche) who marriedStrophius,the son ofCrisus.^[6]

According to theOdyssey,Menelaus had only one child by Helen, a daughter namedHermione;and an illegitimate son,Megapenthes,by a slave.^[7]Other sources mention other sons of Menelaus by either Helen, or slaves. A scholiast onSophocles'sElectraquotesHesiodas saying that after Hermione, Helen also bore Menelaus a sonNicostratus,^[8]while according to aCypriafragment, Menelaus and Helen had a sonPleisthenes.^[9]The mythographerApollodorus,tells us that Megapenthes's mother was a slave "Pieris,an Aetolian, or, according toAcusilaus,...Tereis",and that Menelaus had another illegitimate son Xenodamas by another slave girl, Cnossia,^[10]while according to the geographerPausanias,MegapenthesandNicostratus were sons of Menelaus by a slave.^[11]The scholiast onIliad3.175 mentions Nicostratus and Aethiolas as two sons of Helen (by Menelaus?) worshipped by theLacedaemoniansand another son of Helen by Menelaus, Maraphius, from whom descended the Persian Maraphions.^[12]

Mythology

Ascension and reign

Although early authors, such asAeschylus,refer in passing to Menelaus's early life, detailed sources are quite late, post-dating 5th-century BC Greektragedy.^[13]According to these sources, Menelaus's father,Atreus,had been feuding with his brotherThyestesover the throne ofMycenae.After a back-and-forth struggle that featuredadultery,incest,andcannibalism,Thyestes gained the throne after his sonAegisthusmurderedAtreus.As a result, Atreus' sons, Menelaus andAgamemnon,went into exile. They first stayed with KingPolypheidesofSicyon,and later with KingOeneusofCalydon.But when they thought the time was ripe to dethrone Mycenae's hostile ruler, they returned. Assisted by KingTyndareusofSparta,they drove Thyestes away, and Agamemnon took thethronefor himself.

When it was time forTyndareus' stepdaughterHelento marry,many kings and princescame to seek her hand. Among the contenders wereOdysseus,Menestheus,Ajax the Great,Patroclus,andIdomeneus.Most offered opulent gifts. Tyndareus would accept none of the gifts, nor would he send any of the suitors away for fear of offending them and giving grounds for a quarrel. Odysseus promised to solve the problem in a satisfactory manner if Tyndareus would support him in his courting of Tyndareus's niecePenelope,the daughter ofIcarius.Tyndareus readily agreed, and Odysseus proposed that, before the decision was made, all the suitors should swear a most solemn oath to defend the chosen husband in any quarrel. Then it was decreed that straws were to be drawn for Helen's hand. The suitor who won was Menelaus (Tyndareus, not to displease the mighty Agamemnon offered him another of his daughters,Clytaemnestra).^[14]The rest of the suitors swore their oaths, and Helen and Menelaus were married, Menelaus becoming a ruler of Sparta with Helen after Tyndareus andLedaabdicated the thrones.

Their supposed palace (ἀνάκτορον) has been discovered (the excavations started in 1926 and continued until 1995) inPellana,Laconia,to the north-west of modern (and classical) Sparta.^[15]Other archaeologists consider thatPellanais too far away from other Mycenaean centres to have been the "capital of Menelaus".^[16]

According to tradition Menelaus founded the port-cityMenelai Portuson the coast ofMarmaricain Northern Africa.^[17]

Regnal titles
Preceded by Tyndareus (second reign)	King of Sparta	Succeeded by Orestes

Trojan War

According to legend, in return for awarding her a golden apple inscribed "to the fairest,"AphroditepromisedParisthe most beautiful woman in all the world. After concluding a diplomatic mission to Sparta during the latter part of which Menelaus was absent to attend the funeral of his maternal grandfatherCatreusinCrete,Paris ran off to Troy with Helen despite his brotherHector's prohibition. Invoking the oath ofTyndareus,Menelaus andAgamemnonraised a fleet of a thousand ships and went to Troy to secure Helen's return; the Trojans refused, providing acasus bellifor theTrojan War.

Homer'sIliadis the most comprehensive source for Menelaus's exploits during the Trojan War. In Book 3, Menelaus challenges Paris to a duel for Helen's return. Menelaus soundly beats Paris, but before he can kill him and claim victory, Aphrodite spirits Paris away inside the walls of Troy. In Book 4, while the Greeks and Trojans squabble over the duel's winner,Athenainspires the TrojanPandarusto shoot Menelaus with his bow and arrow. However, Athena never intended for Menelaus to die and she protects him from the arrow of Pandarus.^[18]Menelaus is wounded in the abdomen, and the fighting resumes. Later, in Book 17, Homer gives Menelaus an extendedaristeiaas the hero retrieves the corpse of Patroclus from the battlefield.

According toHyginus,Menelaus killed eight men in the war, and was one of the Greeks hidden inside theTrojan Horse.During the sack of Troy, Menelaus killedDeiphobus,who had married Helen after the death of Paris.

There are four versions of Menelaus's and Helen's reunion on the night of the sack of Troy:

Menelaus sought out Helen in the conquered city. Raging at her infidelity, he raised his sword to kill her, but as he saw her weeping at his feet, begging for her life, Menelaus's wrath instantly left him. He took pity on her and decided to take her back as his wife.
Menelaus resolved to kill Helen, but her irresistible beauty prompted him to drop his sword and take her back to his ship "to punish her at Sparta", as he claimed.^[19]
According to theBibliotheca,Menelaus raised his sword in front of thetemplein the central square of Troy to kill her, but his wrath went away when he saw her rending her clothes in anguish, revealing her naked breasts.
A similar version byStesichorusin "Ilion's Conquest" narrated that Menelaus surrendered her to his soldiers to stone her to death, but when she ripped the front of her robes, the Achaean warriors were stunned by her beauty and the stones fell harmlessly from their hands as they stared at her.

After the war

Book 4 of theOdysseyprovides an account of Menelaus's return from Troy and his homelife in Sparta. When visited by Odysseus's sonTelemachus,Menelaus recounts his voyage home. As happened to many Greeks, Menelaus's homebound fleet was blown by storms to Crete and Egypt where they were becalmed, unable to sail away. They trappedProteusand forced him to reveal how to make the voyage home. Once back in Sparta, he and Helen are shown to be reconciled and have a harmonious married life—he holding no grudge at her having run away with a lover and she feeling no restraint in telling anecdotes of her life inside besieged Troy. Menelaus does seem to be pained that he and Helen have no male heir, and is shown to be fond ofMegapenthesandNicostratus,his sons by slave women. According to Euripides'Helen,Menelaus is reunited with Helen after death, on theIsle of the Blessed.^[20]

In vase painting

Menelaus appears in Greek vase painting in the 6th to 4th centuries BC, such as: Menelaus's reception of Paris at Sparta; his retrieval of Patroclus's corpse; and his reunion with Helen.^[21]

In Greek tragedy

Menelaus appears as a character in a number of 5th-century Greek tragedies:Sophocles'sAjax,andEuripides'sAndromache,Helen,Orestes,Iphigenia at Aulis,andThe Trojan Women.

Notes

^Grimal, s.v. Menelaus.
^Dares Phrygius,13
^For a discussion of the house of Tantalus see Gantz, pp. 531–556. For Menelaus's genealogy see, Grimal, p. 526, Table 2, and p. 534, Table 13.
^Grimal, s.v. Menelaus; Hard, pp.355,507,508;Collard and Cropp 2008a,p. 517;Gantz, p. 552; Parada, s.v. Menelaus;Euripides,Helen390–392,Orestes16;Hyginus,Fabulae97;Apollodorus,E.3.12;Scholia onIliad1.7 (citing "Homer" =HesiodCatalogue of Womenfr. 137a Most) and Scholia onTzetzes'Exegesis in Iliadem1.122 (citing "Homer" =HesiodCatalogue of Womenfr. 137c Most). They are also the sons of Atreus, in theIliadandOdyssey,see for exampleIliad11.131,Odyssey4.462,although Aerope is not mentioned (see Gantz, p. 522). See alsoEuripides,Iphigenia in Tauris4–5,(Atreus as father, no mention of mother); HesiodCatalogue of Womenfr. 138 Most[= fr. 195 MW], andSophocles,Ajax1295–1297(Aerope as mother, no mention of father).
^Hard, pp.355,508;Collard and Cropp 2008a,p. 517;Collard and Cropp 2008b,p. 79;Gantz, pp. 552–553; Parada, s.v. Menelaus. For Aerope as mother see:Apollodorus,3.2.2;Dictys Cretensis,1.1;Scholia onIliad1.7 (citing "Hesiod" =HesiodCatalogue of Womenfr. 137a Most) and Scholia onTzetzes'Exegesis in Iliadem1.122 (citing "Hesiod" =HesiodCatalogue of Womenfr. 137c Most). For Cleolla, seeTzetzes,Exegesis in Iliadem1.122 (citing "Hesiod, Aeschylus, and some others" =HesiodCatalogue of Womenfr. 137b Most). For Eriphyle see Gantz, p. 553 (citing Scholia onEuripidesOrestes4).
^Hard,p. 566;Gantz, p. 223; Parada, s.vv. Anaxibia 4, Astyoche 6. For Anaxibia as the sister's name seePausanias,2.29.4;Dictys Cretensis,1.1;Tzetzes,Exegesis in Iliadem1.122 (=HesiodCatalogue of Womenfr. 137b Most); Scholia onTzetzes'Exegesis in Iliadem1.122 (=HesiodCatalogue of Womenfr. 137c Most). For Astyoche, as the sister's name, seeHyginus,Fabulae117.
^Hard,p. 441;Fowler,p. 529;Frazer'snote 1 to Apollodorus 3.11.1;Homer,Odyssey4.11–14.See alsoHomer,Iliad3.175;Sophocles,Electra539.For a genealogical table containing children of Menelaus, see Grimal, p. 534, Table 13.
^Frazer'snote 1 to Apollodorus 3.11.1;Gantz, p. 322; Scholia onSophocles'sElectra539a [=Hesiod fr. 248 Most= 175 MW; *9 H]. See alsoApollodorus,3.11.1.CompareCinaethon,fr. 3[=Porphyryap. schol. (D)Iliad3.175], which seems to understand Nicostratus as being the son of Helen and Menelaus, see Gantz. According to Frazer, the scholiast onIliad3.175 mentions Nicostratus as a son of Helen (see also Gantz, p. 573).
^Collar and Cropp 2008b,p. 79 n. 1;Gantz, pp. 322 (which says that "the implication of our scholiast source is that this child was in lieu of Nikostratos" ), 573 (which says this Pleisthenes "seems nowhere else mentioned" ).
^Grimal, s.v. Menelaus; Parada, s.v. Menelaus;Apollodorus,3.11.1.According to Grimal, Cnossia was presumably a slave whose name indicated she was born inCnossosonCrete.Such ethnics were a common way of naming slaves, see Fowler,p. 529.
^Pausanias,2.18.6,3.19.9.Fowler,p. 529,notes that the name 'Tereis' is unique and possibly "corrupt".
^Frazer'snote 1 to Apollodorus 3.11.1,see also Grimal, s.v. Menelaus; Gantz, p. 573.
^The chief sources for Menelaus's life before the Trojan War areHyginus'sFabulaeand the Epitome of theBibliotheca.
^"Τρωικοσ Πολεμοσ - Ελληνικη Μυθολογια Και Πολιτισμοσ".Archived fromthe originalon 2011-10-01.Retrieved2011-10-05.
^admin."Διαβλητικός".
^Mee & Spawforth (2001), p. 229
^Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Menelai Portus
^Homer; Lattimore, Richmond; Martin, Richard (2011).The Iliad of Homer.Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 116–17.ISBN 9780226470498.
^Andromache,629–31.
^Line 1675.
^Woodford 1993.

References

Apollodorus,Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes.Cambridge, Massachusetts,Harvard University Press;London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Collard, Christopher and Martin Cropp (2008a),Euripides Fragments: Aegeus–Meleanger,Loeb Classical LibraryNo. 504, Cambridge, Massachusetts,Harvard University Press,2008.ISBN 978-0-674-99625-0.Online version at Harvard University Press.
Collard, Christopher and Martin Cropp (2008b),Euripides Fragments: Oedipus-Chrysippus: Other Fragments,Loeb Classical LibraryNo. 506, Cambridge, Massachusetts,Harvard University Press,2008.ISBN 978-0-674-99631-1.Online version at Harvard University Press.
Dictys Cretensis,The Trojan War. The Chronicles of Dictys of Crete and Dares the Phrygian,translated by R. M. Frazer (Jr.). Indiana University Press. 1966.
Euripides,AndromacheinEuripides: Children of Heracles. Hippolytus. Andromache. Hecuba,edited and translated by David Kovacs,Loeb Classical LibraryNo. 484. Cambridge, Massachusetts,Harvard University Press,1995.ISBN 978-0-674-99533-8.Online version at Harvard University Press.
Euripides,Helen,translated by E. P. Coleridge inThe Complete Greek Drama,edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill, Jr. Volume 2. New York. Random House. 1938.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Euripides,Iphigenia in Tauris,translated by Robert Potter inThe Complete Greek Drama,edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill, Jr. Volume 2. New York. Random House. 1938.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Euripides,Orestes,translated by E. P. Coleridge inThe Complete Greek Drama,edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill, Jr. Volume 1. New York. Random House. 1938.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Fowler, R. L.,Early Greek Mythography: Volume 2: Commentary,Oxford University Press, 2013.ISBN 978-0198147411.
Gantz, Timothy,Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources,Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes:ISBN 978-0-8018-5360-9(Vol. 1),ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3(Vol. 2).
Grimal, Pierre,The Dictionary of Classical Mythology,Wiley-Blackwell, 1996.ISBN 978-0-631-20102-1.
Hard, Robin,The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology",Psychology Press, 2004,ISBN 9780415186360.Google Books.
Homer,The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes.Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press;London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Homer,The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes.Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press;London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Hyginus, Gaius Julius,Fabulae,inThe Myths of Hyginus,edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960.Online version at ToposText.
Most, G.W.,Hesiod: The Shield, Catalogue of Women, Other Fragments,Loeb Classical Library,No. 503, Cambridge, Massachusetts,Harvard University Press,2007, 2018.ISBN 978-0-674-99721-9.Online version at Harvard University Press.
Parada, Carlos,Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology,Jonsered, Paul Åströms Förlag, 1993.ISBN 978-91-7081-062-6.
Pausanias,Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes.Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Tzetzes, John,Allegories of the Iliadtranslated by Goldwyn, Adam J. and Kokkini, Dimitra. Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library, Harvard University Press, 2015.ISBN 978-0-674-96785-4
Sophocles,The Ajax of Sophocles. Edited with introduction and notes by Sir Richard Jebb,Sir Richard Jebb.Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1893Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Sophocles,ElectrainSophocles. Ajax. Electra. Oedipus Tyrannus,Edited and translated byHugh Lloyd-Jones,Loeb Classical LibraryNo. 20, Cambridge, Massachusetts,Harvard University Press,1994.ISBN 978-0-674-99557-4.Online version at Harvard University Press.
West, M. L.,Greek Epic Fragments: From the Seventh to the Fifth Centuries BC,edited and translated by Martin L. West,Loeb Classical LibraryNo. 497, Cambridge, Massachusetts,Harvard University Press,2003.ISBN 978-0-674-99605-2.Online version at Harvard University Press.

External links

Media related toMenelausat Wikimedia Commons

[1] Grimal, s.v. Menelaus.

[2] Dares Phrygius,13

[3] For a discussion of the house of Tantalus see Gantz, pp. 531–556. For Menelaus's genealogy see, Grimal, p. 526, Table 2, and p. 534, Table 13.

[4] Grimal, s.v. Menelaus; Hard, pp.355,507,508;Collard and Cropp 2008a,p. 517;Gantz, p. 552; Parada, s.v. Menelaus;Euripides,Helen390–392,Orestes16;Hyginus,Fabulae97;Apollodorus,E.3.12;Scholia onIliad1.7 (citing "Homer" =HesiodCatalogue of Womenfr. 137a Most) and Scholia onTzetzes'Exegesis in Iliadem1.122 (citing "Homer" =HesiodCatalogue of Womenfr. 137c Most). They are also the sons of Atreus, in theIliadandOdyssey,see for exampleIliad11.131,Odyssey4.462,although Aerope is not mentioned (see Gantz, p. 522). See alsoEuripides,Iphigenia in Tauris4–5,(Atreus as father, no mention of mother); HesiodCatalogue of Womenfr. 138 Most[= fr. 195 MW], andSophocles,Ajax1295–1297(Aerope as mother, no mention of father).

[5] Hard, pp.355,508;Collard and Cropp 2008a,p. 517;Collard and Cropp 2008b,p. 79;Gantz, pp. 552–553; Parada, s.v. Menelaus. For Aerope as mother see:Apollodorus,3.2.2;Dictys Cretensis,1.1;Scholia onIliad1.7 (citing "Hesiod" =HesiodCatalogue of Womenfr. 137a Most) and Scholia onTzetzes'Exegesis in Iliadem1.122 (citing "Hesiod" =HesiodCatalogue of Womenfr. 137c Most). For Cleolla, seeTzetzes,Exegesis in Iliadem1.122 (citing "Hesiod, Aeschylus, and some others" =HesiodCatalogue of Womenfr. 137b Most). For Eriphyle see Gantz, p. 553 (citing Scholia onEuripidesOrestes4).

[6] Hard,p. 566;Gantz, p. 223; Parada, s.vv. Anaxibia 4, Astyoche 6. For Anaxibia as the sister's name seePausanias,2.29.4;Dictys Cretensis,1.1;Tzetzes,Exegesis in Iliadem1.122 (=HesiodCatalogue of Womenfr. 137b Most); Scholia onTzetzes'Exegesis in Iliadem1.122 (=HesiodCatalogue of Womenfr. 137c Most). For Astyoche, as the sister's name, seeHyginus,Fabulae117.

[7] Hard,p. 441;Fowler,p. 529;Frazer'snote 1 to Apollodorus 3.11.1;Homer,Odyssey4.11–14.See alsoHomer,Iliad3.175;Sophocles,Electra539.For a genealogical table containing children of Menelaus, see Grimal, p. 534, Table 13.

[8] Frazer'snote 1 to Apollodorus 3.11.1;Gantz, p. 322; Scholia onSophocles'sElectra539a [=Hesiod fr. 248 Most= 175 MW; *9 H]. See alsoApollodorus,3.11.1.CompareCinaethon,fr. 3[=Porphyryap. schol. (D)Iliad3.175], which seems to understand Nicostratus as being the son of Helen and Menelaus, see Gantz. According to Frazer, the scholiast onIliad3.175 mentions Nicostratus as a son of Helen (see also Gantz, p. 573).

[9] Collar and Cropp 2008b,p. 79 n. 1;Gantz, pp. 322 (which says that "the implication of our scholiast source is that this child was in lieu of Nikostratos" ), 573 (which says this Pleisthenes "seems nowhere else mentioned" ).

[10] Grimal, s.v. Menelaus; Parada, s.v. Menelaus;Apollodorus,3.11.1.According to Grimal, Cnossia was presumably a slave whose name indicated she was born inCnossosonCrete.Such ethnics were a common way of naming slaves, see Fowler,p. 529.

[11] Pausanias,2.18.6,3.19.9.Fowler,p. 529,notes that the name 'Tereis' is unique and possibly "corrupt".

[12] Frazer'snote 1 to Apollodorus 3.11.1,see also Grimal, s.v. Menelaus; Gantz, p. 573.

[13] The chief sources for Menelaus's life before the Trojan War areHyginus'sFabulaeand the Epitome of theBibliotheca.

[14] "Τρωικοσ Πολεμοσ - Ελληνικη Μυθολογια Και Πολιτισμοσ".Archived fromthe originalon 2011-10-01.Retrieved2011-10-05.

[15] ."Διαβλητικός".

[16] Mee & Spawforth (2001), p. 229

[17] Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Menelai Portus

[18] Homer; Lattimore, Richmond; Martin, Richard (2011).The Iliad of Homer.Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 116–17.ISBN 9780226470498.

[19] Andromache,629–31.

[20] Line 1675.

[21] Woodford 1993.

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v t e Characters in theIliad
Achaeans	Acamas Achilles Agamemnon(king of Mycenae) Agapenor Ajax the Greater(king of Salamis) Ajax the Lesser Alcimus Anticlus Antilochus Arcesilaus Ascalaphus Automedon Balius and Xanthus Bias Calchas(prophet) Diomedes(king of Argos) Elephenor Epeius Eudoros Euryalus Eurybates Eurydamas Eurypylus Guneus Helen(queen of Sparta) Ialmenus Idomeneus(king of Crete) Iphigenia(princess of Mycenae) Leitus Leonteus Lycomedes Machaon Medon Meges Menelaus(king of Sparta) Menestheus Meriones Neoptolemus Nestor(king of Pylos) Nireus Odysseus(king of Ithaca) Palamedes Patroclus Peneleos Philoctetes Phoenix Podalirius Podarces Polites Polypoetes Promachus Protesilaus Prothoenor Schedius Sinon Stentor Sthenelus Talthybius Teucer Thersites Thoas Thrasymedes Tlepolemus
Trojans	Aeneas(royal demigod) Aesepus Agenor Alcathous Amphimachus Anchises Andromache Antenor(king's brother-in-law) Antiphates Antiphus Archelochus Asius Asteropaios Astyanax Atymnius Axylus Briseis Calesius Caletor Cassandra(princess of Troy) Chryseis Chryses(priest of Apollo) Clytius Coön Dares Phrygius Deiphobus(prince of Troy) Dolon Epistrophus Euphemus Euphorbus Glaucus Gorgythion Hector(prince of Troy) Hecuba(queen of Troy) Helenus Hyperenor Hypsenor Iamenus Ilioneus Imbrius Iphidamas Kebriones Laocoön Lycaon(prince of Troy) Melanippus Memnon(King of Ethiopia) Mentes Mydon Mygdon of Phrygia Othryoneus Pandarus Panthous Paris(prince of Troy) Pedasus Peirous Penthesilea(Queen of the Amazons) Phorcys Podes Polites Polydamas Polybus Polydorus(prince of Troy) Polyxena(princess of Troy) Priam(king of Troy) Pylaemenes Pylaeus Pyraechmes Rhesus of Thrace Sarpedon(king of Lycia) Scamandrius Theano Ucalegon
Gods	Aphrodite Apollo Ares Artemis Athena Dionysus Eris Hades Helios Hephaestus Hera Hermes Hypnos Iris Leto Poseidon Scamander Thanatos Thetis Zeus

v t e Characters in theOdyssey
House ofOdysseus	Penelope(wife) Telemachus(son) Ctimene(sister) Anticlea(mother) Laertes (father of Odysseus)(father) Autolycus(grandfather) Eurycleia(chief servant) Mentor(advisor) Phemius(musician) Eumaeus(swineherd) Philoetius(cowherd) Melanthius(goatherd) Melantho(maid) Medon(herald) Argos(pet dog)
Other monarchs and royals	AlcinousofPhaeacia Antiphates,king of theLaestrygones Aretus Areteof Phaeacia Deucalion of Crete Echetus NestorofPylos Echephron Perseus Stratichus Peisistratus MenelausofSparta Helen PrincessNausicaaof Phaeacia Laodamas AgamemnonofMycenae Idomeneus Mentes Thrasymedes
Gods	Aeolus Athena Calypso Circe Helios Hermes Leucothea(Ino) Poseidon Zeus Oceanus Old Man of the Sea
Suitors	Agelaus Amphimedon Amphinomus Antinous Ctesippus Demoptolemus Eurymachus Leodes Perimedes
Others	Achilles Ajax Anticlus Antiphus Cyclopes Polyphemus Demodocus Dolius Elpenor Eupeithes Euryalus Eurylochus Halitherses Heracles Irus Kikonians Laestrygones Mesaulius Polites Polydamna Scylla Charybdis Sirens Tiresias Theoclymenus

v t e KingsofSparta
Lelegids	Lelex Myles Eurotas
Lacedaemonids	Lacedaemon Amyclas Argalus Cynortas Perieres Oebalus Tyndareus Hippocoon
Atreids	Menelaus Orestes Tisamenus Dion
Early Heraclids	Aristodemus Theras(regent)
Heraclids Agiad dynasty	Eurysthenes Agis I Echestratus Labotas Doryssus Agesilaus I Archelaus Teleclus Alcmenes Polydorus Eurycrates Anaxander Eurycratides Leon Anaxandridas II Cleomenes I Leonidas I Cleombrotus (regent) Pausanias (regent) Pleistarchus Nicomedes (regent) Pleistoanax Pausanias Agesipolis I Cleombrotus I Agesipolis II Cleomenes II Cleonymus (regent) Areus I Acrotatus Areus II Leonidas II Cleombrotus II Cleomenes III Eucleidas Agesipolis III
Heraclids Eurypontid dynasty	Procles Soos Eurypon Prytanis Polydectes Eunomus Charilaus Nicander Theopompus Anaxandridas I Zeuxidamus Anaxidamus Archidamus I Anaxilas Leotychidas I Hippocratidas Agasicles Ariston Demaratus Leotychidas II Archidamus II Agis II Agesilaus II Archidamus III Agis III Eudamidas I Archidamus IV Eudamidas II Agis IV Eudamidas III Archidamus V Lycurgus Pelops Machanidas(regent) Nabis Laconicus

Authority control databases
International	VIAF 2
National	Germany
Other	IdRef