Ms Z's Odyssey Characters

Calypso plays a very important role in the storyline of “The Odyssey.”
Calypso is the daughter of the titan Atlas. This graceful nymph, with long locks of gold lying on her snow-white shoulders, resides on the island of Ogygia in the Ionian Sea. Ogygia is a lush land of waterfalls and sandy beaches.
Not long after the cease of the Trojan War, a war hero by the name of Odysseus washed up on the shores of Calypso’s personal Eden. Calypso was in love from the moment she set eyes on this handsome Greek. She held Odysseus captive on Ogygia for seven long years.
Seven years after Odysseus’ arrival on Ogygia, the messenger god, Hermes delivered an urgent message from the king of the gods, Zeus, demanding the immediate release of Odysseus. Calypso, knowing that she must let him go, made one last plea for him to stay, offering him immortality if he were to remain in her presence. Odysseus refused the offer and, with tears in her eyes, Calypso sent him off with a raft and enough provisions for his long journey home.
Calypso mourned the disembark of her love for long after he left. It was a long and perilous journey for Odysseus after he left Ogygia. If he knew what he was going to face, he probably would have remained on Ogygia with Calypso.

Ms Z's Odyssey Characters

In the Odyssey Eurylochus (yūrĭl´ŏkus), or Eurýlokhos was second-in-command on Odysseus' ship during the return to Ithaca after the Trojan War. He was related to Odysseus through marriage. He was a very unpleasant, cowardly person who weakened Odysseus and loved to stir up trouble.
When the ship stopped on Aeaea the sorceress, Circe’s home, Eurylochus was chosen to be the leader of a group of men that had to explore the island. After the crew spotted smoke, Eurylochus led them towards the smoke. They soon came to a palace that was covered in wild but friendly animals. Inside of the palace was Circe singing, and everyone except for Eurylochus rushed inside to greet her. Eurylochus was aware of her violation from the beginning, and when she turned them all into pigs, Eurylochus escaped and returned to the ship to warn Odysseus and the rest of the crew that had stayed on the ship. When Odysseus went to rescue his shipmates Eurylochus would not go and tells Odysseus to just leave them to Circe. .
When Odysseus returns from Circe’s palace after rescuing the men that were trick by her, Eurylochus insults Odysseus. Odysseus wanted to kill him for what he had said but the men pulled them away from each other stopping Odysseus. Although Circe, after promising a truce with Odysseus, instructed Odysseus never to harm the animals on the island of the sun god Helios,Eurylochus latter convinced the starving and mutinous crew to kill some of the cattle. For the punishment of their actions Odysseus' ship was destroyed and all of the people aboard, including Eurylochus were killed by the storm sent by the Greek god, Zeus. The only survivor was Odysseus.

The crew opened the bag, given to them by the god of the winds Aeolia. They did this because they thought that the bag contained treasure that Odysseus had been keeping from them the whole time. This took them away from their homes just as it showed in sight, with the fact that five hundred men who could have reached home alive did not do so. Eurylochus is not named as encouraging this, but it is reasonable to assume that he must have had some kind of a part. Whenever Eurylochus went out of line, the end of it usually ended up being overwhelmingly painful



http://www.answers.com/topic/eurylochus?cat=technology
http://bulfinch.englishatheist.org/b/Pronouncing.html

Ms Z's Odyssey Characters

A Siren (sī'run) is a sea nymph that uses beautiful and mysterious music to lure sailors to steer their ships toward the rocks.
Sirens are creatures that are part bird and part human. Legends say that the goddess Demeter turned them into half bird half woman. Sirens lived in the middle of the sea close to Italy.
The three Sirens written the most are Pisinoe, Aglaope and Thelxiepi. There are only two stories of men being able to resist the Sirens. The Odyssey is one of the stories where Odysseus orders his men to put wax in their ears so they can not hear the voices of the Sirens. Odysseus also escaped by having himself tied securely to the mast of the ship because he wanted to be able to hear the voices of the Sirens.
Achelous is sometimes said to be the father of the Sirens. Another likely candidate for being their father is Phorcysand a possible mothertheMuseCalliope. An interesting fact is that the Sirens were beaten by the Muses in a singing competition. Other names for the Sirens were in Latin Sireni and also known as sea nymphs.
The Sirens thought that they were immortal and would live forever, as it would turn out The Sirens had extremely long life spans to make them think they were immortal but they were wrong.

Ms Z's Odyssey Characters

Athena was the Greek goddess of wisdom and the daughter of Zeus. She was born from Zeus’ head and that made her the goddess of wisdom. At first, Zeus was afraid that Athena would be born a boy and would overthrow him like he did to his father. So he swallowed her and she grew inside of him and then over time she was re-born through his head all decked out in armor, ready to fight. Athena was born to Zeus’ first wife, Metis. Metis means wisdom. She was the goddess of wisdom before Zeus swallowed her.
Athena is especially known for being born from her fathers head and that she was the protector of all cities. Particularly Athens , where Parthenon was established as her temple.
She is important in the Odyssey because she is the guardian of the cities and she looks out for people and she leads them in the right directions. You should remember Athena because throughout the story, she is always helping and leading people in the right directions, and guides them to find happiness.

Ms Z's Odyssey Characters

My character is Penelope (pe-nel’-e-pe). She is the wife of Odysseus. Penelope is the daughter of Icarius and his wife Periboea. Odysseus and Penelope had a son named Telemachus. When Odysseus went to fight in the Trojan War Penelope was left to care for her son Telemachus. During this time she was very faithful to Odysseus and never remarried when men always tempted her to and she hasn‘t seen her husband in twenty years. Penelope keeps hope that Odysseus will return. She kept loyal to Odysseus with the help of Athena (goddess/Zeus’ favorite daughter). Athena comes to Penelope’s dreams to support, comfort, and calm her; otherwise she would be completely distraught. Penelope becomes very clever when she doesn’t say no to remarry a man right away. She sometimes leads them on, and makes promises she knows she will never fulfill. She told some men that upon her finishing a burial blanket for Odysseus’ father that she will then choose a new husband. Being sly, Penelope undoes part of the blanket once every three years. Her trickery is ruined though, when a maid finds out and tells the all the men that try to seek her love. She was so surprised of her husbands arrival that she didn’t believe him at first then did another trick that he would only know. She asked someone to move their bed, but Odysseus (who was disguised as a beggar at the time) knew it could not be moved because when he made it he made one of its legs an actual olive tree. Penelope then believed him and was overjoyed. Penelope is considered a symbol of matrimony or marriage. She is considered that because of her strength and believing in her husband. Even though she wanted to another man to kill her rather than be in the misery, she stuck it out.

Ms Z's Odyssey Characters

Calypso was a beautiful sea-nymph, who lived on an island that is called Ogygia. She was also the daughter of the Titan Atlas.
Calypso has many other variants to her name. Two of these variants are Kalypso and Kalupsô. Calypso is also easily pronounced. All that has to be done to pronounce it correctly, is to say it like Ka-lip-so.
Calypso is the daughter of Titan Atlas (which was previously mentioned). However, she has also been listed on the list of the Nereids. This would make her a daughter of Nereus, as well. It has also been speculated that Calypso bore a son named Nausinous, from the mortal Odysseus.
In Greek Mythology, Calypso is known for her part in The Odyssey. She is remembered by this because she was “turned down” by Odysseus, a mortal, even though she is a beautiful, immortal nymph, who promised him that she would make it so he never aged. She is also known for, possibly, bearing the son of a mortal, because she was immortal. Calypso is important to The Odyssey, because she kept Odysseus on her lonely island for seven of the ten years it took him to return home. Calypso should also be remembered, because of how much effort it took for her to let Odysseus return home. Even after all of the promises she made him, like never aging, he chose true love with his wife Penelope, instead of Calypso. In addition, this event brought in new characters to The Odyssey. Please remember that to convince Calypso to let Odysseus return home, Athena had to beg her father, Zeus, to talk to her. Because of this talk, Calypso let Odysseus go on a raft, which leads him to his next location in the story. This next location happens to be an island named Scheria, after his raft was wrecked in a storm.

Sources:
http://www.in2greece.com/english/historymyth/mythology/names/calypso.htm

http://www.gublers.com/pronounciation.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calypso_(mythology)

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/c/calypso.html

Ms Z's Odyssey Characters

Cronus (kroh-nuhs) was the son of Uranus and Gaia. He was the youngest of twelve Titans.
He married his sister Rhea. Cronus and Rhea had six kids Demeter, Hestia, Hera Hades, Poseidon, and Zues.
Cronus was known for many things but it all started with killing his father. His mother Gaia saw her kinds were unhappy and asked Cronus to kill his father. After killing his father he and Rhea took the throne. During his ruling it was known as the golden age.
Cronus was told he would be overthrown by one of his sons. To prevent this he swallowed his kid’s right after their birth. Rhea did not like this so she switched their last kid Zues with a rock without Cronus knowing.
Rhea raised Zues without Cronus. The whole time Zues was growing up Cronus did not know he was alive. In the end Zues does overthrow his dad. Zues then became the ruler of the universe.

Ms Z's Odyssey Characters

My characters name is Scylla (sil’e). She is a gross looking sea monster with six long necks with grisly heads. Scylla has twelve canine legs and a fish’s tail. Scylla was once a beautiful nymph. A fisherman fell in love with her but Scylla went onto a land where he could not follow. The fisherman went to Circe for a love potion but Circe fell in love with the fisherman but he loved Scylla. So Circe put a potion into her bath water, this potion turned Scylla into the gross looking monster she is. Her parents were Phorcys and either Hecate, Crataeis, Lamia or Ceto. Scylla lives on either side of a narrow channel of water. Charybdis is said to live in the same strait as Scylla because the straight is so narrow. As sailors try to avoid Charybdis it would lead them to Scylla and vise versa. Syclla comes in contact with Odysseus and his men on a ship. A ghost had told him to sail closer to Scylla rather than Charybdis because Charybdis could eat their ship whole. Odysseus survived Scylla and Charybdis with only six men being eaten by Scylla. Odysseus then sails out of harms way. It is said that Scylla was changed into a dangerous rock outcropping, and it still stands there to this day.
SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides
Wikipedia.com

Ms Z's Odyssey Characters

Zeus is one of the most famous gods in Greek Mythology. He is known and mentioned in most myths. He is the king of gods. His name is either spelled Zeus; the most common way, Zoose, or Zyoose. All are pronounced the same,
Zeus is the youngest son of Cronus and Rhea. His trysts resulted in many famous offspring, including Athena, Apollo and Artemis, Hermes, Persephone (by Demeter), Dionysus, Perseus, Heracles, Helen, Minos, and the Muses (by Mnemosyne); by Hera he is usually said to have created Hebeand Hephaestus.
Zeus, in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus, and god of the sky and thunder. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull and the oak. He is known for being very generous, and neutral in regards to giving favor to gods/ goddesses or humans, although when the subject came about, he often times gave favor to humans.
In the Odyssey, Zeus is known for allowing Athena to help Odysseus escape from the goddess Calypso and go back to his life with his wife. Zeus decided that for him to choose his wife over the goddess Calypso that he was in love. This also shows how he was generous and sometimes favored humans over goddesses.
As you can see, Zeus plays a very important role in Greek Mythology, and a subtle but important role in the Odyssey. For, without his permission, Odysseus may have never escaped Calypso and started his journey home.

Ms Z's Odyssey Characters

Phaeacia (fē�'shu) was the island kingdom ruled by King Alcinous. The actual Phaeacians are shipbuilders and traders. In Greek mythology, island of Scheria (location unknown). It was inhabited by a seafaring people who were hospitable to sailors and fond of joyous, luxurious living. When Odysseus was shipwrecked on their coast, their king, Alcinoüs, and his daughter, Nausicaä, entertained him. It was also known to be inhabited by a seafaring people who were hospitable to sailors and fond of joyous, luxurious living.


Sources
www.ask.com
www.infoplease.com
www.google.com