In
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...
, Eurycleia (
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
: Εὐρύκλεια ''Eurýkleia''), or Euryclea (; also known as Antiphata (Ἀντιφάτη ''Antipháte'') in other traditions), is the daughter of
Ops and granddaughter of
Peisenor, as well as the
wet-nurse of
Odysseus
In Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology, Odysseus ( ; , ), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses ( , ; ), is a legendary Greeks, Greek king of Homeric Ithaca, Ithaca and the hero of Homer's Epic poetry, epic poem, the ''Odyssey''. Od ...
.
Mythology
As a girl, Eurycleia was bought by
Laertes, Odysseus' father. He treated her as his wife, but she was never his consummated lover so as not to dishonor his real wife,
Anticleia. She later nursed
Telemachus
In Greek mythology, Telemachus ( ; ) is the son of Odysseus and Penelope, who are central characters in Homer's ''Odyssey''. When Telemachus reached manhood, he visited Pylos and Sparta in search of his wandering father. On his return to Ithaca, ...
, Odysseus' son.
Eurycleia was the only person to recognize Odysseus without him first revealing himself (as he did to Telemachus) after he returned home from the
Trojan War
The Trojan War was a legendary conflict in Greek mythology that took place around the twelfth or thirteenth century BC. The war was waged by the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans (Ancient Greece, Greeks) against the city of Troy after Paris (mytho ...
. After he entered his own house as a guest of
Penelope
Penelope ( ; Ancient Greek: Πηνελόπεια, ''Pēnelópeia'', or , ''Pēnelópē'') is a character in Homer's ''Odyssey.'' She was the queen of Homer's Ithaca, Ithaca and was the daughter of Spartan king Icarius (Spartan), Icarius and ...
disguised as a beggar, Eurycleia bathed him and recognized him by a scar just above his knee, which he got from a
boar
The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...
while
boar hunting with his grandfather
Autolycus
In Greek mythology, Autolycus (; ) was a robber who had the power to metamorphose or make invisible the things he stole. He had his residence on Mount Parnassus and was renowned among men for his cunning and oaths.
Family
There are a number of d ...
.
Odysseus stopped her from telling Penelope or anyone else (except Telemachus, who already knew) in the house of his true identity.
Eurycleia also informed Odysseus which of his servant girls had been unfaithful to Penelope during his absence, conspiring with Penelope's suitors and becoming their lovers. Among them was
Melantho
In Greek mythology, Melantho (; Ancient Greek: Μελανθώ) may refer to the following women:
* Melantho, also called Melanthea, a Phthian princess as the daughter of King Deucalion and Pyrrha of Thessaly, Pyrrha, daughter of Epimetheus and Pa ...
. His son Telemachus hanged the twelve that Eurycleia identified.
Later, Eurycleia informed Penelope that Odysseus has returned, but Penelope did not believe the maid. The queen then tested Odysseus to prove that he was indeed her husband and asked him to move the bed Odysseus built in their marriage-chamber; Odysseus told Penelope that it was not possible, as one of the legs of the bed was built into a live olive tree, a secret that only Penelope and Odysseus would know. She finally accepted that her husband had returned.
In addition, it was Eurycleia who gave provisions and supplies to Telemachus from the storehouse before he left for Pylos to seek news about Odysseus. She took an oath not to tell Penelope he had left until twelve days had passed; Telemachus not wanting his mother to be any more worried than she already was.
Derivative works
Dennis MacDonald argues in several of his books that the woman who anoints Jesus in chapter 14 of the
Gospel of Mark
The Gospel of Mark is the second of the four canonical Gospels and one of the three synoptic Gospels, synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from baptism of Jesus, his baptism by John the Baptist to his death, the Burial of Jesus, ...
is a reference to Eurycleia. She is the only one to recognize Jesus, and what she has done will be widely known, in the same way that Eurycleia is the only one to recognize Odysseus and whose name means "widely known".
See also
*
''The Odyssey''
References
Sources
* Homer. ''The Odyssey.'' Trans. Stanley Lombardo. Canada: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2000. Print.
External links
*
''The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark'', Bryn Mawr Classical Review
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Characters in the Odyssey
Wet nurses
Greek mythological slaves