The Odyssey Retold By Teilo Berquier

Gods

Athena, Poseidon, Zeus, Hermes — the immortals who shape the journey.

  1. Athena / a-THEE-na / Grey-eyed goddess of cunning. Odysseus's protector. Wears whatever face she needs and pulls strings he never sees.
  2. Calypso / ka-LIP-so / Nymph-goddess of Ogygia. Held Odysseus seven years on her island, fed him, loved him, offered him eternity. He chose Ithaca.
  3. Circe / SUR-see / Sorceress-goddess of Aeaea. Daughter of Helios. Turned Eurylochus's men to pigs. Became Odysseus's lover, then his guide.
  4. Poseidon / po-SY-don / God of the sea. Father of the Cyclops. The grudge that kept Odysseus on the water for ten years.
  5. Zeus King of the gods. The law behind hospitality, the hand behind the lightning, the final word when Olympus speaks.
  6. Aeolus's Twelve Children Six sons married to six daughters on the bronze island. Aeolus's children, who never left their father's hall and never stopped eating.
  7. Aphrodite Goddess of love and the kind of divine drama Circe couldn't be bothered with.
  8. Apollo God of the sacred palm at Delos and the priest at Ismarus whose wine was strong enough to fell a Cyclops.
  9. Ares God of war. Featured in Demodocus's second song in Homer, caught in bed with Aphrodite. The retelling drops the song.
  10. Artemis Huntress goddess. Invoked once, when Odysseus first sees Nausicaa and tries to figure out whether she's mortal.
  11. Hades Lord of the dead. Named in Homer's Odyssey but kept off the page in this retelling — the underworld speaks for itself.
  12. Helios The Sun. Owner of the sacred cattle. Father of Circe. The god the men should not have crossed.
  13. Hephaestus Smith god. The unnamed maker of the immortal gold and silver dogs at Alcinous's threshold.
  14. Hermes Messenger of the gods. Golden sandals, a quiet smile, a habit of arriving exactly when a man is out of options.
  15. Hyperion The Titan name behind Helios. Not used in the retelling — the Sun goes by his working name.
  16. Ino / Leucothea Sea goddess. Walked across the surge to Odysseus on the wreckage of his raft and gave him her veil to wear ashore.
  17. Persephone Queen of the dead. Unseen, but the reason a man knows when to stop walking deeper into the underworld.
  18. Proteus Shape-shifter god. Menelaus pinned him on a beach at Pharos and held him through every form he took until he answered.
  19. The Olympians The divine council on Olympus. The room where Athena makes her case and Zeus finally moves Odysseus's homecoming.
  20. The River God of Phaeacia Unnamed river god of Phaeacia. Stilled his current so a half-drowned man could crawl out of the surf and live.