#eumaeus

when the first thing your long lost husband does with his son is brutally murder over 100 people

for sure!

I love them very much.

Also I made an odyssey version of their reunion:

Certainly dear Anon! Let's see

(GOSH! This turned out longer than what I expected!)

~~~

telemachus addresses eumaeus the swineherd as atta (ἄττα). in my fagles edition it's translated as "old friend", but as vandiver points out, atta has two meanings: it can be used as a familiar-but-respectful form of address to an older man (which is how telemachus uses it), but significantly it's also baby-talk for "father", parallel to papa/dada. it's what telemachus WOULD have called odysseus growing up, but now telemachus refers to him as xenos, a visiting stranger/foreigner.

eurycleia: odysseus' childhood nurse, as well as telemachus'. her backstory is briefly mentioned (book 1): she is the daughter of ops, bought by odysseus' father laertes when she was young. specific mention is made that laertes never slept with her, in order to keep peace with his wife anticleia. (her name has the opposite meaning of odysseus' mother's.) at the time of the odyssey she is old, and among named slaves has probably been with the family the longest. she is the only character who recognizes odysseus unprompted (and he threatens to kill her about it). they trust her heavily throughout the plot to kill the suitors; afterward, she handpicks the other enslaved women who have slept with the suitors, so that odysseus can execute them. if i were to beg for one thing, it would be that you consider what living in close proximity to her owners for so long might do to her psychologically, and how her experience with laertes might skew her view of the "disloyal" women.

eurynome: another older woman who attends penelope (and eventually odysseus).

hippodameia and autonoe: two younger slave girls who attend penelope.

actoris: a slave penelope mentions once (book 23) as the only person besides her and odysseus who knows the secret of the olive tree bed, because she used to guard their room. actoris was given to penelope by her father. it's possible that she's already dead by the time of the odyssey, as she never appears in person.

the unnamed traitors to penelope: three times in the odyssey, we hear the story of penelope unweaving a shroud for laertes at night to hold off the suitors. two of those times the suitors tell it, and say that a female slave told them the truth of what was going on. later penelope tells the beggar-who-is-odysseus, and she says that they caught her in the act with the help of her slave girls.

dolius, his unnamed sons, and their unnamed mother: dolius is another slave given to penelope by her father (book 4). now an old man, he seems to look after odysseus' father laertes, who no longer lives in the main house. father of melantho, melanthius, and six other sons by a sicilian woman who also cares for laertes. it is unclear whether she is the mother of all dolius' children, or only the six sons present in the farmhouse. dolius' first and last appearance on page is in book 24, when he greets and kisses odysseus; in the text, he never learns that odysseus has executed two of his children.

melantho: the daughter of dolius, who penelope raised "like a daughter" and pampered (book 18), though clearly only to a point. she is sleeping with the suitor eurymachus (also book 18). the text doesn't offer insight into how she actually feels about eurymachus.* she has two scenes, and in both insults the beggar. both odysseus and penelope berate her and call her a dog. melantho is often assumed to be the one who betrayed penelope's weaving ruse to the suitors, but this is never stated in the odyssey.

[*EDIT: the translations i have read and have on hand to check (fagles, wilson, fitzgerald, lattimore) describe melantho variously as sleeping with eurymachus, making love to him, being his lover, or being his sweetheart. to me, these words indicated an action or a role rather than her internal feelings or state of mind. but there are also translations that say she loved him. the greek phrase in question is μισγέσκετο καὶ φιλέεσκεν—the former word seems undoubtedly sexual, and the latter derived from phileo, which also does, or can, denote love or affection. this is basically the extent to which i am able to discuss the greek, but as far as i can tell, both translations (sexual or non-sexual) are valid here. it's ambiguous.]

melanthius: the son of dolius and brother of melantho, a goatherd who sides (vehemently) with the suitors. it is said that eurymachus is his favorite (book 17). he insults the beggar and eumaeus multiple times as well. he is present for the bow contest, helping the suitors, and when the slaughter begins, he brings them armor and weapons. odysseus orders the two herdsman on his side to tie him up, hoist him into the rafters, and torture him. they leave him tied until after the fighting, when "the men" (presumably odysseus, telemachus, eumaeus, and philoetius) cut off his nose, ears, and genitals to feed to the dogs, then chop off his hands and feet.

the unnamed hanged women: twelve (out of fifty) enslaved women whom eurycleia handpicks for death, because they were sleeping with the suitors (according to her, book 22). all the enslaved women are hiding during the slaughter; afterward, eurycleia goes to them, calls the twelve, and brings them to odysseus, who has them clean up the corpses and blood. odysseus means to execute them with swords when they're done, but telemachus decides to hang them instead, specifically to deny them a clean death. melantho is presumed to be one of these twelve. like with her, the text offers no insight into how they feel about the suitors.

eumaeus: a swineherd with an extensive backstory told in book 15. his father ctesius was the king of syria, but his enslaved nurse ran away and took him with her, intending to sell him, when he was too young to know better. she died on the ship, and laertes bought him in ithaca. like melantho, he was brought up there by the queen, in proximity to odysseus' younger sister ctimene. when they were older, ctimene was married and eumaeus sent to the country. he is well-off enough to own a slave of his own. in the odyssey, eumaeus personally takes care of the beggar, tells him all about the situation in the palace, and tries to protect him from the suitors, though he is openly skeptical of anything the beggar has to say about odysseus. when telemachus returns to ithaca, it's eumaeus he goes to first, greeting him like a family member. odysseus finally trusts his identity to eumaeus right before he wins the bow contest. he promises to give him a wife, wealth, and a house near the palace (and freedom, implicitly? unsure). eumaeus participates in the slaughter, the torture of melanthius, and possibly the executions. if i were to beg for one thing regarding eumaeus, it would be to consider how often in ancient literature, the only enslaved characters who are portrayed with dignity or sympathy are those who were, at one point, nobility.

mesaulius: a slave who serves and cleans up after eumaeus. eumaeus traded for him while odysseus was away, with his own money (book 14).

philoetius: a cowherd and overseer. like eumaeus, he is kind to the beggar and expresses loyalty to odysseus. he says that he would have run away, except that he still holds out hope for odysseus' return. odysseus reveals himself to philoetius along with eumaeus and promises him the same things (wife, wealth, a house). also participates in the slaughter, torture, and executions.

medon: house slave who has become a favorite of the suitors, but reports on them to penelope (book 4). telemachus tells odysseus to spare him (along with phemius, the bard) due to medon caring for him when he was young. medon then comes out of hiding to corroborate this and profess his loyalty. toward the end, medon hears the people of ithaca assembling to avenge the suitors and tries to discourage them, saying that he personally saw a god helping odysseus.

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a lot of other unnamed slaves are mentioned in passing. i love the passage in book 20 when odysseus overhears an enslaved woman grinding grain as she prays to zeus for relief from the suitors. to odysseus, this is an omen, but it's also a very human moment which has nothing to do with him. there are more like this; i couldn't include all of them.

I wanted to draw them with some more detail and colour so it is easier to tell them apart and to share some small fun facts about them :3

Clothes aren't historically accurate.

Starting from oldest to youngest:

Odysseus

Even in his early twenties he already had some stigmas (or tattoos meant to hide actual stigmas). He would let Halimene do his makeup or wear anything made by Ctimene and Alkmene (he was their proud dress-up doll)

I gave him a sprinter physique since I found it fitting for his younger years (since we know he won a race against Icarus). He most likely became wider and bulkier during the war since the priorities would change. He also had quite a small waist in his youth

The tattoos are supposed to explain why he was seen as a shady person despite being a trusted ally/advisor in Iliad. It is also my explanation why Athena was constantly changing his appearance and yet she didn't hide his most obvious scar.

I imagine him trying out many different types of fashion. (Especially rocking Minoan and Egyptian skirts in his youth).

Clothes and fashion were always a big part of him. From wearing things made by his sister(s) to then wearing things made by Penelope.

Also fun fact: he started wearing Minoan fashion after Alkmene was stealing his tunics (so she would not burn her clothes while working).

Another fun fact: he started wearing his hats because those were some of the first things Ctimene was learning to make and so he was wearing them to encourage her :3

Halimene

She is the tallest of the sisters and taller than Odysseus. She sees herself as most responsible out of the siblings and loves to take care of them. She is also quite thin.

She uses makeup to hide her freckles. She enjoys painting and helping her sisters with designing some patterns.

When she got married, her family knew she was in a happy relationship when after a visit they saw her husband also having some makeup on. (She also enjoys painting her husband but those portraits are private 🤭)

She loves adding Egyptian style eyeliner to the makeup she does for herself or others.

Also Halimene is rather afraid of water (she isn't the best swimmer). She only started to overcome her fear after her marriage since she wanted to keep in touch with her family.

She was the first to get married out of the siblings and despite Laertes being the one to arrange the marriage she was the one to choose the husband. (One day me and/or @ulises-aithon will explain it in greater detail)

When Odysseus was gone she tried to be strong for her family but she was grieving for the entire time and cried when painting a mural she realised she painted her brother.

Alkmene

She is equal height to Odysseus and strongest out of sisters. She is proud of her physical strength since she shares her grandmother's passion for metalworking.

She convinced every single family member to pierce their ears so she could make earrings for them. Her arms are covered in small burn marks and cuts caused by her work in the forge.

Alkmene is still rather girly. She loves feminine clothes (even if she picks the most comfortable ones) and jewelry.

To Laertes' horror she chose a husband for herself without letting anyone in the family know until she was about to introduce her "fiancé" to them. One of the minor reasons she picked him was because he had tin🤭(Laertes would later try to act as if it was his plan all alone). She also made sure to bring dyed fabrics and many other gifts to her siblings at any chance she could.

As previously mentioned she had the tendency to steal Odysseus' tunics when they were younger since she didn't want to burn her clothes. Odysseus retaliated by rocking Minoan skirts (and stealing one of hers)

She and Odysseus were both troublemakers as little kids and continued to tease one another for years to come.

All the siblings were gifted Obsidian blades but she cares the least to hide it in public.

When Odysseus was missing she was the one who refused to believe that he was dead and she expressed how she was going to punish him for scaring them like that. She also regularly polished a "welcome home" gift she had prepared for him.

Eumajos

(I'm using Polish writing of his name.)

He is the tallest out of all the siblings and despite not being related by blood he is treated as one of them. (Laertes didn't officially adopt him to not cause problems with succession and slightly because of the possibility that "one heir curse" could harm him if he became officially his son)

He is quite lean and sisters were convinced that he isn't eating enough (he eats a normal amount. It's just that Laertes, Odysseus and Arcesios have a huge appetite.) because of it he is constantly given some light snacks that he makes sure to eat in front of them. (And when sisters wanted to eat sparely from men, they forgot that it includes Eumajos, making all siblings sad until it was agreed that he can join them regularly)

Eumajos is rather timid. He is most bonded with Ctimene since they were nursed at the same time and they both for the longest time were treated as youth.

He only moved out of the palace after Ctimene got married and Odysseus went to war. It was too depressing for him to stay in the palace when all of his siblings were gone and his parents were also saddened by their children not being there.

He visited regularly to help out his parents, Penelope and little Telemachus.

Eumajos was the one to provide siblings with the freshest gossip since he spent a lot of time outside. (Just like his older brother he was "One of the girls" hahaha)

No matter how much Eumajos tries to prove that he is just a humble slave/swineherd he is always adorned in jewellery and expensive clothes made by his family (not to mention him canonically having his own slaves 🤣)

He probably s**t talked Odysseus the most about his tattoos and reckless behaviour.

On a less serious note, when Tele went to Sparta he gave him Ody's old clothes (yes, the Minoan skirts). And based on how popular he was in Pylos and Sparta, we can assume that it was a good call hahaha

Also any time Telemachus asked him about Odysseus he was the only one to not talk about him as a noble hero but simply his menace of a brother.

Ctimene

The youngest and smallest out of siblings. Her clothes also hide wide hips, soft belly and generous breasts.

Ctimene is most polite and soft spoken out of the entire family. Also Eurycleia and Anticlea were almost in tears seeing that at least one of their little girls actually enjoyed weaving and spinning. (Other girls also can do it but they don't like it and only do the bare minimum of it.)

She only didn't hesitate to nag her family if they ruined her clothes.

She and Eumajos are most modest when it comes to exposing skin.

She was the last to get married.

Eurylochus' family was in a good relation with Laertes and Eurylochus was in their youth assigned as her guard (mostly because he was at the age when men were seen as too young to marry and not that interested in girls). When it was becoming clear that Eurylochus was developing (mutual) interest, his father was sweating bullets since he feared the possibility of Laertes burning their island if Ctimene would be made sad by him.

While she made for Odysseus many clothes that were up to date with fashion trends, she was gifting Telemachus with clothes that were the exact opposite (long tunics, chitons etc) because it was already painful how much he resembled Odysseus, and she could not imagine him also wearing same clothes as him.

She and Eumajos had the tendency to follow other siblings around when they were little kids.

She was most open about her grief. For the first few years of war she stayed in Ithaca so she and Penelope can help one another with raising the kids. Then she regularly visited her. But was forced to limit her visits when suitors arrived (around 3 years before Odysseus coming back)