Alcinous

Alcinous was the king of the Phaeacians, the seafaring people of the island of Scheria, in Homer’s Odyssey. He was the husband of Arete, the father of Nausicaa, and the host who received the shipwrecked Odysseus, listened to his story, and sent him home to Ithaca in a Phaeacian ship (Odyssey 6–8, 13). The Argonautica of Apollonius gives him a second famous role as judge of Jason and Medea.

Alcinous’s Role and Significance

Alcinous's Name

The name Alcinous (Greek Alkinoos) is formed from the Greek words alke, “strength”, and noos, “mind”, and is usually translated “mighty mind”. Homer gives him the title basileus, “king”, but he rules with a council: twelve other kings govern the people, and Alcinous calls himself the thirteenth (Odyssey 8.390–391).

Alcinous's Roles and Epithets

Homer calls him “the sacred might of Alcinous” (Odyssey 7.167) and “godlike” (Odyssey 7.231). When the poet introduces him he is a king “made wise in counsel by the gods” (Odyssey 6.12). He presides over the assembly and the feasts of the Phaeacians, arranges the games, orders the ship that takes Odysseus home, and receives the guest-gifts that the other chiefs give.

Alcinous’s Biography

Origins and Lineage

Alcinous was the son of Nausithous and the brother of Rhexenor. Nausithous was the son of Poseidon and Periboea, the youngest daughter of Eurymedon, who had been king of the arrogant Giants until he destroyed his people and himself (Odyssey 7.54–63). It was Nausithous who led the Phaeacians out of Hypereia, where the Cyclopes plundered them, and settled them at Scheria, far from other men; there he walled the city, built houses and temples, and divided the land (Odyssey 6.1–10). When Nausithous died Alcinous became king (Odyssey 6.11–12).

Marriage to Arete

Alcinous married Arete, the only child of his brother Rhexenor, whom Apollo had shot while he was a bridegroom and had not yet fathered a son. Homer says that Alcinous honoured her as no other woman on earth is honoured by her husband (Odyssey 7.64–68). Strangers who want help in Phaeacia are told to pass by the king’s throne and clasp the queen’s knees, for if she is kindly disposed they may hope to reach home (Odyssey 6.303–315); Athena adds that Arete is honoured by the people and settles quarrels even among men (Odyssey 7.53–77).

Children

Alcinous and Arete had five sons, two married and three unmarried (Odyssey 6.62–63), and a daughter, Nausicaa. Three sons are named: Laodamas, who is the king’s favourite and is given his seat beside Alcinous; Halius; and Clytoneus (Odyssey 7.170–171, 8.119). Laodamas and Halius dance for the guest in Odyssey 8.370–380.

Alcinous in the Odyssey

The Encounter with Odysseus

Nausicaa finds Odysseus naked and exhausted on the shore and tells him to approach her mother first. He clasps Arete’s knees in the great hall (Odyssey 7.142). Odysseus sits down in the ashes of the hearth, and the old Phaeacian Echeneus tells the king that this is not fitting; Alcinous then takes him by the hand, raises him from the hearth, and seats him in the place of his son Laodamas (Odyssey 7.153–171). He promises to send the stranger home the next day, in a ship, wherever he wishes to go (Odyssey 7.317–328).

Alcinous also says that if Odysseus were a man like himself he would gladly have him stay as his son-in-law and give him a house and goods, but that he will keep no guest against his will (Odyssey 7.311–316).

The Games and the Gifts

On the next day Alcinous calls the assembly, and the Phaeacians feast while the singer Demodocus performs. The young men then compete in running, wrestling, jumping, discus throwing, and boxing; Laodamas invites the stranger to take part, and when Euryalus insults him Odysseus picks up a discus larger than the Phaeacians use and throws it past all their marks (Odyssey 8.186–198). Alcinous makes peace and has Euryalus give the guest a sword. He then proposes that each of the twelve kings give Odysseus a cloak, a tunic, and a talent of gold (Odyssey 8.387–397), and that Euryalus make amends. When the visitor weeps at the songs of Demodocus about Troy, Alcinous notices, stops the song, and asks him for his name and country (Odyssey 8.532–586).

Odysseus then tells the story of his wanderings to the Phaeacians (Odyssey 9–12). Alcinous praises its telling and asks him to stay another day so that the gifts may be completed, promising that the conveyance will be the care of the men and of himself as ruler (Odyssey 11.346–352). Before the Phaeacians sail he adds a tripod and a cauldron, to be paid for later by collecting from the people (Odyssey 13.13–15).

The Journey Home and Poseidon’s Anger

The Phaeacians lay Odysseus asleep in the stern and carry him to Ithaca in a single night (Odyssey 13.70–80). Poseidon, the grandfather of Alcinous, is angry that mortals have helped the man he opposes, and with Zeus’s agreement he turns the returning ship to stone close to the harbour (Odyssey 13.125–164). Alcinous recognises an old prophecy of his father Nausithous: Poseidon would one day wreck a Phaeacian ship returning from an escort and hide the city behind a mountain (Odyssey 8.564–569, 13.172–178). He tells his people to stop escorting strangers and to sacrifice twelve chosen bulls to the god; they do so, standing around the altar (Odyssey 13.179–187). Homer does not say whether the mountain was ever raised.

Alcinous and the Argonauts

In Apollonius’ Argonautica Alcinous and Arete receive Jason and Medea on Drepane, the island of the Phaeacians, while a Colchian fleet sent by Aeetes demands the girl’s return. Medea begs Arete for protection. Arete urges Jason to marry Medea at once, and Alcinous, who has already decided that if she is still a maiden she must go back to her father but that if she is a wife she may stay with her husband, rules in favour of the couple. The marriage is held in the cave of Macris, and Alcinous sends the Argonauts away with gifts (Apollonius, Argonautica 4.990–1222). The Odyssey itself knows only that the Argo, “of concern to all”, had once sailed from Aeetes (Odyssey 12.69–72).

Alcinous Sources

Alcinous is known mainly from Homer, Odyssey 6–8, 11 and 13, with his genealogy at Odyssey 7.54–68 and 6.1–12, and the prophecy of Nausithous at Odyssey 8.564–569 and 13.172–178. His judgment between Jason and the Colchians is told in Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 4.990–1222.

See Also: Arete, Nausicaa, Odysseus, Poseidon, Jason, Medea, Argonauts, Phaeacians