Mortal · Character in Homer’s Odyssey

Anticleia

Odysseus' mother, dead of grief

Tender and heartsick; died of waiting, and cannot be held.

She died of waiting, and Odysseus meets her in the underworld without any warning. She gives him the first true report of his house, and then slips three times through his arms.

Bonds

• Anticleia mother of Odysseus — died waiting for him
• Anticleia wife of Laertes — his queen, dead before him
• Anticleia dwells in Hades — slips three times through his arms
• Autolycus father of Anticleia — her wolf-cunning father

Appears in

• Book XI Visit of Odysseus to the Land of the Dead
• Book XV Return of Telemachus

Scenes

1. Tiresias’s Prophecy — Book XI. Tiresias warns of Poseidon, cattle, death
2. Reunion with Anticleia — Book XI. Anticleia reports on family, eludes embrace
3. News of Laertes — Book XV. Laertes grieves, Anticleia dead

See the map of bonds · All characters