Mortal · Character in Homer’s Odyssey
Autolycus
Wolf-sly grandfather who named him
Best of men at theft and the oath; fond enough to name a grandson.
Odysseus' grandfather on his mother's side, who outdid all men in thievery and the artful oath — gifts of Hermes, who favored him. He named the boy himself, and it was hunting boar with his sons on Parnassus that the young Odysseus took the thigh-wound whose scar betrays him to Eurycleia.
Bonds
- Autolycus father of Anticleia — her wolf-cunning father
- Autolycus host of Odysseus — the boar hunt, the scar
Appears in
- Book XI Visit of Odysseus to the Land of the Dead
- Book XIX Odysseus Recognized by Eurycleia
- Book XXI The Bending of the Bow of Odysseus
- Book XXIV Conclusion
Scenes
- Tiresias’s Prophecy — Book XI. Tiresias warns of Poseidon, cattle, death
- The Scar’s Origin — Book XIX. Eurycleia recalls a boar gashing his leg
- Odysseus Reveals Himself — Book XXI. Odysseus shows scar, herdsmen weep
- Father and Son Reunite — Book XXIV. Odysseus reveals scar to Laertes