Mortal · Character in Homer’s Odyssey

Demodocus

Blind bard of Alcinous' court

Blind and heaven-taught; sings the war to the man who fought it.

The blind bard of Alcinous' court, whom the Muse loved and robbed of his eyes when she gave him song. Twice his tales of Troy make the unnamed guest weep into his cloak, and his song of the wooden horse is what finally forces Odysseus to declare himself. Odysseus sends him the choice cut of the boar's chine first.

Bonds

• Demodocus dwells in Scheria — blind bard of the court

Appears in

• Book VIII Festivals in Honor of Odysseus
• Book XIII Arrival of Odysseus at Ithaca

Scenes

1. Assembly Convened — Book VIII. Herald Athena summons chiefs
2. Feast and First Song — Book VIII. Demodocus sings the quarrel, Odysseus weeps
3. Games Proposed — Book VIII. Alcinoüs proposes games for youths
4. Alcinoüs Calls for Dance — Book VIII. Alcinoüs praises dance, calls dancers
5. Hephaestus’s Snare — Book VIII. Hephaestus forges net to trap lovers
6. Odysseus Honors the Bard — Book VIII. Odysseus carves boar for Demodocus
7. Odysseus’s Request — Book VIII. Odysseus asks for the wooden-horse song
8. The Fall of Troy Sung — Book VIII. Demodocus sings ambush, sack of Troy
9. Alcinoüs’s Question — Book VIII. Alcinoüs halts song, demands his name
10. Feast and Farewell — Book XIII. Odysseus feasts, asks to sail home

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