Mortal · Character in Homer’s Odyssey
Elpenor
Youngest of the crew, unburied
No great mind, no great luck; asks only for his oar.
The youngest of the crew, no great hand in war or wisdom. Heavy with wine, he sleeps on the roof of Circe's house, forgets the ladder when the others rouse him, and breaks his neck in the yard. His shade meets Odysseus first at the pit's edge, begging a mound by the grey sea with his oar set upright on it — and gets exactly that when the ship touches Aeaea again.
Bonds
- Elpenor companion of Odysseus — youngest of the crew
- Elpenor dwells in Hades — first shade to meet him
Appears in
- Book X Aeolus, the Laestrigonians, and Circè
- Book XI Visit of Odysseus to the Land of the Dead
- Book XII The Sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis
Scenes
- Elpenor’s Fall — Book X. Drunk Elpenor falls and dies
- Elpenor’s Plea — Book XI. Elpenor begs burial, oar marker
- Funeral and Return — Book XII. Crew buries Elpenor, Circè arrives