Mortal · Character in Homer’s Odyssey
Halitherses
Old Ithacan reader of birds
Told them at the start and at the end; listened to once.
The old Ithacan augur who reads the two fighting eagles over the assembly in Book II: Odysseus will come home in the twentieth year, unknown to all, and woe to the wooers. They mock him and threaten a fine. In the last book he stands up once more to tell the dead men's kinsmen the fault was their own; only half the mob has the sense to sit down.
Bonds
- Halitherses warns The Suitors — reads the eagles over the assembly
- Halitherses loyal to Odysseus — old friend of the house
Appears in
- Book II Departure of Telemachus from Ithaca
- Book XVII Return of Odysseus to His Palace
- Book XXIV Conclusion
Scenes
- Eagle Omen — Book II. Zeus’ eagles clash, portend Odysseus
- Mentor’s Rebuke — Book II. Mentor rebukes Ithacans, Leiocritus ends it
- Marketplace and Piraeus — Book XVII. Telemachus meets Piraeus, Theoclymenus
- Halitherses Urges Peace — Book XXIV. Halitherses urges peace, ignored