Antinous

Antinous was the son of Eupeithes and the leading suitor of Penelope in Homer’s Odyssey. A nobleman of Ithaca, he was the most arrogant and aggressive of the men who filled the palace of Odysseus, consumed the king’s wealth and pressed Penelope to remarry. He insulted Telemachus, plotted his murder, struck the disguised Odysseus with a footstool, and became the first suitor to die when Odysseus revealed himself (Odyssey 22.8–21).

Who Was Antinous?

Family and Background

Homer regularly calls him “Antinous, son of Eupeithes” (Odyssey 1.383, 4.660, 16.363). He was an Ithacan, said to be the best of his age in the land of Ithaca in counsel and speech (Odyssey 16.418–420), and his father had once owed his life to Odysseus: Eupeithes had come to the house of Odysseus as a fugitive, in fear of the people, who were enraged because he had joined Taphian pirates in harming the Thesprotians, friends of Ithaca; they wanted to kill him, but Odysseus held them back (Odyssey 16.424–430). Antinous’ later behaviour toward the house of Odysseus is set against this debt. Homer gives him no mother and no wife.

One of Penelope’s Suitors

After Odysseus had been away for many years, noblemen from Ithaca and the neighbouring islands gathered in his palace and demanded that Penelope choose one of them as husband. Antinous is one of the two leaders of the group, with Eurymachus, and in many scenes he is its loudest voice. When Penelope appeared before the suitors and reproached them for not bringing the gifts that proper suitors bring, it was Antinous who told her to accept whatever gifts anyone cared to offer, and his own was a great embroidered robe fastened with twelve golden brooches (Odyssey 18.274–296).

The Leading Villain in Ithaca

Antinous is the harshest of the suitors. He wishes Telemachus would never become king of Ithaca (Odyssey 1.383–387), blames Penelope for the whole affair (Odyssey 2.84–92), and treats the palace as already his own. Eurymachus later calls him the man “who was to blame for all” (Odyssey 22.48–49).

Antinous in the Odyssey

The Crisis in Odysseus’ House

At the beginning of the Odyssey, Odysseus has not returned from the Trojan War and his fate is unknown. The suitors feast on his livestock and wine and mistreat his servants. In the assembly of Ithaca in Book 2, Antinous tells how Penelope had deceived the suitors for three years by weaving a shroud for Laertes by day and unpicking it by night, and he demands that Telemachus send her away and bid her marry whichever man her father orders and she herself likes (Odyssey 2.93–114).

Conflict with Telemachus

Telemachus, the son of Odysseus and Penelope, speaks against the suitors in the assembly, and Antinous answers him with contempt, calling him a “high-talker” and putting the blame on his mother (Odyssey 2.84–92). When Telemachus sails to Pylos and Sparta to ask for news of his father, the suitors learn of it only afterwards, and Antinous, furious, asks for a ship and twenty men to ambush the young man in the strait between Ithaca and Samos (Odyssey 4.660–672). The ambush waits on the small island of Asteris between Ithaca and Samos (Odyssey 4.842–847).

When Telemachus slips past them and lands safely, Antinous is the first to speak, saying that a god has saved him and proposing that the suitors kill him in the country or on the road, away from the city, before he can call the Achaeans to an assembly (Odyssey 16.363–384). Amphinomus answers that it is a dreadful thing to kill one of royal blood and that they should first ask the will of the gods, and the others approve his speech (Odyssey 16.394–406). Penelope later rebukes Antinous to his face for plotting against Telemachus and reminds him of the debt his father owed to Odysseus (Odyssey 16.417–433).

Antinous and Penelope

Antinous wants Penelope to end her delay and choose one of the suitors. Her trick of the shroud, which Antinous himself describes (Odyssey 2.93–110), is her way of holding off men like him.

Antinous and Odysseus

Odysseus Returns in Disguise

When Odysseus returns to Ithaca, Athena disguises him as an old beggar so that he can test the people of his house (Odyssey 13.429–438). The suitors do not know who he is, and their treatment of the stranger shows their character. Antinous scolds Eumaeus for bringing another beggar to the palace and says there are already enough of them eating up the master’s livelihood (Odyssey 17.374–379).

The Stool Thrown at Odysseus

Antinous’ best-known act is his abuse of the disguised Odysseus. When the beggar goes round the hall asking for food, the other suitors give him something, but Antinous insults him and hurls a footstool that strikes him on the right shoulder, at the base of the back. Odysseus stands as firm as a rock and silently plans his revenge (Odyssey 17.462–465). Odysseus calls on the gods and Furies of beggars to bring death to Antinous before his marriage, and even the other suitors protest that gods sometimes travel in the likeness of strangers (Odyssey 17.475–487). Strangers and beggars were under the protection of Zeus, and Antinous breaks this rule in the king’s own house (Odyssey 14.56–58).

The Bow Contest

Penelope announces that she will marry the man who strings the great bow of Odysseus and shoots an arrow through the iron of twelve axes (Odyssey 21.68–79). Antinous orders the suitors to try in order, from left to right (Odyssey 21.140–143). Later he suggests that they postpone the contest, because it is a festival of the god and no one should string a bow on such a day (Odyssey 21.256–262). When the beggar asks to try, Antinous abuses him and tells him he is lucky to be allowed to sit and eat among his betters (Odyssey 21.287–310), and the suitors are afraid that the beggar will string the bow (Odyssey 21.285–286).

The Death of Antinous

The First Suitor Killed

After Odysseus strings the bow and shoots through the axes, he turns it on the suitors. Antinous is the first to die: he is about to lift a fine golden two-handled cup to drink, with no thought of death in his mind, when the arrow passes through his throat and the cup falls from his hand (Odyssey 22.8–21). The other suitors think at first that the shot was an accident and do not realise that death is hanging over them all (Odyssey 22.31–33).

Why Antinous Dies First

The poem gives the reason through Eurymachus. When Odysseus announces himself, Eurymachus offers payment and puts all the guilt on Antinous, who is already dead: he was the one who had urged these deeds on, not because he wanted marriage so much, but to become king of Ithaca and to kill Telemachus from ambush (Odyssey 22.48–53), and Eurymachus offers to repay twenty oxen’s worth each of all that was eaten and drunk (Odyssey 22.54–59). Odysseus refuses any compensation and says he will not stop until the suitors have paid for all their outrage (Odyssey 22.61–64).

Eupeithes and the Aftermath

After the killing, the relatives of the suitors gather in Ithaca. Eupeithes, weeping for Antinous, “whom noble Odysseus killed first”, urges the people to take revenge (Odyssey 24.422–438). In the fighting that follows, Laertes, the father of Odysseus, prays to Athena and kills Eupeithes with a throw of his spear (Odyssey 24.520–525).

Antinous’ Role and Symbolism

Abuse of Hospitality

The suitors live as guests in the house of Odysseus but do not behave as guests. They consume the household’s wealth and insult the family, and Antinous is the one who strikes a beggar, a man under the protection of Zeus (Odyssey 14.56–58, 17.462–465).

A Threat to the Royal House

Antinous is dangerous not only because he wants Penelope. His ambush against Telemachus (Odyssey 4.669–672) and his proposal to kill him in the country (Odyssey 16.376–384) would have ended the line of Odysseus.

The Opposite of Odysseus

Homer sets the two men against each other. Odysseus swallows the blow of the footstool and keeps silent until the moment comes; Antinous, with the cup at his lips, does not see the danger until the arrow is in his throat (Odyssey 17.462–465, 22.8–21).

Misconceptions and Lesser-Known Facts

Antinous Was Not the Only Suitor

Antinous is not the only suitor of Penelope. Homer names many, including Eurymachus, Amphinomus, Leiodes and Ctesippus. Antinous matters because he is one of the two leaders and the most openly hostile.

Antinous and Eurymachus Are Different Figures

Both men lead the suitors, but they differ in manner. Antinous is the blunter and more violent. Eurymachus speaks more smoothly: when Penelope rebukes Antinous for plotting against her son, it is Eurymachus who reassures her that no man will lay hands on Telemachus while he lives, though he himself was planning the young man’s death (Odyssey 16.434–448). Once Antinous is dead, Eurymachus tries to put all the blame on him, and Odysseus does not accept it (Odyssey 22.45–64). Eurymachus is the next suitor Odysseus shoots (Odyssey 22.79–88).

Antinous of Ithaca Is Not Hadrian’s Antinous

The suitor in the Odyssey is not the same person as Antinous, the young favourite of the Roman emperor Hadrian. They share a name and nothing else.

Unraveling Antinous: The Arrogant Suitor of Ithaca

Antinous is the most important of the enemies Odysseus finds in his own house. He is not a monster like Polyphemus or a god like Poseidon, but the danger he brings is as great, because it comes from inside Ithaca. His death at the start of the slaughter marks the point at which the long patience of Odysseus ends, and his father’s death at the hands of Laertes closes the story of his family in the poem.

Antinous Sources

Antinous appears in Homer’s Odyssey, in Book 1 (383–387), Book 2 (84–114), Book 4 (660–672, 842–847), Book 16 (363–448), Book 17 (374–379, 462–480), Book 18 (274–296), Book 21 (68–79, 140–143, 256–262, 285–310), Book 22 (8–88), also Odyssey 14.56–58 and 13.429–438 and Book 24 (422–438, 520–525).

See Also: Odysseus, Penelope, Telemachus, Eurymachus, Eumaeus, Laertes, Athena, Ithaca