Laertes

Laertes is the father of Odysseus. In Homer’s Odyssey he is an old man who has withdrawn to a farm on Ithaca and mourns his absent son, until Odysseus finds him there after killing the suitors. Laertes was once lord of the Cephallenians; Homer remembers him as a warrior who captured the city of Nericus (Odyssey 24.376–378).

Family

Laertes was the son of Arcesius, and Telemachus calls him the only son of Arcesius, as Odysseus was the only son of Laertes, and he himself the only son of Odysseus (Odyssey 16.117–120). Laertes married Anticleia, daughter of Autolycus, famed for theft and oaths (Odyssey 11.84–85; 19.394–398). They had Odysseus and a daughter, Ctimene, the youngest of their children (Odyssey 15.363–364). Laertes also bought Eurycleia, still a young girl, for the price of twenty oxen. He honoured her in his house like a wife but never slept with her, to avoid his wife’s anger (Odyssey 1.429–433). In Apollodorus’ list of the Argonauts, “Laertes, son of Arcisius” is one of the heroes who sailed with Jason (Library 1.9.16). Some writers called Odysseus the son of Sisyphus instead, and Sophocles alludes to the idea (Ajax 189–190; Philoctetes 417, 1311); Homer always makes Laertes his father.

Laertes on the Farm

When Odysseus was away, Laertes stopped coming to the city. Athena, disguised as Mentes, tells Telemachus that he lives out in the country with an old maidservant who brings him food and drink when he is tired from walking along his vineyard slope (Odyssey 1.189–193). Eumaeus adds that Laertes keeps praying to Zeus to die, for he grieves over his lost son and over the death of his wife, which has aged him before his time (Odyssey 15.353–357). Eumaeus later tells Telemachus that since the young man sailed for Pylos, Laertes has not eaten or drunk as before, and sits groaning, his flesh wasting on his bones (Odyssey 16.137–145).

Anticleia explains how she died when Odysseus meets her ghost in the underworld. Her husband lives in the fields, she says, and does not come to town. In winter he sleeps among the slaves in the ashes near the fire, in poor clothes, and in summer on a bed of fallen leaves in his vineyard. She herself died neither of illness nor by the arrows of Artemis, but of longing for her son (Odyssey 11.187–203). Eumaeus too says that she died of grief for her son, and that her death grieved Laertes most of all (Odyssey 15.353–358). Penelope, meanwhile, is weaving a shroud for “the hero Laertes” for the day when he dies, which she uses as a pretext to delay the suitors (Odyssey 2.97–100).

The farm itself was Laertes’ own work, acquired through much labour. It has a house with a shed where the slaves eat and sleep, and an old Sicilian woman looks after him there (Odyssey 24.205–212).

The Return of Odysseus

After the suitors are killed, Odysseus goes to the farm with Telemachus and the herdsmen. He finds his father alone in the well-kept orchard, digging around a plant. Laertes wears a dirty, patched tunic, leather greaves bound on against scratches, gloves against the brambles, and a goat-skin cap, and he nourishes his grief (Odyssey 24.226–231).

Odysseus first tells him a false story that he is a stranger who once entertained Odysseus, and Laertes answers in tears that the guest-gifts would have been wasted, since his son is dead (Odyssey 24.280–286). Laertes takes up the black dust in both hands and pours it over his grey head (Odyssey 24.315–317). Odysseus then reveals himself, and Laertes asks for a sure sign. Odysseus shows him the scar from the boar on Mount Parnassus, when he went to Autolycus for his gifts, and then names the trees Laertes once gave him as a child in the orchard: thirteen pear trees, ten apple trees, forty fig trees, and fifty rows of vines (Odyssey 24.331–344). Laertes’ knees and heart give way, and he faints in his son’s arms (Odyssey 24.345–348).

The Fight with the Suitors’ Families

A Sicilian servant bathes Laertes and Athena makes him look taller and stronger. Laertes wishes aloud that he had the strength he had when he took Nericus, and could have stood beside Odysseus against the suitors (Odyssey 24.365–382). When the families of the suitors come out to take revenge, led by Eupeithes, the father of Antinous (Odyssey 24.422–424), Laertes puts on armour with Dolius and his sons (Odyssey 24.496–499). Athena tells him to pray to her and Zeus and throw his spear; he hits Eupeithes through the helmet and kills him (Odyssey 24.517–525). Athena then stops the fighting before more men die (Odyssey 24.528–536). Homer says nothing about Laertes after that.

Laertes Sources

Homer, Odyssey 1.189–193, 1.429–433; 2.97–100; 11.84–85, 11.187–203; 15.353–358, 15.363–364; 16.117–120, 16.137–145; 19.394–398; 24.205–537. Apollodorus, Library 1.9.16. Sophocles, Ajax 189–190; Philoctetes 417, 1311.

See Also: Odysseus, Anticlea, Autolycus, Penelope, Telemachus, Eumaeus, Argonauts, Jason, Athena, Antinous, Ctimene