Melantho

Melantho was a maidservant in the house of Odysseus and Penelope in Greek mythology. She appears in Homer’s Odyssey during the final part of Odysseus’ return to Ithaca. Although she had been reared and cherished by Penelope as her own child, Melantho had no sorrow for her mistress and became the lover of Eurymachus, one of the suitors who had taken over the palace (Odyssey 18.321–336).

Melantho is best known for insulting Odysseus while he was disguised as a beggar. Her behavior makes her one of the clearest examples of disloyalty inside the royal house of Ithaca (Odyssey 18.321–345; 19.65–95). She stands in sharp contrast to faithful servants such as Eurycleia, Eumaeus, and Philoetius, who remain loyal to Odysseus and his family.

Who Was Melantho?

Family and Background

Homer calls Melantho the daughter of Dolius (Odyssey 18.321–322). A servant named Dolius also appears in the poem as the old man who came with Penelope from her father’s house, tends Laertes’ orchard with his sons and in the end stands with Odysseus (Odyssey 4.735–741; 24.222–223, 24.387–411); Homer does not say whether this loyal Dolius is the same man as the father of Melantho and Melanthius. She was also the sister of Melanthius, the goatherd who later helped the suitors during Odysseus’ revenge (Odyssey 17.212–213; 22.135–200). Both Melantho and Melanthius are remembered as disloyal figures within the palace of Ithaca.

Raised by Penelope

Homer says that Penelope had reared Melantho and cherished her as her own child, giving her playthings to her heart’s desire (Odyssey 18.321–323). Yet, Homer adds, Melantho had no sorrow in her heart for Penelope.

A Maidservant in Ithaca

Melantho belonged to the group of women servants in the palace of Odysseus; Eurycleia later says that there were fifty of them in all (Odyssey 22.421–423). During the king’s long absence after the Trojan War, the palace became full of suitors who consumed the household’s wealth and pressured Penelope to remarry. Melantho became one of the servants who sided with this corrupt order.

Melantho in the Odyssey

The Suitors in the Palace

When Odysseus was away from Ithaca, the suitors took control of his house. They ate his food, drank his wine, abused his hospitality, and tried to force Penelope to choose a new husband. Their actions created disorder inside the royal household, and Melantho became linked with them rather than with her mistress (Odyssey 1.245–251; 18.321–336).

Melantho and Eurymachus

Melantho is especially connected with Eurymachus, one of the leading suitors of Penelope. Homer says that she was used to lying with Eurymachus and loved him (Odyssey 18.325–326). This relationship places Melantho on the side of the suitors and helps explain her proud and disrespectful behavior in the palace.

Her Disloyalty to Penelope

Melantho’s disloyalty is made clear by the contrast between Penelope’s kindness and Melantho’s lack of care for her mistress. Penelope is trapped in a difficult position, trying to protect the house of Odysseus while the suitors pressure her. Melantho, instead of supporting her, sides with her mistress’s tormentors.

Melantho and Odysseus

Odysseus Returns in Disguise

When Odysseus returned to Ithaca, Athena disguised him as an old beggar (Odyssey 13.397–403). This allowed him to enter his own palace without being recognized and to test the people inside. The loyal and disloyal members of the household revealed themselves by the way they treated the stranger.

Melantho Insults the Stranger

Melantho mocked and insulted Odysseus while he was still in disguise. In Book 18, when the beggar offers to stand through the night and tend the lamps, she rails at him as a madman and tells him to go sleep at the smithy or a common lodging-house instead of babbling in the hall (Odyssey 18.327–336). Later that night, as the suitors leave, she begins to rail at him a second time, calling him a wretch who spies on the women and telling him to get out and eat his supper outside, or be driven out with a torch (Odyssey 19.65–69). Her harsh words showed that she had no respect for guests, strangers, or the rules of the house she served.

Odysseus Warns Her

Odysseus answered Melantho sharply. The first time, he told her he would go and tell Telemachus what she had said, so that he would cut her to pieces (Odyssey 18.337–339). The second time he asked why she raged at him and warned her that her mistress Penelope might become angry with her, and that Odysseus himself might still return, or his son Telemachus, who was now grown (Odyssey 19.70–88). His words are full of dramatic irony, because Melantho does not know that the beggar speaking to her is actually the king of Ithaca.

Penelope Rebukes Melantho

Penelope also hears Melantho’s abuse and rebukes her. She calls her a bold and shameless creature, says that she knows her great fault, which she will pay for with her own head, and reminds her that she herself had said that she wished to question the stranger about her husband (Odyssey 19.91–95). This moment shows that Penelope is aware of the bad behavior among the women of the household. It also makes Melantho’s betrayal even clearer, because she insults the guest whom Penelope wants to question about Odysseus.

Melantho and the Disloyal Servants

The Palace Divided

In the final books of the Odyssey, the house of Odysseus is divided between loyal and disloyal servants. Eurycleia, Eumaeus, and Philoetius remain faithful to Odysseus and his family (Odyssey 21.188–244; 22.420–425). Melantho and Melanthius, by contrast, are connected with the suitors and with the collapse of order inside the palace. Melanthius abuses the beggar on the road to the palace, later brings the suitors arms from the storeroom, is tied up by Eumaeus and Philoetius, and after the suitors fall he is dragged out and mutilated (Odyssey 17.212–253; 22.135–200, 22.474–477).

The Twelve Disloyal Women

After Odysseus kills the suitors, Eurycleia tells him that of the fifty women servants twelve had gone the way of shamelessness and had shown no respect for her or for Penelope herself (Odyssey 22.421–427). These women are forced to carry out the dead and clean the hall after the slaughter and are then hanged by Telemachus (Odyssey 22.437–473).

Was Melantho Executed?

The Odyssey does not name Melantho during the execution of the disloyal women. Because she is one of the most openly disloyal maids earlier in the poem, many readers assume that she was among them. However, Homer does not stop to state her individual fate in that scene, and she is never mentioned again after Book 19.

Melantho’s Role and Symbolism

Betrayal Inside the Household

The suitors are dangerous because they invade the palace and consume its wealth, but Melantho is part of the household itself. In the Odyssey the damage to Odysseus’ home comes not only from outsiders but also from servants who side with them, and the punishment of the twelve maids, like that of Melanthius, answers that betrayal (Odyssey 22.437–477).

The Opposite of Eurycleia

Melantho is often understood as the opposite of Eurycleia. Eurycleia is old, loyal, careful, and deeply attached to Odysseus’ family; she nursed Odysseus himself as a child and recognizes him by his scar (Odyssey 19.386–475). Melantho is proud, sharp-tongued, and careless toward Penelope.

Disrespect for Hospitality

By insulting the disguised Odysseus, Melantho also breaks the rules of hospitality. In the Odyssey, strangers and beggars are said to be from Zeus (Odyssey 6.207–208; 14.56–58). Melantho’s abuse of the stranger places her close to the suitors, who also fail to respect hospitality.

Misconceptions and Lesser-Known Facts

Melantho Was Not a Suitor

Melantho was not one of Penelope’s suitors. She was a maidservant in the palace of Odysseus. Her importance comes from her disloyalty to Penelope and her connection with Eurymachus, one of the leading suitors.

Melantho and Melanthius Are Different Figures

Melantho should not be confused with Melanthius. Melantho was a maidservant, while Melanthius was a goatherd. They were siblings and both are shown as disloyal to the house of Odysseus, but they play different roles in the Odyssey.

The Shroud Betrayal Is Not Named Clearly in Homer

Penelope delayed the suitors by weaving a shroud for Laertes during the day and undoing the work at night. In Homer’s account, the trick is revealed by one of the maids: Antinous says that a woman who knew it told them, and the suitors caught Penelope undoing her work (Odyssey 2.108–110; 24.143–146). The maid is not named, and the Odyssey does not connect Melantho with this betrayal.

Unraveling Melantho: The Disloyal Maid of Ithaca

Melantho is a small figure in the Odyssey. She does not fight Odysseus with weapons and she does not lead the suitors, but her words to the disguised king and her bond with Eurymachus show that some of those who should have protected Penelope had turned against her.

Melantho Sources

Melantho appears only in Homer’s “Odyssey,” in Book 18 (321–345), where she is described as the daughter of Dolius, reared by Penelope, the lover of Eurymachus, and insulting Odysseus in disguise, and in Book 19 (65–95), where she insults him again and Penelope rebukes her. Her brother Melanthius appears in Books 17, 20, 21 and 22, and the fate of the disloyal women servants is described in Book 22 (417–477).

See Also: Odysseus, Penelope, Telemachus, Eurymachus, Melanthius, Eurycleia, Eumaeus, Ithaca