Nausicaa

Character from Greek mythology

This article is about the Homeric character. For the manga series and films, see Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. For other uses, see Nausicaa (disambiguation).

Nausicaa (second from right) with Athena and Odysseus. Detail of an Attic red-figured amphora from Vulci (c. 440 BC)

Nausicaa (/nɔːˈsɪkɪə/;[1][2] Ancient Greek: Ναυσικάα, romanized: Nausikáa [nau̯sikáaː], or Ναυσικᾶ, Nausikâ, [nau̯sikâː]), also spelled Nausicaä or Nausikaa, is a character in Homer's Odyssey. She is the daughter of King Alcinous and Queen Arete of Phaeacia. Her name means "burner of ships" (ναῦς 'ship'; κάω 'to burn').[3]

## Role in the Odyssey

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W. Heath Robinson: Nausicaa and Her Maidens Brought Him Food and Wine (date unknown)

In Book Six of the Odyssey, Odysseus is shipwrecked on the coast of the island of Scheria (Phaeacia in some translations). Nausicaä and her handmaidens go to the seashore to wash clothes. Awakened by their games, Odysseus emerges from the forest completely naked, scaring the servants away, and begs Nausicaä for aid. Affected by the unfortunate hero, she gives Odysseus some clothes and takes him to the edge of the town. Keeping him secret, she goes ahead into town, telling him to go directly to Alcinous's house and make his case to Nausicaä's mother Queen Arete, the family's matriarch. Odysseus approaches Arete and wins her approval, and he is received as a guest by King Alcinous.[4]

During his stay, Odysseus recounts his adventures to Alcinous and his court, a frame story for a substantial portion of the Odyssey. Alcinous then generously provides Odysseus with the ships that finally bring him home to Ithaca.

Nausicaä is young and beautiful; Odysseus says she resembles the goddess Artemis. She has several brothers. According to Aristotle and Dictys of Crete, she later married Odysseus's son Telemachus, and had one or two sons, Poliporthes or/and Persepolis.

Homer gives a literary account of a love which is never expressed (one of the earliest examples of unrequited love in literature). Nausicaä is presented as a potential love interest for Odysseus: she tells her friend that she would like her husband to be like him, and her father tells Odysseus that he would let him marry her. The two do not have a romantic relationship, however, and she marries Telemachus in some versions. Nausicaä is also a mother figure for Odysseus; she ensures his return home, and says "Never forget me, for I gave you life". Odysseus never tells Penelope about his encounter with Nausicaä, out of all the women he met on his long journey home. Some suggest this indicates a deeper feeling for the young woman. According to some versions, the father of one of Nausicaa's sons was Odysseus himself rather than his son Telemachus.[5]

## Gallery

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* Tischbein: Odysseus and Nausicaa (1819)

* Frederick Leighton: Nausicaa (1878)

* Jean Veber: Ulysses and Nausicaa (1888)

* Nausicaa by Robert Jackson Emerson

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Nausicaa". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d.
2. ^ "Nausicaä". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
3. ^ Shipley, Joseph T. (2011). The Origins of English Words: A Discursive Dictionary of Indo-European Roots. Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 160.
4. ^ Hamilton, Edith (1999) [1942]. Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes. New York: Grand Central Publishing Hachette Book Group USA.
5. ^ Powell, Barry B. Classical Myth. Second ed. With new translations of ancient texts by Herbert M. Howe. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1998, p. 581.

## Sources

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nausicaa.

* Portions of this material originated as excerpts from the public-domain 1848 edition of the Classical Dictionary by John Lemprière.

* v
* t
* e

Homer's Odyssey

Characters|

| House of Odysseus|

* Penelope (wife)
* Telemachus (son)
* Ctimene (sister)
* Anticlea (mother)
* Laertes (father)
* Autolycus (grandfather)
* Eurycleia (chief servant)
* Mentor (advisor)
* Phemius (musician)
* Eumaeus (swineherd)
* Philoetius (cowherd)
* Melanthius (goatherd)
* Melantho (maid)
* Medon (herald)
* Argos (pet dog)

|

Other monarchs
and royals

* Alcinous of Phaeacia
* Antiphates, king of the Laestrygones
* Aretus
* Arete of Phaeacia
* Deucalion of Crete
* Echetus
* Nestor of Pylos
* Echephron
* Perseus
* Stratichus
* Peisistratus
* Menelaus of Sparta
* Helen
* Princess Nausicaa of Phaeacia
* Laodamas
* Agamemnon of Mycenae
* Idomeneus
* Mentes
* Thrasymedes

Gods|

* Aeolus
* Athena
* Calypso
* Circe
* Helios
* Hermes
* Leucothea (Ino)
* Poseidon
* Zeus
* Oceanus
* Old Man of the Sea

Suitors|

* Agelaus
* Amphimedon
* Amphinomus
* Antinous
* Ctesippus
* Demoptolemus
* Eurymachus
* Leodes
* Perimedes

Others|

* Achilles
* Ajax
* Anticlus
* Antiphus
* Cyclopes
* Polyphemus
* Demodocus
* Dolius
* Elpenor
* Eupeithes
* Euryalus
* Eurylochus
* Halitherses
* Heracles
* Irus
* Kikonians
* Laestrygones
* Mesaulius
* Polites
* Polydamna
* Scylla
* Charybdis
* Sirens
* Tiresias
* Theoclymenus

Locations|

* Aeaea
* Aeolia
* Ismarus
* Ithaca
* Ogygia
* Scheria
* Telepylos
* Thrinacia

Study|

* Homeric scholarship
* Homeric Laughter
* Homeric Question
* Chorizontes
* Jørgensen's law
* Historicity of the Iliad
* Odysseus Unbound
* Homer's Ithaca
* On the Cave of the Nymphs in the Odyssey
* Rediscovering Homer
* Hermoniakos' Iliad
* Hysteron proteron
* Epithets in Homer
* Dactylic hexameter

Translations|

* English translations
* On Translating Homer
* Chapman (1614–1615)
* Pope (1725–1726)
* Lattimore (1967)
* Fagles (1996)
* Wilson (2017)

Phrases|

* In medias res
* Between Scylla and Charybdis

Films|

* L'Odissea (1911)
* Ulysses (1954)
* The Return of Ringo (1965)
* Nostos: The Return (1989)
* Ulysses' Gaze (1995 Greek)
* Sans plomb (2000)
* O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
* Keyhole (2012)
* The Return (2024)
* The Odyssey (2026)

Television|

* The Odyssey (1968)
* Ulysses 31 (1981)
* The Odyssey (1997)
* Mission Odyssey (2002–2003)
* Odysseus and the Isle of the Mists (2007)
* Star Trek: Odyssey (2007)

Prose fiction|

* A True Story (2nd century AD)
* Les Aventures de Télémaque (1699)
* The World's Desire (1890)
* Ulysses (1922)
* The Human Comedy (1943)
* Return to Ithaca (1946)
* Homer's Daughter (1955)
* Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions (1998)
* The Penelopiad (2005)
* The Lost Books of the Odyssey (2010)
* Circe (2018)

Poems|

* "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" (1816)
* "Ulysses" (1842)
* "Ithaca" (1911)
* The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel (1938)
* The Cantos (1962)
* Pagan Operetta (1998)

Stage|

* Current Nobody (play)
* Cyclops (play)
* Ithaka (play)
* Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (opera)
* The Golden Apple (musical)
* Glam Slam Ulysses (musical)
* Home Sweet Homer (musical)
* Odysseus, Verbrecher (play)
* Penelope (play)

Music|

* Epic: The Musical (album series)
* "Tales of Brave Ulysses" (song)
* The Odyssey (album)

Paintings|

* Jar with Odysseus and Elpenor (c. 440 B.C.)
* Odysseus on the Island of the Phaecians (c. 1635)
* Telemachus and the Nymphs of Calypso (1782)
* The Sorrow of Telemachus (1783)
* Odysseus at the Court of Alcinous (1816)
* The Apotheosis of Homer (1827)
* Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus (1829)
* The Sirens and Ulysses (1837)
* Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses (1891)
* Ulysses and the Sirens (1891)
* Odysseus and Polyphemus (1896)
* Ulysses and the Sirens (1909)

Video games|

* Odyssey: The Search for Ulysses
* Wishbone and the Amazing Odyssey

Related|

* Apotheosis of Homer
* Iliad
* Nekyia
* Nostos
* Outis
* Returns from Troy
* Telemachy
* Trojan Horse

* Category

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF
* WorldCat

National|

* Germany
* United States

Artists|

* FID

People|

* DDB

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