| War that is the subject of this epic work | Trojan War |
| Latin name of the legendary city of Troy | Ilium |
| Central character who leads the warriors called the Myrmidons and pouts in his tent after arguing with the Greek leader over the maid Briseis as a war prize | Achilles |
| Wooden image that all came to believe would protect the city of Troy | Palladium |
| King of Troy killed when the Greeks sacked the city during the Trojan War | Priam |
| Priam’s second wife, who allegedly bore him 49 children, one of whom she dreamed would cause the destruction of Troy | Hecuba (Hecabe |
| Prince of Troy, Priam’s son, who with Aphrodite’s help easily convinces a young woman to run away with him to Troy and later kills Achilles by shooting an arrow into his heel | Paris |
| Beautiful woman who runs away from Sparta to marry the Prince of Troy | Helen |
| King of Sparta who with his brother’s help organizes a huge Greek expedition against Troy to try to win back his sister | Menelaus |
| Menelaus’ brother who helps him organize the expedition to try to win Helen back and leads the Greeks, or Achaeans, in battle | Agamemnon |
| Maid who is seized during a raid and given to Agamemnon as a war prize, but then by Apollo’s command returned and replaced by Briseis, Achilles’ slave | Chryseis |
| Achilles’ friend who wears his armor to lead the Myrmidons and is killed in battle by Priam’s son | Patroclus |
| Priam’s son, the commander of the Trojan forces whom Achilles kills and drags around Troy behind a chariot | Hector |
| Giant Greek warrior, described as “slow-witted,” whom Athena causes to go mad to prevent him from killing others after Agamemnon awards the armor of Achilles to Odysseus | Ajax (Aias) |
| Oldest and wisest of the Achaeans at Troy | Nestor |
| Shrewd middle-aged Greek warrior and king of Ithaca who plays a relatively minor role in the Trojan War | Odysseus |
| Soothsayer who leads the Achaeans to Troy and counsels that Chryseis be returned to her father without ransom | Calchas |
| Greek herald in the Trojan War described as having the voice of 50 men | Stentor |
| Trojan archer who is tricked by Athena into shooting Menelaus and breaking the truce between the Greeks and the Trojans | Pandarus |
| Hector’s devoted wife who is captured by Neoptolemus, Achilles’ son, when Troy falls | Andromache |
| Hector and Andromache’s son who is killed by Neoptolemus | Astyanax |
| Anchises and Aphrodite’s son who commands the Trojan forces following the death of Hector | Aeneas |
| Priam and Hecuba’s daughter whose prophecy of the fall of Troy is rejected and who is captured by Agamemnon after it falls | Cassandra |
| Goddess of war to whom Paris had earlier awarded the golden apple and who is now fighting for the Trojans | Aphrodite |
| God of prophecy, poetry, and music who sides with the Trojans | Apollo |
| God of war who fights on the side of the Trojans | Ares |
| Goddess of wisdom who fights on the side of the Achaeans | Athena |
| God of the sea who fights on the side of the Achaeans | Poseidon |
| Zeus’ sister and wife who fights on the side of the Achaeans | Hera |
| Hero of the epic, the only Greek hero not yet back from the war at its opening | Odysseus (Ulysses) |
| War in which the hero has fought for 10 years | Trojan War |
| Number of years after this war that the Odyssey lasts | 10 |
| Greek leader killed by his wife and Aegisthus when he returns home from the war | Agamemnon |
| Sea god who constantly blows Odysseus off course for having blinded his son | Poseidon |
| Sea god’s son blinded by Odysseus | Polyphemus |
| One-eyed giants such as the sea god’s blinded son | Cyclops |
| Sea nymphs, part-bird part-woman, who lured sailors to their death on the rocks surrounding their island by seductive singing | Sirens |
| King of the gods who decrees that Odysseus should be allowed to return home | Zeus |
| Island home where Odysseus is king | Ithaca |
| Goddess who goes to this island home and tells Odysseus’ son that his father is still alive | Athena |
| Odysseus’ son who goes in search of his father | Telemachus |
| Divine nymph who keeps Odysseus on her island of Ogygia for 7 years and offers him immortality if he stays | Calypso |
| Odysseus’ wife, who is being courted by many suitors but refuses to marry anyone and weaves and unweaves a burial robe while faithfully waiting for him | Penelope |
| Odysseus’ father who tends the herds and vineyards and kills Eupeithes in the final battle with the suitors | Laertes |
| Wise elder on the island where Odysseus is king whose form Athena sometimes assumes | Mentor |
| Oldest and wisest of the Achaeans at Troy, the king of Phylos whom Odysseus’ son contacts | Nestor |
| King of Sparta who entertains Odysseus’ son when he arrives seeking information about his father | Menelaus |
| Sorceress who changes Odysseus’ men into swine on her island of Aeaea | Circe |
| Messenger of the gods whose herb moly protects Odysseus from this sorceress’ spell and who tells her to let him return home | Hermes |
| Theban prophet who advises Odysseus not to harm the sacred cattle of Hyperion when Odysseus consults him in Hades | Tiresias |
| 6-headed monster in the Straits of Messina, each head of which is equipped with triple rows of teeth | Scylla |
| Dangerous whirlpool in the Straits of Messina that swallows the waters of the sea 3 times and throws them up again | Charybdis |
| Odysseus’ old dog who dies shortly after seeing his master again | Argus (Argos) |
| Odysseus’ faithful nurse who recognizes him when he returns home by the scar on his thigh | Eurycleia |
| Odysseus’ faithful swineherd who helps kill his wife’s suitors | Eumaeus |