Who He Is
Antinous is the leader of the suitors of Penelope, son of Eupeithes, and the one who speaks most for them. He eats through the house of Odysseus along with the others, mocks Telemachus, and is the one who tells Ithaca about the loom trick. The poem makes him the harshest of the nobles: he proposes killing the king's son, throws a stool at the beggar, and believes, without saying so, that he will be the one to string Odysseus's bow.
Trajectory
In Book I, Telemachus confronts Antinous, who mocks him when he announces the assembly. In Book II, he is the only one who answers Telemachus in the square: he says the fault is not the suitors' but that of his mother, and he tells the trick. Penelope asked them to wait until she finished a shroud for Laertes, weaving by day and unweaving by night for three years, until a servant gave her away. The suitors' answer is that Telemachus should send his mother away. Later, in the palace, he invites the boy to feast as before, laughs, takes his hand, and Telemachus pulls away.
κοῦροι ἐμοὶ μνηστῆρες, ἐπεὶ θάνε δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς, / μίμνετʼ ἐπειγόμενοι τὸν ἐμὸν γάμον, εἰς ὅ κε φᾶρος / ἐκτελέσω, μή μοι μεταμώνια νήματʼ ὄληται, / Λαέρτῃ ἥρωι ταφήιον,(2.96-99), young men, my suitors, since radiant Odysseus is dead, wait, though you are eager for my marriage, until I finish a cloth, so that the threads are not lost in vain: a shroud for the hero Laertes.
ὣς τὸ μὲν ἐξετέλεσσε καὶ οὐκ ἐθέλουσʼ ὑπʼ ἀνάγκης·(2.110), so she finished it, unwillingly, out of necessity.
In Book IV, when he learns of Telemachus's departure, his eyes blaze: the boy has carried out a plan thought impossible, and Antinous wants a ship and twenty men to ambush him between Ithaca and Same. He says the boy will become a bigger evil later, and asks Zeus to destroy his strength before he reaches manhood. He orders those who make noise silenced, so no one warns anyone inside the house.
ἐκ τοσσῶνδʼ ἀέκητι νέος πάϊς οἴχεται αὔτως / νῆα ἐρυσσάμενος, κρίνας τʼ ἀνὰ δῆμον ἀρίστους. / ἄρξει καὶ προτέρω κακὸν ἔμμεναι· ἀλλά οἱ αὐτῷ / Ζεὺς ὀλέσειε βίην, πρὶν ἥβης μέτρον ἱκέσθαι(4.665-668), against the will of so many, the young boy has gone off for nothing, dragged a ship to the sea, and chosen the best men of the people. He will also become an evil later on; may Zeus destroy his strength before he reaches the measure of youth.
In Book XVI, in the assembly, after the ambush fails, he proposes killing Telemachus in the countryside or on the road, dividing the property, and leaving the house to his mother and her husband. If they prefer that he live, each suitor should court Penelope from his own house, with gifts. Penelope rebukes him before everyone: she reminds him that Zeus witnesses suppliants, and that Antinous's father was saved by Odysseus when the people wanted to kill him.
μάργε, τίη δὲ σὺ Τηλεμάχῳ θάνατόν τε μόρον τε / ῥάπτεις, οὐδʼ ἱκέτας ἐμπάζεαι, οἷσιν ἄρα Ζεὺς / μάρτυρος; οὐδʼ ὁσίη κακὰ ῥάπτειν ἀλλήλοισιν.(16.421-423), you madman, why do you plot death and doom for Telemachus, and pay no heed to suppliants, to whom Zeus is witness? It is not holy to plot evils against one another.
In Book XVII, he rebukes Eumaeus for bringing in another beggar. When Odysseus asks for food, he says his table is not for that, and throws the stool at the beggar's right shoulder, and the beggar stands firm as a rock. Odysseus calls on the Erinyes of beggars and wishes him death before the wedding, and some suitors remind him that the gods travel through the cities in the guise of strangers. Antinous does not listen. Penelope, in her room, says he looks like the black Ker.
ἀλλʼ εἴ που πτωχῶν γε θεοὶ καὶ Ἐρινύες εἰσίν, / Ἀντίνοον πρὸ γάμοιο τέλος θανάτοιο κιχείη.(17.475-476), but if there are gods and Erinyes for beggars, may the end of death overtake Antinous before the wedding.
μαῖʼ, ἐχθροὶ μὲν πάντες, ἐπεὶ κακὰ μηχανόωνται· / Ἀντίνοος δὲ μάλιστα μελαίνῃ κηρὶ ἔοικε.(17.499-500), mother, they are all hateful, for they plot evils; but Antinous, more than all of them, resembles the black Ker.
In Book XVIII, he laughs at the fight between Odysseus and Irus, proposes the prize, a goat's stomach roasted on the fire, and threatens to send Irus to King Echetus. At the end, he tells Penelope she should accept the suitors' gifts, and offers a large embroidered mantle with twelve gold clasps.
ὁππότερος δέ κε νικήσῃ κρείσσων τε γένηται, / τάων ἥν κʼ ἐθέλῃσιν ἀναστὰς αὐτὸς ἑλέσθω· / αἰεὶ αὖθʼ ἡμῖν μεταδαίσεται, οὐδέ τινʼ ἄλλον / πτωχὸν ἔσω μίσγεσθαι ἐάσομεν αἰτήσοντα.(18.46-49), and whoever wins and proves stronger, let him rise and choose for himself whichever of them he wants; he will always feast with us, and we will not let any other beggar mix in here to ask for alms.
In Book XX, he says only Zeus stopped them from silencing Telemachus. In Book XXI, he rebukes the servants who weep at the sight of the bow, and says no one there is like Odysseus. The narrator foreshadows that his spirit hoped to string the bow, and that he would be the first to taste the arrow from the man he despised. Then he delays the trial for the feast of Apollo, and insults the beggar who asks for the bow, comparing him to the centaur Eurytion and threatening to send him to Echetus.
ὣς φάτο, τῷ δʼ ἄρα θυμὸς ἐνὶ στήθεσσιν ἐώλπει / νευρὴν ἐντανύσειν διοϊστεύσειν τε σιδήρου. / ἦ τοι ὀϊστοῦ γε πρῶτος γεύσεσθαι ἔμελλεν / ἐκ χειρῶν Ὀδυσῆος ἀμύμονος(21.96-99), So he spoke; yet in his breast his spirit hoped to string the cord and shoot through the iron. He was to be the first to taste the arrow from the hands of blameless Odysseus.
νῦν μὲν γὰρ κατὰ δῆμον ἑορτὴ τοῖο θεοῖο / ἁγνή· τίς δέ κε τόξα τιταίνοιτʼ; ἀλλὰ ἕκηλοι / κάτθετʼ(21.258-260), for today is the sacred feast of that god among the people; who would stretch bows? But lay them down, at ease.
In Book XXII, he is the first to die: Odysseus strikes him in the throat as he raises a golden cup. Eurymachus blames him afterward, saying he did not need the marriage so much as to rule over Ithaca and to kill Telemachus.
ὄφρα πίοι οἴνοιο· φόνος δέ οἱ οὐκ ἐνὶ θυμῷ / μέμβλετο· τίς κʼ οἴοιτο μετʼ ἀνδράσι δαιτυμόνεσσι / μοῦνον ἐνὶ πλεόνεσσι, καὶ εἰ μάλα καρτερὸς εἴη, / οἷ τεύξειν θάνατόν τε κακὸν καὶ κῆρα μέλαιναν;(22.11-14), to drink wine; murder was not in his mind. Who would imagine that a single man among so many guests, however strong he was, would bring on him an evil death and black doom?
οὔ τι γάμου τόσσον κεχρημένος οὐδὲ χατίζων, / ἀλλʼ ἄλλα φρονέων, τά οἱ οὐκ ἐτέλεσσε Κρονίων, / ὄφρʼ Ἰθάκης κατὰ δῆμον ἐϋκτιμένης βασιλεύοι / αὐτός, ἀτὰρ σὸν παῖδα κατακτείνειε λοχήσας.(22.50-53), not so much desiring or needing the marriage, but thinking of other things, which the son of Cronos did not bring to pass: to rule himself over the people of well-settled Ithaca, and to kill your son by ambush.
In Book XXIV, his father, Eupeithes, mourns his son and calls the men of Ithaca to avenge him, saying he does not wish to live if his son is not avenged, and he falls in battle, struck down by Laertes.
λώβη γὰρ τάδε γʼ ἐστὶ καὶ ἐσσομένοισι πυθέσθαι, / εἰ δὴ μὴ παίδων τε κασιγνήτων τε φονῆας / τισόμεθʼ. οὐκ ἂν ἐμοί γε μετὰ φρεσὶν ἡδὺ γένοιτο / ζωέμεν, ἀλλὰ τάχιστα θανὼν φθιμένοισι μετείην.(24.433-436), for this will be a shame for those to hear who come after us, if we do not punish the killers of our sons and brothers. For me, in my heart, it would not be sweet to live, but to die as quickly as possible and be among the dead.
Themes Embodied
Antinous embodies the violation of hospitality, which the poem treats as a crime, and with it Loyalty and betrayal, seen from the side of betrayal: he eats the house of Odysseus, who saved his father when the people wanted to kill him. He also embodies Vengeance, which falls on him first. The Family of Odysseus is his target: Antinous wants the son dead and the house divided.
The poem always shows Antinous in an act of power: he speaks with authority and scorn, and the text has him, in Book XXII, dying with the cup in his hands, without thinking of death. What defines him is the desire for power, which Eurymachus names after his death, and which the narrator announces in Book XXI. Both readings hold: he is the chief who drags the others along, and he is also the name the living use to set down their guilt.
Relationships
- Telemachus: the boy he fears, wants to ambush, and watches grow.
- Penelope: the woman he accuses of the delay, to whom he offers a mantle and who rebukes him.
- Odysseus: the beggar he strikes, and the master of the house who kills him first.
- Eumaeus: the servant he rebukes for bringing in beggars.