Eurycleia (mythology)
Eurycleia ( Greek Εὐρύκλεια ) is a person of Greek mythology . The main source of her person is Homer's Odyssey , in which she is portrayed as the faithful wet nurse of Odysseus .
Eurycleia was the daughter of the ops and came as a young slave in the service of King Laërtes of Ithaca , who had bought her for 20 oxen. She was treated extremely well at court. The king did not dare start a relationship with her because he wanted to avoid conflicts with his wife Antikleia . Eurycleia then raised Odysseus as a child. During his 20-year absence, she was his diligent and faithful housekeeper.
When Odysseus returned to Ithaca after such a long time, he first had to get rid of the suitors who were harassing his faithful wife Penelope in order to restore his rule . At first he tried to hide his identity, so he came to the palace disguised as a beggar and was not recognized, not even by his wife. She told Eurycleia to wash Odysseus' feet. His now old nurse noticed his scar on his thigh, which was caused by a wound once caused by a boar's tooth. By this characteristic she recognized her returning master. But the “beggar” threatened to forbid her to pass this discovery on to his wife or other people.
When Odysseus took the decisive fight against the suitors, Eurycleia was one of his few supporters. After he had won the argument, he slowed down his wet nurse's jubilation and learned from her which of his servants had sided with the suitors and had become their lovers. Among them was Melantho , whom Penelope had raised like her own daughter. The twelve unfaithful maidservants were hung up. Later Eurycleia woke her mistress, who had slept soundly, and told her of Odysseus' return, but Penelope believed this message only after she had found out that the man who had returned knew a secret that only her husband could know apart from her.
Several preserved sculptures show how Eurycleia washes Odysseus' feet.
literature
- Ulrich Hoefer: Eurykleia 1). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VI, 1, Stuttgart 1907, Sp. 1328.
- Eurykleia , in: Michael Grant and John Hazel: Lexikon der antiken Mythen und Gestalten , 1973, dtv, 14th edition, Munich 1999, p. 149.
- Heinrich Wilhelm Stoll : Eurycleia 2 . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 1,1, Leipzig 1886, column 1423 ( digitized version ).
Web links
- Eurykleia in the Greek Myth Index (English)