Nausicaa

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article discusses the Greek mythological character Nausicaa. For the anime film, see Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. See Nausicaa (disambiguation) for other usages.

Odysseus and Nausicaä, by Charles Gleyre.

In ancient Greek literature, Nausicaa (often rendered Nausicaä or Nausikaa; Greek: Ναυσικάα^[1]), a daughter of King Alcinous (Alkínoös) of the Phaeacians and Queen Arete, appears in Homer's Odyssey (Odysseía), Book Six. Her name means, in Greek, "burner of ships". Homer gives a literary account of love never expressed: while she is presented as a potential love interest to Odysseus – she says to her friend that she would like her husband to be like him, and her father tells Odysseus he would let him marry her – nothing really results between the pair. Nausicaa is also a mother figure for Odysseus; she ensures Odysseus' return home, and thus says "Never forget me, for I gave you life," indicating her status as a "new mother" in Odysseus' rebirth.^[2]

Nausicaa, Frederic Leighton ca. 1878.

A substantial portion of the Odyssey consists of Odysseus recounting his adventures to Alcinous and his guests. Alcinous then generously provides Odysseus with the ships that finally bring him home to Ithaca. Nausicaa is young and very pretty; Odysseus says that she resembles a goddess, particularly Artemis. Nausicaa is known to have several brothers. According to Aristotle and Dictys of Crete, Telemachus, son of Odysseus, married Nausicaa and had a son named Perseptolis or Ptoliporthus.

The 2nd century BC grammarian Agallis attributed the invention of ball games to Nausicaa, most likely because Nausicaa was the first person in literature to be described playing with a ball.^[3]

[edit] References

^ Homeri Odyssea, book 6, line 17, Georg Olms Verlag 1991, ISBN 3-487-09458-4
^ 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.
^ Pomeroy, Sarah B. (1990). Women in Hellenistic Egypt: From Alexander to Cleopatra. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 61. ISBN 0-8143-2230-1.