Alcinous

Ulysses at the court of Alcinous by Francesco Hayez.

Alcinous or Alkínoös (Gr. Ἀλκίνοος) was, in Greek mythology, a son of Nausithous, or of Phaeax (son of Poseidon and Corcyra), and father of Nausicaa, Halius, and Laodamas with Arete.^[1] His name literally means "mighty mind". He married his brother Rhexenor's daughter after Rhexenor was killed.^{[citation needed]}

Mythography

In the myth of the Jason and the Argonauts, Alcinous is represented as living with his queen Arete in Drepane. The Argonauts, on their return from Colchis, came to his island, and were hospitably received. When the Colchians, in their pursuit of the Argo­nauts, likewise arrived in Drepane, and demanded that Jason's lover Medea should be delivered up to them, Alci­nous declared that if she was still a maiden she should be restored to them, but if she was already the wife of Jason, he would protect her and her husband against the Colchians. The Colchians were obliged, by the contrivance of Arete, to depart with­out their princess, and the Argonauts continued their voyage homeward, after they had received expensive presents from Alcinous.^[2][3][4]

According to Homer, Alcinous is the happy ruler of the Phaiakians in the island of Scheria, who has by Arete five sons and one daugh­ter, Nausicaa.^[5] The description of his palace and his dominions, the mode in which Odysseus is received, the enter­tainments given to him, and the stories he related to the king about his own wanderings, occupy a considerable portion of Homer's Odyssey (from book vi. to xiii.), and form one of its most charming parts.^[6]

References

External links

• JC Loudon (1835) on the Garden of Alcinous

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