Elpenor
Young companion of Odysseus who died from a drunken fall on Circe's island
The Legend of Elpenor
Elpenor was the youngest and least distinguished of Odysseus' crew, described as neither brave in battle nor steady in judgment. On the night before the Greeks departed from Circe's island of Aeaea, Elpenor drank too much wine and fell asleep on the roof of Circe's palace. Woken suddenly by the noise of departure at dawn, he forgot where he was, stepped off the edge, and broke his neck. His body was left unburied in the rush to leave. When Odysseus descended to the Underworld, Elpenor's ghost was the first shade he encountered, pitifully begging for proper burial and a marker on his grave. Odysseus later returned and honoured the request.
Parents
None recorded
Symbols
Fun Fact
His ghost's first request was not for vengeance or glory but simply for someone to remember where he fell
Explore Further
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🗡 heroNone recorded
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Theseus
🗡 heroheroism
Athenian prince who entered the Cretan Labyrinth, killed the Minotaur with Ariadne's help, then abandoned her on Naxos.
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🗡 heroNone recorded
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🗡 heroprophecy, sacrifice
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Tenes
🗡 heroPurity, Betrayal, Apollo
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Althaemenes
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Cretan prince who fled to Rhodes to avoid a prophecy that he would kill his father, only to fulfil it
Parthenopaeus
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Young Arcadian hero, one of the Seven Against Thebes, who died at the city walls before seeing his homeland again.
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🗡 heroThe hero who tamed Pegasus
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Phaedimus
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Icarius
🗡 heroNone recorded
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