Nausicaa
heroNausicaa was the young princess of Scheria who found the shipwrecked Odysseus on the beach and guided him to her father's palace — launching his final journey home.
The Myth
Athena appeared to Nausicaa in a dream, urging her to wash clothes at the river. There she found Odysseus, naked and caked with salt, emerging from the bushes. While her handmaidens fled, Nausicaa stood firm. She gave him clothes, food, and directions to the palace. Her composure and kindness at this moment of vulnerability is one of the Odyssey's most admired scenes. Many scholars see her as one of the first fully realised young women in Western literature.
Parents
Alcinous and Arete
Symbols
Fun Fact
Samuel Butler argued in 1897 that a young Sicilian woman — possibly Nausicaa herself — actually wrote the Odyssey.
Explore Further
Arete
conceptArete was the Greek concept of excellence in all things — not merely moral virtue but the...
Athena
godGoddess of wisdom and strategic warfare, born fully armored from the head of Zeus. Patron deity of...
Odysseus
heroThe cleverest of the Greek heroes, whose ten-year journey home from Troy is one of the greatest...
Achilles
heroThe greatest warrior in the Greek army at Troy, nearly invulnerable thanks to being dipped in the...
Actaeon
heroActaeon was a master hunter who accidentally saw Artemis bathing naked — she transformed him into a...
Adonis
heroAdonis was a youth of such extraordinary beauty that Aphrodite herself fell in love with him — his...