Nausicaa
Nausicaa 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 Legend of Nausicaa
Princess of the Phaeacians, Nausicaa found Odysseus shipwrecked and naked on the shore of Scheria after Poseidon wrecked his raft. Athena had appeared to her in a dream, urging her to wash clothes at the river. Nausicaa alone stood her ground while her handmaidens fled, offering Odysseus food, clothing, and guidance to her father King Alcinous's palace. There Odysseus told the tale of Troy, the Cyclops, Circe, Calypso, Hades, and the Sirens. Alcinous provided a ship to carry him home to Ithaca and Penelope. Some traditions say Nausicaa later married Telemachus.
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
Theseus
🗡 heroheroism
Athenian prince who entered the Cretan Labyrinth, killed the Minotaur with Ariadne's help, then abandoned her on Naxos.
Tyro
🗡 herolove
Beautiful princess who fell in love with the river god Enipeus, only to be seduced by Poseidon disguised as the river.
Anaxibia
🗡 heroMarriage, royalty
Mycenaean princess who married Strophius of Phocis and raised the young Orestes in secret
Andromeda
🗡 herorescue
Ethiopian princess chained to a rock as sacrifice to a sea monster, rescued by Perseus, and placed among the stars.
Andromeda
🗡 heroPrincess chained to a rock, saved by Perseus
Andromeda was an Ethiopian princess chained to a sea cliff as sacrifice to a monster — rescued by Perseus, who petrified the beast with Medusa's head.
Europa
🗡 heroPrincess who gave her name to a continent
Europa was the Phoenician princess whom Zeus, in the form of a white bull, carried across the sea to Crete — her name was given to the continent of Europe.
Oreithyia
🗡 heroabduction
Athenian princess abducted by the North Wind Boreas, mother of the winged Argonauts Zetes and Calais.
Ariadne
🗡 heroPrincess who saved Theseus from the Labyrinth
Daughter of King Minos who fell in love with Theseus and gave him the thread that allowed him to escape the Labyrinth after slaying the Minotaur.
Hypsipyle
🗡 heroNone recorded
Queen of Lemnos who saved her father when the women of the island murdered every other man, later becoming the lover of Jason during the Argonauts' voyage
Arsinoe
🗡 heroNursing, protection
Nurse or foster-mother of Orestes who saved the prince from Clytemnestra's murderous designs
Alcimede
🗡 heroMotherhood, nobility
Noble Thessalian woman and mother of Jason, leader of the Argonauts
Hesione
🗡 herocaptivity
Trojan princess chained to a rock as sacrifice to a sea monster, rescued by Heracles, then given to Telamon as a war prize.