Eurypylus

Eurypylus, son of Telephus, appears only in Odysseus's retrospective narrative during his visit to the underworld, yet he is sketched with a precision that makes him linger. Odysseus mentions him while speaking to the ghost of Achilles, who has asked for news of his son Neoptolemus. In the course of that answer, Odysseus names Eurypylus as one of the notable enemies Neoptolemus killed in battle, and he adds a striking personal judgment: Eurypylus was the handsomest man Odysseus ever saw, second only to the Ethiopian prince Memnon. The phrase is brief but emphatic, and it gives Eurypylus a distinct place in the catalogue of the fallen.

Identity and Background

Eurypylus is the son of Telephus, who was himself a son of Heracles and the king of Mysia. Telephus had fought the Achaeans when they first landed at Troy, mistaking Mysia for the Troad, and had been wounded by Achilles before being healed by the same spear that had struck him. Eurypylus thus inherited a complex legacy of enmity and connection with the Greek host. He led a contingent of Ceteians—a people whose exact identity is uncertain but who are associated with Mysia or the broader region of western Anatolia—to fight on the Trojan side. His arrival came late in the war, after Achilles was already dead, and he proved a formidable warrior.

Role in the Trojan War

Odysseus tells Achilles that Eurypylus was killed by Neoptolemus, Achilles's own son, during the fighting that followed the arrival of reinforcements on both sides. The context is a list of Neoptolemus's exploits: he never remained with the main body of his men but always dashed forward, foremost in valour, and among those he slew was Eurypylus. Odysseus adds that many other Ceteians fell around Eurypylus "by reason of a woman's bribes"—a cryptic phrase that likely alludes to the myth in which Eurypylus's mother, Astyoche, was bribed by Priam with a golden vine to send her son to war, a detail that underscores the mercenary and tragic dimensions of his participation.

Narrative Significance

Eurypylus serves several functions in Odysseus's tale. He provides a concrete example of Neoptolemus's prowess, satisfying Achilles's anxious curiosity about his son. He also enriches the underworld scene with a specific, vivid name from the war's later stages, grounding the epic's vast catalogue of death in a single memorable figure. Odysseus's remark about Eurypylus's beauty—placing him just below Memnon—is a rare moment of aesthetic judgment in the poem, and it humanises the enemy, making the loss of even a handsome and valiant opponent a matter of regret. The mention of the woman's bribe, meanwhile, introduces a note of moral complexity: Eurypylus was not simply a foe but a son sent to die by his mother's venality, a detail that resonates with the Odyssey's broader concern with the destructive power of gifts and persuasion.

Thematic Resonance

Eurypylus's brief appearance connects to several of the poem's major themes. His death at the hands of Neoptolemus fulfils the pattern of sons avenging or succeeding fathers—a pattern that runs from Orestes killing Aegisthus to Telemachus standing beside Odysseus against the suitors. His beauty, singled out by Odysseus, echoes the Homeric ideal of the kalos kagathos, the noble warrior whose physical excellence matches his martial skill, and his fall underscores the war's indiscriminate appetite for the best of both sides. Finally, the story of the bribe links Eurypylus to the network of exchange and corruption that the Odyssey repeatedly examines, from the suitors' consumption of Odysseus's estate to the gifts that Helen received from the Egyptian queen Polydamna. Eurypylus is a minor figure, but the evidence of the poem gives him a distinct and resonant outline.