Idomeneus

Idomeneus, the Cretan king and hero of the Trojan War, appears in the Odyssey as a figure whose safe return to Crete contrasts with Odysseus's prolonged absence, and whose household is drawn into the false identity Odysseus constructs to test Penelope. Though he never appears in the poem's main action, his name is invoked as a measure of reliable return, a source of false testimony, and a link to the bow that decides the suitors' fate.

Identity and Background

Idomeneus is the son of Deucalion and grandson of Minos, the legendary king of Cnossus who held conferences with Zeus himself. He led the Cretan contingent to Troy, commanding a fleet of ships alongside the other Achaean chiefs. Nestor, recounting the returns from Troy, reports that Idomeneus lost no men at sea and that all his followers who escaped death in the field got safe home with him to Crete. This safe homecoming stands in pointed contrast to Odysseus's long wandering and to the disastrous returns of Agamemnon and others.

Role in Odysseus's False Identity

When Odysseus, disguised as a beggar, tells Penelope a fabricated life story, he claims to be Aethon, the younger brother of Idomeneus. In this invented account, Odysseus claims to have hosted the real Odysseus in Crete when storms drove him off course on his way to Troy. Idomeneus had already sailed, so the false Aethon took Odysseus into his own house, fed his men from the public store, and gathered wine and oxen for them. The detail is precise: Odysseus stayed twelve days because a North gale made it impossible to keep one's feet on land. Penelope weeps at this story, and the false Aethon reinforces his credibility by describing the clothes Odysseus wore—a purple wool mantle fastened with a gold brooch showing a dog strangling a spotted fawn, and a soft shirt that fitted like an onion skin—and by naming Eurybates, the hunched, dark, curly-haired servant who accompanied Odysseus. Penelope confirms she gave Odysseus those very clothes and the brooch, deepening her trust in the stranger.

The Bow of Iphitus and the Contest

Idomeneus's household is also tied to the bow that decides the contest of the axes. The bow was given to Odysseus by Iphitus, son of Eurytus, whom they met in Messene at the house of Ortilochus. Odysseus was there to recover a debt of three hundred sheep that the Messenians had carried off from Ithaca; Iphitus had come to recover twelve brood mares and their mule foals. Iphitus gave Odysseus the bow that his father Eurytus had carried, and Odysseus gave him a sword and a spear. This exchange was the beginning of a fast friendship, though they never visited each other's homes because Hercules killed Iphitus before they could do so. Odysseus left the bow behind when he sailed for Troy, keeping it as a keepsake from a valued friend. The bow thus carries the memory of Idomeneus's Cretan world into the climactic scene of Odysseus's revenge.

Narrative Significance

Idomeneus functions as a foil and a narrative resource. His safe return underscores the exceptional nature of Odysseus's suffering, while his name and household provide the raw material for Odysseus's most elaborate deception. The false identity of Aethon, brother of Idomeneus, allows Odysseus to speak of himself in the third person, to describe his own appearance and habits with apparent objectivity, and to elicit Penelope's trust without revealing himself. The bow's origin in the same Cretan network reinforces the coherence of Odysseus's invented biography. Idomeneus himself never appears, but his shadow falls across the poem's central recognitions.