Melantho (Odyssey)

For other uses, see Melantho.

In Greek mythology, Melantho (/mɪˈlænθoʊ/; Ancient Greek: Μελανθώ, romanized: Melanthṓ) is one of the minor characters in the Odyssey.

Family

Melantho was the sister to Melanthios, a goatherd in Ithaca, and the daughter of Dolios.

Mythology

Melantho was among Penelope's favorite female slaves; she had "reared and looked after her as tenderly as her own child" and given "all the toys she could desire" growing up.

Despite this, Melantho was disloyal and ungrateful to Odysseus and his household. She was one of the slaves who slept with the suitors of Penelope; "she was in love with" Eurymachus and had become his "mistress".

Described as having a "sharp tongue", upon Odysseus's arrival in his own home, disguised as a beggar, Melantho treated him harshly and rudely asked why he has not gone to sleep in the smithy, the location where chance visitors in Ithaca tended to go. She is rude to Odysseus again, urging him to leave, for which Odysseus and Penelope respond intensely to her.

After Odysseus and his men kill the suitors, it is not clear if Melantho is among the slave girls that are forced to clean the hall and are then hanged by Telemachus.

References

• Homer, The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. ISBN 978-0674995611. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• Homer, The Odyssey with an English Translation by E.V. Rieu and D.C.H. Rieu. Penguin Books 2003.
• Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. ISBN 0-674-99328-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
• Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.