ANTINOUS (leader of Penelope's suitors)

Antinous sought to become the chief ruler of Ithaca, consuming the property of Odysseus without paying for it while he wooed the wife of Odysseus.^10,4 He was the primary instigator of the offenses committed against Odysseus, urging the others to act even worse than they already did.^10,5 When Telemachus warned him that Zeus would punish him for persisting in eating at his expense, Antinous was the only person who dared to give Telemachus an angry answer.^11,12 He stated that the suitors would have stopped Telemachus's talk if Zeus had allowed it, ignoring the words spoken by the other suitors.^13,14

His cruelty toward the lowly was evident when he complained that beggars were wasting his master's property and struck a poor tramp who was present among the suitors.^15,16 Antinous threw a footstool at Odysseus, striking him on the right shoulder blade, and threatened to have the beggar dragged through the courts and flayed alive.^17,18 He verbally threatened the servant Irus with severe mutilation and exile, and laughed heartily upon seeing a quarrel between a stranger and Irus.^19,20 He was urged to provide food to a stranger instead of expelling him, and he placed a large goat's paunch filled with blood and fat before the man.^21,22

During the contest of the bow, Antinous remained among the suitors who lacked the strength to string it, and he advised postponing the contest until the next day.^6,23 He scolded Eumaeus and the stockman for weeping over the bow, ordering the servants to stop crying and eat in silence or leave.²⁴ Antinous rebuked the man who had just set the bow down, and he angrily rebuked a beggar for attempting to string it, telling him to drink and remain quiet without quarreling.^25,26 He proposed a contest where the winner would receive a choice of food and be exempt from beggar restrictions, and he proposed making drink-offerings and offering thigh bones to Apollo during the feast.^27,23

Antinous died during the conflict with Odysseus in the cloister of Odysseus' house, falling over with blood gushing from his nostrils.^8,28 He was shot in the throat by an arrow that pierced his neck, and he had been the only person who dared to give Telemachus an angry answer.^8,12 His body remained unburied there, and he was killed first by Odysseus.^8,28 Although he was a wicked schemer and insolent, the local people of Mantineia deified Antinous, and he won worship there due to his Bithynian descent.^4,29 He has honors in other places also, remembered as a figure of both great standing and terrible fate.²⁹