The Corpse of Odysseus

Abstract

The topic is the burial of the corpse of Odysseus at Aeaea in the Telegony. I argue that in the Cyclic epic the corpse is buried at an Aeaea localized in Italy. The prophecy of Tiresias in Odyssey 11 may allude to some version of the Telegonus story, but the Homeric epic largely discounts such epichoric legends about Odysseus. Correspondences and differences between the Odyssey and the Telegony result from independent self-positioning within traditional Odyssean myth.