Source-groundedThe Odyssey
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Character · Collective

Ulysses and his three allies in the cloister battle

Published entity metadata

Read-only identity and editorial metadata.

Canonical name
Ulysses and his three allies in the cloister battle
Disambiguator
None
Kind
Character
Scope
Collective
Editorial note
This bounded fighting group comprises Ulysses, Telemachus, the stockman Philoetius, and the swineherd Eumaeus in the current battle.

Aliases

0

No aliases recorded.

Location presence

Phase 6 currently covers 24 processed books.

2
covered cloisters1 observation
·Direct

The four allied men stood together in the cloister.

See evidence text
“There, then, they left him in very cruel bondage, and having put on their armour they closed the door behind them and went back to take their places by the side of Ulysses; whereon the four men stood in the cloister, fierce and full of fury; nevertheless, those who were in the body of the court were still both brave and many. Then Jove’s daughter Minerva came up to them, having assumed the voice and form of Mentor. Ulysses was glad when he saw her and said, ‘Mentor, lend me your help, and forget not your old com rade, nor the many good turns he has done you. Besides, you are my age-mate.’ ”
court where the suitors fought inside Ulysses’ house1 observation
·Direct

Ulysses and his three allies fell upon the suitors in the court.

See evidence text
“Thus spoke the stockman, and Ulysses struck the son of Damastor with a spear in close fight, while Telemachus hit Leocritus son of Evenor in the belly, and the dart went clean through him, so that he fell forward full on his face upon the ground. Then Minerva from her seat on the rafter held up her deadly aegis, and the hearts of the suitors quailed. They fled to the other end of the court like a herd of cattle maddened by the gadfly in early summer when the days are at their longest. As eagle-beaked, crook-taloned vultures from the mountains swoop down on the smaller birds that cower in flocks upon the ground, and kill them, for they cannot either fight or fly, and lookers on enjoy the sport—even so did Ulysses and his men fall upon the suitors and smite them on every side. They made a horrible groaning as their brains were being battered in, and the ground seethed with their blood. ”

Claims

4
·Direct

Ulysses and his three allies stand in the cloister fierce and full of fury against the larger force in the court.

See evidence text
“the four men stood in the cloister, fierce and full of fury”
·Direct

Ulysses and his three allies kill four suitors with spears, rush the retreating survivors, and recover their weapons from the bodies.

See evidence text
“They therefore aimed straight in front of them and threw their spears. Ulysses killed Demoptolemus, Telemachus Euryades, Eumaeus Elatus, while the stockman killed Pisander. These all bit the dust, and as the others drew back into a corner Ulysses and his men rushed forward and regained their spears by drawing them from the bodies of the dead”
·Simile

Ulysses and his allies falling on the suitors from every side are likened to mountain vultures swooping on cowering smaller birds.

See evidence text
“As eagle-beaked, crook-taloned vultures from the mountains swoop down on the smaller birds that cower in flocks upon the ground, and kill them, for they cannot either fight or fly, and lookers on enjoy the sport—even so did Ulysses and his men fall upon the suitors and smite them on every side”
·Remembered

Ulysses and his allies attack the suitors with divine help throughout the cloisters.

See evidence text
“some one of the gods was helping them, for they fell upon us with might and main throughout the cloisters”

Additional evidence

Evidence records not already represented by a claim.

3
·Direct
“Telemachus did as his father said, and went off to the store room where the armour was kept. He chose four shields, eight spears, and four brass helmets with horse-hair plumes. He brought them with all speed to his father, and armed himself first, while the stockman and the swineherd also put on their armour, and took their places near Ulysses.”
·Direct
“Then he roused Telemachus, Philoetius, and Eumaeus, and told them all to put on their armour also”
·Direct
“Ulysses, his three men”

Passage preview

Book 22 · Passage 14

Telemachus did as his father said, and went off to the store room where the armour was kept. He chose four shields, eight spears, and four brass helmets with horse-hair plumes. He brought them with all speed to his father, and armed himself first, while the stockman and the swineherd also put on their armour, and took their places near Ulysses. Meanwhile Ulysses, as long as his arrows lasted, had been shooting the suitors one by one, and they fell thick on one another: when his arrows gave out, he set the bow to stand against the end wall of the house by the door post, and hung a shield four hides thick about his shoulders; on his comely head he set his helmet, well wrought with a crest of horse-hair that nodded menacingly above it, {168} and he grasped two redoubtable bronze-shod spears.