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Nausicaa (/nɔːˈsɪkɪə/; Ancient Greek: Ναυσικάα, romanized: Nausikáa [nau̯sikáaː], or Ναυσικᾶ, Nausikâ, [nau̯sikâː]), also spelled Nausicaä or Nausikaa, is a character in Homer's Odyssey. She is the daughter of King Alcinous and Queen Arete of Phaeacia. Her name means "burner of ships" (ναῦς 'ship'; κάω 'to burn').

Role in the Odyssey

In Book Six of the Odyssey, Odysseus is shipwrecked on the coast of the island of Scheria (Phaeacia in some translations). Nausicaä and her handmaidens go to the seashore to wash clothes. Awakened by their games, Odysseus emerges from the forest completely naked, scaring the servants away, and begs Nausicaä for aid. Affected by the unfortunate hero, she gives Odysseus some clothes and takes him to the edge of the town. Keeping him secret, she goes ahead into town, telling him to go directly to Alcinous's house and make his case to Nausicaä's mother Queen Arete, the family's matriarch. Odysseus approaches Arete and wins her approval, and he is received as a guest by King Alcinous.

During his stay, Odysseus recounts his adventures to Alcinous and his court, a frame story for a substantial portion of the Odyssey. Alcinous then generously provides Odysseus with the ships that finally bring him home to Ithaca.

Nausicaä is young and beautiful; Odysseus says she resembles the goddess Artemis. She has several brothers. According to Aristotle and Dictys of Crete, she later married Odysseus's son Telemachus, and had one or two sons, Poliporthes or/and Persepolis.

Homer gives a literary account of a love which is never expressed (one of the earliest examples of unrequited love in literature). Nausicaä is presented as a potential love interest for Odysseus: she tells her friend that she would like her husband to be like him, and her father tells Odysseus that he would let him marry her. The two do not have a romantic relationship, however, and she marries Telemachus in some versions. Nausicaä is also a mother figure for Odysseus; she ensures his return home, and says "Never forget me, for I gave you life". Odysseus never tells Penelope about his encounter with Nausicaä, out of all the women he met on his long journey home. Some suggest this indicates a deeper feeling for the young woman. According to some versions, the father of one of Nausicaa's sons was Odysseus himself rather than his son Telemachus.

Gallery

• Tischbein: Odysseus and Nausicaa (1819)
• Frederick Leighton: Nausicaa (1878)
• Jean Veber: Ulysses and Nausicaa (1888)
• Nausicaa by Robert Jackson Emerson

References

1. "Nausicaa". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d.
2. "Nausicaä". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
3. Shipley, Joseph T. (2011). The Origins of English Words: A Discursive Dictionary of Indo-European Roots. Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 160.
4. Hamilton, Edith (1999) . Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes. New York: Grand Central Publishing Hachette Book Group USA.
5. Powell, Barry B. Classical Myth. Second ed. With new translations of ancient texts by Herbert M. Howe. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1998, p. 581.

Sources

• Portions of this material originated as excerpts from the public-domain 1848 edition of the Classical Dictionary by John Lemprière.

• Princesses in Greek mythology
• Characters in the Odyssey
• Phaeacians
• Women of Odysseus