Αντινοος
- The leader of the suitors who invaded Odysseus' palace while he was away and tried to wed Penelope. Antinous was especially notorious for his violence, brutality, pride and hard-heartedness. He tried to cause Telemachus' death, led his companions in the scramble for Odysseus' possessions, insulted Eumaus when the old swineherd admitted Odysseus into the palace, and incited the beggar Irus against Odysseus, whom he did not recognize. He was finally killed by the first arrow loosed by Odysseus, at the very moment when he was raising a cup to his lips. This could well have been the origin of the expression 'There's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip.' (See also Calchas.)
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A better known Antinous was the favourite of the Emperor Hadrian and was renowned for his outstanding beauty. After he accidentally drowned, while accompanying the Emperor up the Nile in AD 130, he was deified and cults and festivals were established in his honour.
{E2 DICTIONARY OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY}
Table of Sources:
- Hom. Od. 1, 383; 2, 113ff.; 4, 660ff.; 16-24 passim
- Zenob. 5, 71