Demodocus


Also found in: Wikipedia.

Demodocus

blind bard rewarded by Odysseus. [Gk. Lit.: Odyssey VIII]
See: Blindness

Demodocus

minstrel whom Odysseus hears singing the amours of Ares and Aphrodite. [Gk. Lit.: Odyssey VIII]
See: Music
Mentioned in ?
References in classic literature ?
There is Nicostratus the son of Theosdotides, and the brother of Theodotus (now Theodotus himself is dead, and therefore he, at any rate, will not seek to stop him); and there is Paralus the son of Demodocus, who had a brother Theages; and Adeimantus the son of Ariston, whose brother Plato is present; and Aeantodorus, who is the brother of Apollodorus, whom I also see.
View in context
I can take no excuses, and we will have Demodocus to sing to us; for there is no bard like him whatever he may choose to sing about.
Alcinous then led the way, and the others followed after, while a servant went to fetch Demodocus.
A servant presently led in the famous bard Demodocus, whom the muse had dearly loved, but to whom she had given both good and evil, for though she had endowed him with a divine gift of song, she had robbed him of his eyesight.
The company then laid their hands upon the good things that were before them, but as soon as they had had enough to eat and drink, the muse inspired Demodocus to sing the feats of heroes, and more especially a matter that was then in the mouths of all men, to wit, the quarrel between Ulysses and Achilles, and the fierce words that they heaped on one another as they sat together at a banquet.
When the bard left off singing he wiped the tears from his eyes, uncovered his face, and, taking his cup, made a drink-offering to the gods; but when the Phaeacians pressed Demodocus to sing further, for they delighted in his lays, then Ulysses again drew his mantle over his head and wept bitterly.
Demodocus has left his lyre at my house, so run some one or other of you and fetch it for him.
Then Ulysses cut off a piece of roast pork with plenty of fat (for there was abundance left on the joint) and said to a servant, "Take this piece of pork over to Demodocus and tell him to eat it; for all the pain his lays may cause me I will salute him none the less; bards are honoured and respected throughout the world, for the muse teaches them their songs and loves them.
The servant carried the pork in his fingers over to Demodocus, who took it and was very much pleased.
Aldermen and town councillors of the Phaeacians, let Demodocus cease his song, for there are those present who do not seem to like it.
View in context
A comparison of this work with the Lay of Demodocus ("Odyssey" viii, 266 ff.
View in context
In this regard, the germ of the first half of the Aeneid might be found in the scene in the Odyssey where Odysseus is moved to tears by the tale of the tragedy of Troy sung by the bard Demodocus among the Phaeacians.
The secondariness of Virgilian epic and its unprecedented originality

Encyclopedia browser ?
Full browser ?