Ulysses, Ulixes The Greek hero, son of Laërtes. See Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. (See Francesco Primaticcio’s painting – Ulysses and Penelope – The Toledo Museum of Art) Bk XII:579-628. He competes for the arms of Achilles. Bk XIII:1-122. Ajax cites his deficiencies; his cunning; his reluctance to join the expedition against Troy; his desertion of Philoctetes; his desertion of Nestor; his desertion of the ships when Hector torched them; his unworthy victims; and his theft of the Palladium. Bk XIII:123-381. Ulysses replies by extolling intelligence and ability over ancestry and mere brawn and courage. He is nobler than Ajax; he discovered the concealed Achilles and sent him to Troy; influenced Agamemnon at Aulis and Troy; went as ambassador to Priam; uncovered a spy, Dolon; killed Rhesus and others; and made the destruction of Troy possible by obtaining the Palladium, its guarantee of safety. He claims Diomede as a true friend. Bk XIII:399-428. He sets sail for Lemnos to bring back the arrows of Hercules. Bk XIII:399-428. He finds Hecuba among the tombs of her sons at the fall of Troy. Bk XIII:481-575. Even Ulysses would not want Hecuba except as the mother of Hector. Bk XIII:705-737. Ithaca is his home. Bk XIII:738-788. Telemus prophesies that he will destroy the single eye of Polyphemus. Bk XIV:154-222. Macareus and Achaemenides were two of his companions. He blinded Polyphemus, and his ship was nearly wrecked by him. Bk XIV:223-319. Aeolus gave him the bag of winds, but opened by his men, he was blown back to Aeolus, then encountered the Laestrygonians and came to Circe’s isle where his men were transformed into beasts. He ‘married’ Circe, rescued them, and stayed there for a year. Bk XIV:527-565. The Trojan ships transformed into naiads rejoice to see the wreckage of his ship. Bk XIV:623-697. Penelope waits for him while he is delayed by the war. Urania One of the nine Muses, later Muse of Astronomy. Bk V:250-293. She welcomes Minerva to Helicon. Ursa Major, The Great Bear, The Waggon (plaustra), The Wain, The Plough, The Big Dipper, Helice The constellation of Ursa Major. It represents Callisto turned into a bear by Jupiter, or the plough or waggon or cart of Bootës. The two stars of the ‘bowl’ furthest from the ‘handle,’ Merak and Dubhe, point to Polaris the pole star. The ‘handle’ points to the star Arcturus in the constellation Bootës, who is the Waggoner or Herdsman or Bear Herd (Arcturus means the Bearkeeper) or Ploughman. Bk II:150-177. Bk II:496-507. Jupiter turns Callisto into the Great Bear and Arcas her son into the Little Bear, Ursa Minor. Bk II:508-530. The constellation is prevented, through Juno’s request to Tethys and Oceanus, from dipping below the horizon. Bk VIII:183-235. Icarus is warned not to fly too near the constellation. |
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