
Anticlea (died 1182 BC) was the mother of Odysseus, King of Ithaca during the 13th century BC.
Biography[]
Anticlea was the daughter of Autolycus and Amphithea (making her the granddaughter of Hermes), and she married King Laertes of Cephalonia; it was rumored that Sisyphus seduced Anticlea and fathered her child with Laertes, Odysseus. When Odysseus prepared to leave for the Trojan War, Anticlea had Odysseus leave his bow at home so that his newborn son Telemachus could learn to be a warrior. She was reluctant to let her son leave for the war, and, during Odysseus' twenty-year absence in the Troad and on his return voyage, Anticlea became full of grief and, in 1182 BC, she decided to commit suicide by drowning herself in the sea. When Odysseus travelled to the Underworld to seek the advice of the late prophet Tiresias, he reunited with his mother, who told him that she had died of grief during his absence, that Laertes wept alone, clad in rags, and that Penelope longed for Odysseus' return while Telemachus served as magistrate for Odysseus' properties. Odysseus was agonized when he thrice failed to embrace his mother, as she, like all other spirits, were incorporeal.