Who Is Anticlea (Antikleia)?
The mother who died longing for her son
Anticlea is the mother of Odysseus. In the original poem she is the daughter of Autolycus, a famous thief.
In this story, she meets Odysseus in the Underworld. She was still alive when he left for Troy, so this is how he first learns of her death. She tells him she did not die of illness but of longing for her son. She also tells him that his wife Penelope is still waiting for him, and that his father Laertes lives in grief out in the countryside. Three times Odysseus tries to embrace her, and three times her ghost slips through his arms like a shadow.
It is known as one of the most heartbreaking moments of the journey to the Underworld.
