Poseidon, Melampous, Neleus and Peiraios - Characters, The Odyssey | The Odyssey by Homer- Summary, Themes & Characters - Novels PDF Download

Poseidon

God of the sea, as well as an ever-angry and vengeful grudge-holder. He's the one who forces Odysseus to wander the sea for nearly twenty years, all because the man stabbed his son's eye out and made a big stinkin' dealabout it afterwards. 

Melampous

Sometimes spelled Melampus. This is another minor name in a major digression over yet another minor character. Let's see if we can identify some sort of relevance to our tale: In Book XV, Telemachos picks up a hitchhiker fugitive seer on his way back to Ithaka from Sparta. The hitchhiker is Theoklymenos, a descendant of Melampous. We then launch into Melampous' story, and find that he was unfairly exiled from his land until he came back and dished up some vengeance, Odysseus-style. 

Neleus

This guy is part of the digression regarding Theoklymenos, the hitchhiking fugitive seer that Telemachos picks up on his way back from Sparta. In the story, Neleus is the not-so-nice King that exiled Melampous, Theoklymenos' ancestor.

Peiraios

One of Telemachos' crewmen. When the Prince comes back to Ithaka at Athene's urging, Peiraios agrees to house Theoklymenos, the hitchhiking fugitive seer they picked up on the way. (More good hospitality, you'll note.)