Arete in The Odyssey

Who is Arete?

Arete is the Phaeacian queen who presides alongside King Alcinous over a wealthy, orderly court. When Odysseus arrives on Scheria, Athena directs him to appeal to Arete first because her kindness and clearheadedness determine whether the stranger will receive aid. In the great hall she listens to his plea, and—recognizing the fine garments Odysseus wears as products of her household—asks probing questions about their origin. Arete participates in the court’s decisions: she and Alcinous host the stranger, provide hospitality, and agree to send him home. She oversees the packing of the gifts for Odysseus and shares the inner bed with her husband, embodying domestic and political authority in the palace. Throughout the Phaeacian banquet and games she remains a figure whose approval and practical actions help secure Odysseus’s safe passage from Scheria toward Ithaca.

In the book: We first meet Arete in the great hall of Phaeacia, where she’s Queen alongside King Alcinous and mother to Nausicaa. People defer to her judgment, and Odysseus is urged to approach her first because her kindness and clear head can decide whether he gets help.

Personality

Judicious

She questions Odysseus about the origin of the clothes he wears, using that detail to test his story.

Hospitable

She presides over Odysseus’s reception and assists in arranging his accommodation and gifts at Alcinous’s court.

Respected

Athena instructs Odysseus to appeal to Arete first because people defer to her judgment in the palace.

Practical

She packs Odysseus’s gifts into a chest and ensures they are secured before his departure.

Character arc

Arete’s role is steady and consistent from her first appearance to the end of Odysseus’s stay in Phaeacia: she appears as a calm, authoritative queen who exercises domestic and political power within the palace. When Odysseus arrives disguised by Athena’s mist, Arete immediately becomes the appropriate point of appeal; her recognition of the garments signals both her familiarity with household production and her capacity to interrogate a guest’s tale. She does not undergo a personal transformation across the episodes recorded: rather, her influence is demonstrated through measured inquiry, participation in hospitality rituals, and practical management of the gifts that will accompany Odysseus. By the time the Phaeacians arrange the ship that bears him away, Arete has fulfilled her function as guardian of household order and arbiter of courtesy, reinforcing the palace’s role as a locus of civilized response to the wandering hero. Her constancy contrasts with the wanderer’s upheavals and underscores institutional stability in the narrative.

Relationships

• Alcinous Her husband and co-ruler; they share the inner bed and jointly preside over Odysseus’s reception and decisions.
• Nausicaa Her daughter, whose kindness to Odysseus is praised in the court and whose actions bring the stranger to Arete’s attention.
• Odysseus A suppliant whom she receives, questions about his clothes, and helps to secure hospitality and a ship for his homeward journey.
• Demodocus The blind bard of the court whose songs set the scene for the banquet over which Arete presides.
• Echeneus An elder who advocates for hospitable treatment of Odysseus in the assembly where Arete and Alcinous decide the stranger’s fate.

Quotes by Arete

“See to the lid yourself, and have the whole bound round at once, for fear any one should rob you by the way when you are asleep in your ship.”

Book 8Arete instructs Odysseus to secure the chest of Phaeacian gifts, emphasizing care for the journey and symbolically protecting his belongings (and story).

Why Arete matters

Arete represents the moral and institutional heart of Phaeacian xenia: her measured judgment, hospitality, and domestic competence embody civilized response to a displaced guest. By recognizing the provenance of Odysseus’s clothing and insisting on careful inquiry, she enacts a form of moral discernment that balances compassion with prudence. Her authority as queen and mother ties the palace’s social order to the narrative’s larger concerns about homecoming, hospitality, and the responsibilities of rulers; she reinforces the idea that good rulers and households are central to restoring order after the disruptions of war and wandering.

Chapters with Arete

• Book 7
• Book 8
• Book 13

More The Odyssey characters

• OdysseusProtagonist
• TelemachusMajor character
• AthenaMajor character
• PenelopeMajor character
• ZeusMajor character
• LaertesMinor character
• The SuitorsAntagonist
• AntinousAntagonist