Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Alcinous.
The gallery
Ulysses at the Court of Alcinous
Francesco Hayez, 1814–1815
Hayez's vast Capodimonte canvas shows Odysseus weeping in Alcinous' hall as Demodocus sings of Troy — the Phaeacian king as the perfect host whose court hears the hero's name before the hero will speak it.
Ulysses in the Palace of Alcinous
Jean-Jacques Lagrenée, c. 1760s–1780s
Lagrenée stages Odyssey 7: the shipwrecked stranger clasps the knees of Alcinous and Arete — Nausicaa's counsel made into a palace tableau of Phaeacian hospitality.
Odysseus before Alcinous, King of the Phaeacians
August Malmström, 1853
Malmström's Nationalmuseum painting seats Odysseus before the Phaeacian throne — Alcinous as the island king who will hear the wanderer's tale and send him home on a self-steering ship.
The Banquet in the House of Alcinous, with Homer
Francesco Nenci, 1833
Nenci's academic banquet folds Homer himself into Alcinous' feast — a nineteenth-century allegory of the Odyssey's most civilized court, where song, gift, and safe passage still define the king.
On screen
Ulysses
Mario Camerini
Jacques Dumesnil's Alcinous hosts the amnesiac stranger who almost weds Nausicaa — Phaeacian hospitality as the frame for Kirk Douglas' voyage.
The Odyssey
Andrei Konchalovsky
Jeroen Krabbé's Alcinous rules the court that receives Odysseus after the storm — the island king whose ships know the way home.
The Odyssey
Franco Rossi
Rossi's miniseries keeps the Phaeacian palace — Alcinous hearing Demodocus' song and sending the wanderer home on a self-steering ship.