In Homer's Odyssey, Dolius or Dolios (Ancient Greek: Δολίος) is a slave of Penelope whom she received from her father Icarius (or, in a related notice, from Laertes) on the occasion of her marriage to Odysseus. He served as a gardener and was the father of Melanthius and Melantho; later he and six loyal sons stood with Odysseus against the kin of the slain suitors.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Dolius" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Family and office
Dolius was bound to Penelope's household as gardener of the orchard of many trees. Melanthius, Odysseus's goatherd, is mentioned as his son, and Melantho as his daughter; his wife was a slave from Sicily whose name is not given. Six other sons worked the vineyard with him and remained loyal when the household was tested.
II.In the Odyssey
When the suitors plotted Telemachus' death, Penelope sent Eurycleia to summon Dolius that he might sit by Laertes in the country and rouse the old king. After Odysseus's identity had finally been revealed, Dolius heartily welcomed his master, expressing great joy to see him alive and well.
On the day Odysseus found Laertes in the vineyard, Dolius and his six sons were gathering stones for the wall. They returned for the meal, learned who the stranger was, and when the suitors' kin rallied, Dolius and Laertes donned armour though grey-headed, and the six sons fought beside the king. Melanthius, who had sided with the wooers, had already been mutilated and killed and is not counted among these six.
III.Homonyms
This atlas entry (dolius-ithaca) is Homer's Ithacan gardener. The Jupiter trojan asteroid 10989 Dolios is a modern namesake, not a second mythic figure.