Editing Alcinous (section)

== Mythology ==

=== Argonautica ===
In the myth of [[Jason]] and the [[Argonauts]], Alcinous is represented as living with his wife [[Arete (mythology)|Arete]] on Drépané island.  The Argonauts, on their return from [[Colchis]], came to his island, and were hospitably received.  When the Colchians, in their pursuit of the Argonauts, likewise arrived in Drépané, and demanded that [[Jason]]'s lover [[Medea]] should be delivered up to them, Alcinous declared that if she was still a virgin she should be restored to them, but if she was already the wife of Jason, he would protect her and her husband against the Colchians.  The Colchians were obliged, by the contrivance of Arete, to depart without their princess, and the Argonauts continued their voyage homeward, after they had received expensive presents from Alcinous.<ref>[[Apollonius of Rhodes]], 4.990–1225</ref><ref>''[[Argonautica Orphica|Orphic Argonautica]]'' 1288</ref><ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], 1.9.25–26</ref> He was also the King of the Phaeacians.

=== Odyssey ===
[[Image:OdysseyDemodokos.png|thumb|[[Demodocus (Odyssey character)|Demodocos]] singing to [[Odysseus]] and Alcinous, illustration by [[John Flaxman]] (1810)]]
According to [[Homer]], Alcinous is the happy ruler of the [[Phaiacia]]ns in the island of [[Scheria]], who has by Arete five sons and one daughter, Nausicaa.<ref>Homer, ''Odyssey'' 6.12 & 6.62</ref> The description of his palace and his dominions, the mode in which [[Odysseus]] is received, the entertainments given to him, and the stories he related to the king about his own wanderings, occupy a considerable portion of [[Homer]]'s ''[[Odyssey]]'' (from book vi. to xiii.), and form one of its most charming parts.<ref>compare [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#125 125] & [https://topostext.org/work/206#126 126]</ref> Alcinous has a squire, Pontonous, who serves wine during this feast.

=== Other accounts ===
In [[Conon (mythographer)|Conon's]] ''Narrations'', when Phaiax who reigned on the island of Corcyra died, Alkinous and his brother Lokros, after quarreling agreed upon on the basis that Alcinous would be the king of the Phaeacians and Locrus would take the heirlooms and part of the ethnos to make a colony. The latter sailed to Italy where he married the Laurine, daughter of King [[Latinus]] of the Italians and for this reason, the Phaiakians claim the Lokrians in Italy as relatives.<ref name=":0" />