Nausicaa


From Encyclopedia Britannica (11th edition, 1910)

EncycloReader

Nausicaa, in Greek legend, daughter of Alcinous, king of the Phaeacians in the island of Scheria (Odyssey, vi. 15-315, viii. 457.) When Odysseus (Ulysses) was swept into the sea from the raft on which he had left the home of Calypso, he swam ashore to Scheria, where he fell asleep on the bank of a river. Here he was found by Nausicaa, who supplied him with clothes and took him to her father's palace, where he was hospitably entertained. She is said to have become the wife of Telemachus. The incident of Odysseus and Nausicaa formed the subject of a lost play by Sophocles and was frequently represented in ancient art.