Euryalus


 * For British ships of the Royal Navy, see HMS Euryalus.

Euryalus (Εὐρύαλος) refers to four different characters from classical literature:


 * 1) In the Aeneid by Virgil, Nisus and Euryalus are ideal friends and lovers, who died during a raid on the Rutulians.
 * 2) In Greek mythology, Euryalus was the son of Mecisteus. He attacked the city of Thebes as one of the Epigoni, who took the city and avenged the deaths of their fathers, who had also attempted to invade Thebes. In Homer's Iliad, he fought in the Trojan War, where he was brother-in-arms of Diomedes, and one of the Greeks to enter the Trojan Horse. He lost the boxing match to Epeius at the funeral games for Patrocles.
 * 3) Euryalus was also the name of a son of Euippe and Odysseus, who was mistakenly slain by his father.
 * 4) Euryalus, son Naubolus, was one of the Phaeacians encountered by Odysseus in the Odyssey.

Euryalus, son Naubolus
In the Odyssey, Euryalus is a Phaeacian youth. Homer gives him the epithet "the peer of murderous Ares". Next to Laodamus, he is said to be the most handsome of the Phaeacians, and is the best wrestler. He convinces Laodamus to challenge Odysseus, then rebukes him when he refuses to participate, saying "No truly, stranger, nor do I think thee at all like one that is skilled in games, whereof there are many among men, rather art thou such an one as comes and goes in a benched ship, a master of sailors that are merchantmen, one with a memory for his freight, or that hath the charge of a cargo homeward bound, and of greedily gotten gains; thou seemest not a man of thy hands." When King Alcinous orders him to make amends, he gives Odysseus a bronze sword with a silver hilt and an ivory sheath.