Epithets are descriptive terms or glorified nicknames that are repeated often with someone's name. The difference between an adjective and an epithet is that epithets are only decorative. Adjectives do a lot for the context of the scene and the character, but epithets are linked to the noun by long-established usage, rather than immediate context.
One of the most common Homeric epithets is "rosy-fingered dawn" as a repetitive description of the time of day. Another common one is the "wine-dark sea." Most epithets have to do with specific characters, to emphasize their most prominent features as people. In the Odyssey, many common ones that show up include:
For Penelope: circumspect, wise, clever, cautious
For Athena: bright eyed, grey eyed, promachos (of war/fighting phalanxes), virgin, Pallas, hope of soldiers, whose shield is thunder, daughter of Zeus
For Odysseus: wise, clever, hotheaded, loved of Zeus/Athena, resourceful, much-enduring, much-pained, cunning, the great tactician
For Menelaus: red-haired/flame-haired, son of Atreus, war-like
For Nestor: sweet-spoken, charioteer
For Poseidon: earth-shaker
For Telemachus: poised, thoughtful
For Agamemnon: son of Atreus, wide-ruling, powerful
For Calypso: softly-braided, divinely-made, cunning, daughter of Atlas
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