In Greek mythology and the renowned Odyssey, Anticlea (Αντίκλεια in greek so it became Antikleia in ‘greeklish’) was the daughter of Autolycus and Amphithea and mother of Odysseus by Laërtes (or maybe Sisiphus..)
She was also the grand-daughter of the trickster god Hermes (who was the father of her father).
HOMER, ODYSSEY 11 lines 84-87
“Then there came up the spirit of my dead mother,
Anticleia, the daughter of great-hearted Autolycus,
whom I had left alive when I departed for sacred Ilios.
At sight of her I wept, and my heart had compassion on her, but even so I would not suffer her to come near the blood, for all my great sorrow, until I had enquired of Teiresias."
Anticleia, the daughter of great-hearted Autolycus,
whom I had left alive when I departed for sacred Ilios.
At sight of her I wept, and my heart had compassion on her, but even so I would not suffer her to come near the blood, for all my great sorrow, until I had enquired of Teiresias."
To us, the name Antikleia, echoes to our beloved aunt, who was baptised by that name. Her house was built just a few meters from where the villa stands today.
She was unruly and alive, a vivid and fierce woman who enjoyed the freedom that the countryside offered and spent all her life in this territory, and her labour came from the earth, her land.
At this area also was her precious vineyard, from which she took off, the wine of the year, a red delicious wine, and of course her vegetable garden.
In the surrounding grazing land where grass was abundant, she used to have a goat, and her two sheep, from which she produced barrels of cheese, which was absolutely the best I have ever tasted.
So, the reason that we called the villa after her, is a small tribute to honour her name and her memory.
Welcome to Villa Antikleia