Icarius
Ἰκάριος
Penelope's father, who begged his departing daughter to stay — and yielded before a veiled face.
A Spartan, brother of Tyndareus. He set a footrace for Penelope's suitors, and Odysseus won.
When he followed the newlyweds along the road to Ithaca, pleading with them to stay, Odysseus told Penelope to choose.
Penelope silently covered her face with her veil. Her father withdrew, and on that spot, Pausanias tells us, he raised a statue of Modesty.
SourcesPausanias, Description of Greece
Commonly confused
Not the Icarus who fell on wings of wax — a different figure. Even the spelling differs: this one is Icarius, that one Icarus.