# Phlebas the Phoenician — Poetry character guide

> Phlebas the Phoenician in Poetry by T. S. Eliot.

**Role:** minor

**Also known as:** Water Phlebas the Phoenician, Consider Phlebas

**First appearance:** 0036-iv-death-by-water

## Who they are

A drowned Phoenician sailor whose death is contemplated in The Waste Land.

## In the story

### [Dans le Restaurant](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_21_se/chapters/dans-le-restaurant)

Drowned Phoenician, forgetting his past life and cargo.

### [The Waste Land](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_21_se/chapters/the-waste-land)

The drowned Phoenician sailor, whose death by water is contemplated in section IV, forgotten by the sea and stripped of worldly concerns.

### [IV: Death by Water](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_21_se/chapters/iv-death-by-water)

The central figure of the chapter, now dead and forgotten, his body consumed by the sea.

### [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_21_se/chapters/endnotes)

Mentioned as the Phoenician Sailor who appears later and is subject to Death by Water.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_21_se/characters/phlebas
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_21_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_21_se/characters