Penelope
Penélopê (Πηνελοπεια) is a character in the
Odyssey, one of the two great
epic poems (the other being the
Iliad; both are attributed to
Homer) of ancient
Greek literature. Her name is close to the Greek word for "duck," but is usually understood to be a combination of the Greek word for "web" or "woof" (πηνη) and the word for "face" (ωψ), very appropriate for a weaver of cunning whose motivation is hard to decipher. In modern times, her name has become associated with faithfulness.
Penelope is the wife of the main character, the king of
Ithaca Odysseus (also known as Ulysses in Roman mythology) and daughter of
Icarius and his wife
Periboea. She has one son by Odysseus, Telemachus, who was born just before Odysseus is called to fight in the Trojan War. She waits twenty years for the final return of her husband from the
Trojan War; meanwhile she has hard times in refusing marriage proposals from several princes (such as
Agelaus,
Amphinomus,
Ctessippus,
Demoptolemus,
Elatus,
Euryades,
Eurymachus,
Irus and
Peisandros, led by
Antinous) for four years since the fall of
Troy. Odysseus, disguised as an old beggar, sees that Penelope has remained faithful to him. She devises tricks to delay her suitors, one of which is pretending to weave a burial shroud for Odysseus' elderly father
Laertes and claiming she will choose one suitor when she has finished. Every night for three years she undoes part of the shroud, until her maidens discover her trickery and reveal it to the suitors.
Because of her efforts in putting off remarriage, she is often seen as a symbol of connubial fidelity. However, Penelope is getting restless (due, in part, to
Athena's meddling) and variously calling out for
Artemis to kill her and (apparently) considering marrying one of the suitors. When the disguised Odysseus returns to his home, she announces that whoever can string a particularly rigid bow can have her hand. There is debate over whether or not she is aware that Odysseus is behind the disguise. By Penelope and the suitors' knowledge, Odysseus, were he in fact present, would clearly surpass any of the suitors in any test of masculine skill that could be contrived.
Odysseus watched the suitors drink and take advantage of his family's hospitality, and gets more and more angry. The contest of the bow begins, but none of the suitors can string the bow, and Odysseus wins the contest and proceeds to kill them all with help from his son
Telemachus,
Athena and a servant,
Eumaeus. Odysseus has now shown himself in all his glory, and it is standard (in terms of a recognition scene) for all to recognize him and be happy. Penelope, however, cannot believe her husband has really returned (she fears that perhaps it is some god in disguise as Odysseus, as in the story of
Alcmene), and tests him by ordering her servant
Euryclea to move the bed in their wedding-chamber. Odysseus protests that this can not be done since he had made the bed himself and knows that one of its legs was a living
olive tree, and Penelope finally accepts that he is truly her husband. That moment highlights their homophrosyne (like-mindedness).
In one story, after Odysseus' death, she marries his son by
Circe,
Telegonus, with whom she was the mother of
Italus.
Telemachus also marries
Circe when Penelope and
Telemachus bring Odysseus' body to Circe's island.
Some of Penelope's suitors were:
*
Antinous*
Eurymachus*
Amphinomus*
Agelaus*
Euronymus*
Amphimedon*
Demoptolemus*
Peisander*
Polybus*
Euryades*
Elatus*
Ctesippus*
Eurydamas*
Leocritus*
LeodesLocation
The 108 suitors' homelands and strength are:
*52 from
Dulichum (with 6 serving-men)
*24 from
Same*12 from
Ithaca (with 2 servants)
*Homer,
Odyssey*''
The Penelopiad by
Margaret Atwood retells the story of
Odysseus from the point of view of Penelope.
*
Odyssey in English on the Perseus Project
