Penelope

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For other uses, see Penelope (disambiguation).

Odysseus and Penelope by Francesco Primaticcio (1563)

Penelope encounters the returned Odysseus posing as a beggar. From a mural in the Macellum of Pompeii

Penelope (/pəˈnɛləpiː/ pə-NEL-ə-pee; Ancient Greek: Πηνελόπεια, Pēnelópeia,

or Greek: Πηνελόπη, Pēnelópē) is a character in Homer's Odyssey. She was the queen
of Ithaca and was the daughter of Spartan king Icarius and naiad Periboea. Penelope is
known for her fidelity to her husband Odysseus, despite the attention of more than a
hundred suitors during his absence. In one source, Penelope's original name was
Arnacia or Arnaea.[1]

Contents

 1Etymology
 2Role in the Odyssey
 3Iconography
  4Latin tradition
 5Notes
 6References
o 6.1Primary sources
o 6.2Secondary sources
 7External links

Etymology[edit]
Glossed by Hesychius as "some kind of bird"[2] (today arbitrarily identified with
the Eurasian wigeon, to which Linnaeus gave the binomial Anas penelope), where -
elōps (-έλωψ) is a common Pre-Greek suffix for predatory animals; [3] however, the
semantic relation between the proper name and the gloss is not clear. In folk
etymology, Pēnelopē (Πηνελόπη) is usually understood to combine the Greek
word pēnē (πήνη), "weft", and ōps (ὤψ), "face", which is considered the most
appropriate for a cunning weaver whose motivation is hard to decipher. [4] Robert S. P.
Beekes believed the name to be Pre-Greek and related to pēnelops (πηνέλοψ)
[5]
 or pēnelōps (πηνέλωψ).

Role in the Odyssey[edit]

Penelope by Franklin Simmons (1896), marble. On display at the De Young Museum in San Francisco.

Penelope is married to the main character, the king of Ithaca, Odysseus (Ulysses in

Roman mythology), and daughter of Icarius of Sparta and Periboea (or Polycaste). She
only has one son with Odysseus, Telemachus, who was born just before Odysseus was
called to fight in the Trojan War. She waits twenty years for Odysseus' return, during
which time she devises various strategies to delay marrying any of the 108 suitors (led
by Antinous and including Agelaus, Amphinomus, Ctessippus, Demoptolemus, Elatus,
Euryades, Eurymachus and Peisandros).[6][a]
Penelope and the Suitors by John William Waterhouse (1911-1912)

On Odysseus's return, disguised as an old beggar, he finds that Penelope has remained
faithful. She has devised tricks to delay the suitors, one of which is to pretend to be
weaving a burial shroud for Odysseus's elderly father Laertes and claiming that she will
choose a suitor when she has finished. Every night for three years, she undoes part of
the shroud, until Melantho, a slave, discovers her chicanery and reveals it to the suitors.
[7]

Penelope, bronze by Emile-Antoine Bourdelle

Penelope's efforts to delay remarriage is often seen as a symbol of marital fidelity to her
husband, Odysseus.[8] But because Athena wants her "to show herself to the wooers,
that she might set their hearts a-flutter and win greater honor from her husband and her
son than heretofore", Penelope does eventually appear before the suitors [8](xviii 160−162) Irene
de Jong wrote
 As so often, it is Athena who takes the initiative in giving the story a new direction ...
Usually the motives of mortal and god coincide, here they do not: Athena wants
Penelope to fan the Suitors’ desire for her and (thereby) make her more esteemed by
her husband and son; Penelope has no real motive ... she simply feels an
unprecedented impulse to meet the men she so loathes ... adding that she might take
this opportunity to talk to Telemachus (which she will indeed do).[9]
It is important to consider the alternate perspective of Penelope entertaining, and even
enjoying the attention of, her suitors. Italian philosophy historian Giula Sissa offers a
unique perspective which supports this idea. The Odyssey allows room for Penelope’s
identity free of being Ulysses’ wife. As she awaits his return, she makes a plan to deal
with her suitors while also responding to her desires. Sissa discusses how Penelope
gives her suitors the opportunity to demonstrate themselves as the best candidate for
her attention. Sissa writes,
"Penelope innovates. And she does so because she responds in the same register to
the desires of the men who have been awaiting her verdict for three years. This is an
erotic desire to which she reacts, first, with seductive wiles of messages and promises,
and then by inviting them to demonstrate their excellence, not in terms of wealth and
social prestige, but in terms of something extremely personal and physical. In order to
please Penelope, they have to be on par with Ulysses in showing the might of their
bodies."[10]
She is ambivalent, variously asking Artemis to kill her and apparently considering
marrying one of the suitors. When the disguised Odysseus returns, she announces in
her long interview with him that whoever can string Odysseus's rigid bow and shoot an
arrow through twelve axe heads may have her hand. "For the plot of the Odyssey, of
course, her decision is the turning point, the move that makes possible the long-
predicted triumph of the returning hero". [11]
There is debate as to whether Penelope knows that it is Odysseus. Penelope and the
suitors know that Odysseus (were he in fact present) would easily surpass them all in
any test of masculine skill, so she may have started the contest as an opportunity for
him to reveal his identity. On the other hand, because Odysseus seems to be the only
person (except, perhaps, Telemachus) who can actually use the bow, she could just be
further delaying her marriage to one of the suitors. [12]

Gold intaglio ring, Syria, last quarter of the 5th century BC (Louvre Museum)

When the contest of the bow begins, none of the suitors are able to string the bow,
except Odysseus who wins the contest. Having done so, he proceeds to slaughter the
suitors – beginning with Antinous whom he finds drinking from his cup – with help from
Telemachus, Athena and the slaves Eumaeus the swineherd and Philoetius the
cowherd. Odysseus has now revealed himself in all his glory (with a little makeover by
Athena); yet Penelope cannot believe that her husband has really returned – she fears
that it is perhaps some god in disguise, as in the story of Alcmene – and tests him by
ordering her slave Eurycleia to move the bed in their bridal-chamber. Odysseus protests
that this cannot be done, since he made the bed himself and knows that one of its legs
is a living olive tree. Penelope finally accepts that he truly is Odysseus, a moment that
highlights their homophrosýnē (ὁμοφροσύνη, "like-mindedness").[13] Homer implies that
from then on Odysseus would live a long and happy life together with Penelope and
Telemachus, wisely ruling his kingdom, and enjoying wide respect and much success. [14]
In some early sources such as Pindar, Pan's parents are Apollo and Penelope.
[15]
 Herodotus,[16] Cicero,[17] Apollodorus,[18] and Hyginus[19] all describe Hermes and
Penelope as his parents. Pausanias[20] records the story that Penelope had in fact been
unfaithful to Odysseus, who banished her to Mantineia upon his return. In the
5th century AD Nonnus[21] names Pan's mother as Penelope of Mantineia in Arcadia.
Other sources[22] report that Penelope had sex with all 108 suitors in Odysseus' absence,
and gave birth to Pan as a result. [23] This myth reflects the folk etymology that equates
Pan's name (Πάν) with the Greek word for "all" (πᾶν).[b] The Odyssey carefully
suppresses this variant tradition.[24]

Iconography[edit]
Penelope is recognizable in Greek and Roman works, from Attic vase-paintings—the
Penelope Painter is recognized by his representations of her—to Roman sculptures
copying or improvising upon classical Greek models, by her seated pose, by her
reflective gesture of leaning her cheek on her hand, and by her protectively crossed
knees, reflecting her long chastity in Odysseus' absence, an unusual pose in any other
figure.[25]

Latin tradition[edit]
Latin references to Penelope revolved around her sexual loyalty to the absent
Odysseus. It suited the marital aspect of Roman society representing the tranquility of
the worthy family.[26] She is mentioned by various classical authors including Plautus,
[27]
 Propertius,[28] Horace, Ovid, Martial and Statius. The use of Penelope in Latin texts
provided a basis for her ongoing use in the Middle Ages and Renaissance as a
representation of a chaste wife. This was reinforced by her being named by Saint
Jerome among pagan women famed for their chastity.

Notes[edit]
1. ^ Odysseus spends ten years in the Trojan War, and ten years travelling home.
2. ^ The Homeric Hymn to Pan is the earliest known example of such wordplay: It suggests
that Pan’s name was based on the fact that he delighted “all” of the gods.

References[edit]
1. ^ Tzetzes on Lycophron, Alexandra 792
2. ^ Γλῶσσαι.
3. ^ Zeno.org lemma relating πηνέλωψ (gen. πηνέλοπος)
and <χην(ά)λοπες>· ὄρνεα (predators) ποιά. ὅπερ ἔνιοι <χηναλώπεκες>.
 4. ^ For the mythology of weaving, see Weaving (mythology).
5. ^ R. S. P. Beekes (2009).  Etymological Dictionary of Greek. Brill. p.  1186.
6. ^ Homer. "The Odyssey". The Iliad & The Odyssey. Vol. Book XVI. Translated by Butler,
Samuel. p.  628. ISBN 978-1-4351-1043-4.
7. ^ St. Clair, Kassia (2018). The Golden Thread: How fabric changed history. London, UK:
John Murray. pp.  11–12.  ISBN  978-1-4736-5903-2. OCLC  1057250632.
8. ^ Jump up to:a b Mackail, J.W. (1916). Penelope in the Odyssey. Cambridge University Press.
9. ^ de Jong, Irene (2001).  A Narratological Commentary on the Odyssey. Cambridge University
Press. p.  445. ISBN 0-521-46844-2.
10. ^ Sissa, Giulia (2008). Eros tiranno: sessualità e sensualità nel mondo antico  [Sex and
sensuality in the ancient world.] (in Italian). Translated by Staunton, George. New Haven and
London: Yale University Press.
11. ^ Knox, B.  (1996). "Introduction". The Odyssey. p.  55. translation by  Robert Fagles
12. ^ Reece, Steve (2011).  "Penelope's 'early recognition' of Odysseus from a neoanalytic and
oral perspective".  College Literature.  38  (2): 101–117.
13. ^ Austin, Norman (1975). Archery at the Dark of the Moon: Poetic problems in Homer's
Odyssey. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 231.
14. ^ Lawall, Thalman; Patterson, James; Spacks (1984). The Odyssey. The Norton Anthology of
Western Literature. New York, NY / London, UK.
15. ^ Pindar.  Bowra, Maurice (ed.).  Fragment  90.
16. ^ Herodotus.  Historíai̯ . 2.145.
17. ^ Cicero.  De Natura Deorum. 3.22.56.
18. ^ Pseudo-Apollodorus.  Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus). 7.38.
19. ^ Gaius Julius Hyginus. Fabulae. 224.
20. ^ Pausanias.  Description of Greece. 8.12.5.
21. ^ Nonnus.  Dionysiaca. 14.92.
22. ^ Duris of Samos;
Maurus Servius Honoratus (commentator on Vergil)
23. ^ Pseudo-Apollodorus.  "[footnote]". In Capps, E.; Page, T.E.; Rouse, W.H.D.
(eds.). Bibliotheca [The Library]. Webster Collection of Social Anthropology. p. 305 – via
Google Books.
24. ^ Nelson, Thomas J. (2021-11-30).  "Intertextual Agōnes in Archaic Greek Epic: Penelope vs.
the Catalogue of Women". Yearbook of Ancient Greek Epic Online. 5  (1): 42–
43.  doi:10.1163/24688487-00501002. ISSN 2405-450X.
25. ^ But compare, for an unusual exception, the seated aulos player on the "Ludovisi Throne.
26. ^ Mactoux, Marie-Madeleine (1975).  Pénélope: Légende et Mythe. Paris: Annales Litteraires
de L'Universite de Basancon. pp. 129–30.
27. ^ Nixon, Paul (1968). Plautus. London: William Heinemann Ltd. She is mentioned in the
opening lines of the play Stychus
28. ^ Propertius (2004). Complete Elegies of Propertius. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton
University Press.see Elegies 2.6; 2.9 and 3.12. Propertius was one of the few Latin authors to
mention Penelope's weaving ruse.

Primary sources[edit]
 Homer, Odyssey
 Ovid, Heroides I
 Lactantius Placidus, Commentarii in Statii Thebaida
Secondary sources[edit]
 Amory, Anne (1963), ‘The reunion of Odysseus and Penelope’, in Charles H.
Taylor (ed.) Essays on the Odyssey: Selected Modern Criticism.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp. 100–36.
 Clayton, Barbara (2004), A Penelopean Poetics: Reweaving the Feminine in
Homer's Odyssey. Lanham, Maryland and Oxford: Lexington Books.
 Cohen, Beth (1995, ed.), The Distaff Side: Representing the Female in
Homer's Odyssey. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 Doherty, Lillian E. (1995), Siren Songs: Gender, Audiences, and Narrators in
the Odyssey. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
 Felson, Nancy (1994). Regarding Penelope: From Character to Poetics.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
 Finley, M.I. The World of Odysseus, London. Pelican Books (1962).
 Hall, Edith (2008), The Return of Ulysses: A Cultural History of Homer's
Odyssey. London and New York: I. B. Tauris.
 Heilbrun, Carolyn G. (1991), ‘What was Penelope unweaving?’, in
Heilbrun, Hamlet's Mother and Other Women: Feminist Essays on Literature.
London: The Women's Press, pp. 103–11.
 Heitman, Richard (2005), Taking her Seriously: Penelope and the Plot of
Homer's Odyssey. Ann Arbor: Michigan University Press. ISBN 0-472-11489-
1.
 Katz, Marylin Arthur (1991), Penelope's Renown: Meaning and Indeterminacy
in the Odyssey. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
 Marquardt, Patricia A. (1985), ‘Penelope “ΠΟΛΥΤΡΟΠΟΣ”’, American
Journal of Philology 106, 32-48.
 Nelson, Thomas J. (2021), ‘Intertextual Agōnes in Archaic Greek Epic:
Penelope vs. the Catalogue of Women’, Yearbook of Ancient Greek Epic 5,
25–57.
 Reece, Steve, "Penelope's ‘Early Recognition’ of Odysseus from a
Neoanalytic and Oral Perspective," College Literature 38.2 (2011) 101-
117. Penelopes_Early_Recognition_of_Odysseus
 Roisman, Hanna M. (1987), ‘Penelope's indignation’, Transactions of the
American Philological Association 117, 59-68.
 Schein, Seth L. (1996, ed.), Reading the Odyssey: Selected Interpretive
Essays. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-04440-6
 Wohl, Victoria Josselyn (1993), ‘Standing by the stathmos: the creation of
sexual ideology in the Odyssey’, Arethusa 26, 19-50.
 Zeitlin, Froma (1996). 'Figuring fidelity in Homer's Odyssey in Froma
Zeitlin, Playing the Other: Gender and Society in Classical Greek Literature.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 19–52.
 Zerba, Michelle (2009), ‘What Penelope knew: doubt and scepticism in
the Odyssey’, Classical Quarterly 59, 295-316.