Odyssey Study Guide Contents
The penultimate book is about what might romantically be seen as the conclusion of the Odyssey, except that there is one more book to go. The 23rd book is about the reunion of Odysseus and his wife Penelope, and it is, finally, properly sentimental, but Penelope first tests her husband and provides an accounting of herself. Her husband proves himself by means of the bed, an odd olive wood piece around which he built the room.
Lines 218-24 of Odyssey 23 have puzzled scholars because it seems "illogical and inappropriate" for Penelope to compare herself with "the world's most notorious adulteress" (Fredericksmeyer).
OD.23.218 οὐδέ κεν Ἀργείη Ἑλένη, Διὸς ἐκγεγαυῖα,Some have thought the lines don't belong; others have emended them. Helen led the Greeks to war against the Trojans leading to great sorrow, especially for the war widows. Penelope has done no such thing. Helen was an adulterer. In Homer's version of the story, Penelope has been chaste. There is an Arcadian story that Penelope bore Pan to Hermes, but that myth is out of the Homeric picture.
OD.23.219 ἀνδρὶ παρ' ἀλλοδαπῷ ἐμίγη φιλότητι καὶ εὐνῇ,
OD.23.220 εἰ ᾔδη ὅ μιν αὖτις ἀρήϊοι υἷες Ἀχαιῶν
OD.23.221 ἀξέμεναι οἶκόνδε φίλην ἐς πατρίδ' ἔμελλον.
OD.23.222 τὴν δ' ἤτοι ῥέξαι θεὸς ὤρορεν ἔργον ἀεικές:
OD.23.223 τὴν δ' ἄτην οὐ πρόσθεν ἑῷ ἐγκάτθετο θυμῷ
OD.23.224 λυγρήν, ἐξ ἧς πρῶτα καὶ ἡμέας ἵκετο πένθος.Jove's daughter Helen would never have yielded herself to a man from a foreign country, if she had known that the sons of Achaeans would come after her and bring her back. Heaven put it in her heart to do wrong, and she gave no thought to that sin, which has been the source of all our sorrows.
Fredericksmeyer and Morgan don't find the lines inappropriate. Penelope is comparing herself favorably with Helen. Helen acted badly, but even Helen might not have had she known the facts. Penelope has been fearful of making a similar, albeit possibly excused, mistake so she has been careful to ascertain the facts.
Helen recognized Odysseus in disguise, as was told in the 4th book, a foreshadow of the 17th to 23rd. While Telemachus is visiting Menelaus, Helen tells a story about how she recognized and helped Odysseus when he was spying on Troy. Certainly Penelope should have recognized Odysseus as easily as Helen had. Unfortunately, the Odyssey doesn't seem to answer this puzzle. Regardless, it is an additional reason why it is appropriate for the author of the Odyssey to compare Penelope with Helen, even if it isn't appropriate for Penelope to be making that comparison.
- "Penelope 'Polutropos:' The Crux at Odyssey 23.218-24," by Hardy C. Fredricksmeyer. The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 118, No. 4. (Winter, 1997), pp. 487-497.
- "Odyssey 23.218-24: Adultery, Shame, and Marriage," by Kathleen Morgan. The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 112, No. 1. (Spring, 1991), pp. 1-3.
