Penelope was the wife of Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, and one of the most famous women in Greek mythology. She was the daughter of Icarius, the king of Sparta, and the cousin of Helen of Troy. For twenty years, while her husband fought at Troy and then wandered the Mediterranean, Penelope remained faithful to him, raising their son Telemachus and fending off the suitors who sought to take her hand and Odysseus’s throne. The story of Penelope is the story of faithfulness, patience, and cunning, and it is portraits of a woman in Western literature.
The Marriage of Penelope
Penelope was the daughter of Icarius, the king of Sparta, and the cousin of Helen of Troy. She was famous for her beauty, her wisdom, and her skill at weaving. According to one tradition, she was the most beautiful woman in Greece after Helen herself, and she was said to have been the inspiration for many of the great works of Greek art.
Penelope married Odysseus in a contest devised by her father Tyndareus (or, in some versions, by Icarius himself). According to one tradition, Icarius held a footrace for the suitors, and Odysseus won, with the help of Athena. According to another, Tyndareus had been given the wisdom to make all the suitors swear an oath to defend the chosen husband, and he gave Penelope to Odysseus in gratitude for the advice.
The marriage of Penelope and Odysseus was a happy one, and they had one son, Telemachus. The couple lived in Ithaca, a small and rocky island in the Ionian Sea, and they ruled as king and queen. The marriage was famously loyal, and Penelope became the archetype of the faithful wife.
The Weaving of the Shroud
When Odysseus left for Troy, Penelope was left behind in Ithaca with their infant son Telemachus. The war lasted for ten years, and Odysseus’s return took another ten. During all this time, Penelope remained faithful, and she raised Telemachus to be a worthy son of his father.
The most famous episode of Penelope’s story is her weaving trick. As the suitors for her hand began to gather in Ithaca, pressing her to choose a new husband, she devised a plan. She told them that she could not marry until she had finished weaving a shroud for Laertes, Odysseus’s aged father. She worked at the shroud during the day, and at night she secretly undid her work, so that the shroud was never finished.
The weaving trick worked for several years, but eventually the suitors discovered the deception. They threatened Penelope, and she was forced to finish the shroud. According to some traditions, she finished the shroud, but she still refused to choose a husband. According to others, she was on the verge of giving in when Odysseus finally returned.
The Suitors of Penelope
The suitors of Penelope were a group of nobles from Ithaca and the surrounding islands who came to Ithaca to compete for her hand. They were led by Antinous and Eurymachus, two of the most powerful of the suitors. They occupied the palace of Odysseus, eating his food and drinking his wine, and they plotted to kill Telemachus when he came of age.
The suitors are the villains of the second half of the Odyssey, and their treatment of Penelope and her household is one of the central sources of the moral outrage of the poem. The suitors violate the Greek law of xenia, or guest-friendship, by abusing the hospitality of the absent king, and they plot to kill his son to seize his throne.
The Test of the Bow
When Odysseus finally returned to Ithaca, he came disguised as a beggar, with the help of Athena. He entered the palace of the suitors, where he found Penelope presiding over the feasting. He did not reveal himself immediately, but he waited for the right moment.
The right moment came when Penelope announced that she would marry the man who could string the bow of Odysseus and shoot an arrow through twelve axe heads. None of the suitors could even string the bow, but Odysseus, still in disguise, took the bow and easily strung it and shot the arrow through the axes.
At this moment, Odysseus revealed himself to the suitors, and with the help of Telemachus and two loyal servants, he killed all the suitors. He then turned to Penelope, and the two were reunited after twenty years of separation.
The Reunion of Odysseus and Penelope
The reunion of Odysseus and Penelope is one of the most poignant scenes in Western literature. The Odyssey describes the moment in detail, with Penelope unable to believe that the beggar is really her husband, and testing him with a secret sign that only the two of them would know.
The scene has been the subject of countless works of art, including paintings, sculptures, and operas. The most famous ancient depiction is the Penelope and the Suitors relief from the Italic tomb, now in the Vatican Museums. In modern times, the reunion has been the subject of paintings by Pinturicchio, Domenico Beccafumi, and many other artists.
The Cultural Legacy of Penelope
Penelope has been one of the most influential figures in Western culture. The phrase “Penelope’s web” has come to mean an endless, repetitive task, derived from her famous weaving trick. The phrase “faithful Penelope” has been used to describe a faithful wife, and the figure of Penelope has been a model for countless women in literature and art.
The figure of Penelope has been particularly important in feminist thought. The 20th-century poet Margaret Atwood, in her poem The Penelopiad (2005), retold the story of Penelope from the perspective of the hanged maids, giving a voice to the women who were killed by Odysseus on his return. The play challenges the traditional view of Penelope as the model of faithfulness and reveals the dark side of the Odysseus myth.
The story of Penelope has also been the subject of modern retellings in many languages. The novel The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood, the novel Penelope by Rebecca Bachmann, and the novel Penelope by Annietta Lockwood are all modern retellings. The phrase “Penelope” has been used in popular culture to describe women who wait patiently for their husbands, and the “Penelope complex” has been used in psychology to describe the female tendency to remain loyal to a long-absent partner.
For more on the mythological context, see our profile of Odysseus, our guide to the Greek heroes, and our profile of Telemachus. For more on the cultural legacy, see our guide to Greek mythology in modern culture.