Odyssey
Lucia Jankowich
Senior Thesis | 2025
Lucia Jankowich
Introduction to the Odyssey
“Careful,”1 “circumspect.”2 These epithets in Homer’s Odyssey, seem to point to the qualities of the epic’s clever hero. But while the actual title character sails the world, fighting cyclops and chasing goddesses, these words actually describe a critical character who is often forgotten: Penelope, queen of Ithaca. Her husband, Odysseus, is called to fight in the Trojan War, and she remains home alone with their infant son, Telemachus. The war lasts ten years and when Odysseus is finally free to return to Ithaca, the gods have other plans. As Odysseus is prevented from reaching home, Ithacans lose hope he will ever return. Over one hundred suitors attempt to woo Penelope and even when she uses endless excuses to put off her remarriage, the suitors are content to wait and spend their days at her home, eating and drinking at her expense. They finally run out of patience after years, coincidently once the goddess Athena has helped Odysseus return to Ithaca in disguise. Athena sets in motion a plan to restore Odysseus to his throne by reuniting a now teenage Telemachus with his father and inspiring Penelope to set up a contest for her hand in marriage- a contest that only Odysseus is skilled enough to win. Odysseus triumphs, then slaughters the suitors and disloyal slaves with the help of Telemachus. When Odysseus reunites with Penelope, she is unconvinced it is truly him after two decades waiting for his return. To test him, she tells him that she moved their bed, which is
1 Homer, The Odyssey, trans. Robert Fitzgerald (London: Vintage Classic, 2007), 1.368.
2 Homer, The Odyssey of Homer, trans. Richmond Lattimore (New York: Harper & Row, 1967), 1.35.
impossible: it is built into a tree that the house is constructed around and moving it would destroy their home. Penelope knows it is Odysseus when he is infuriated: he knows the trick of the bed and feels betrayed as only her husband would. Throughout the epic, Penelope outsmarts men again and again to retain agency as men attempt to strip it away.
Despite Odysseus being far more famous, with the epic named after him, Penelope has been idealized for thousands of years for her unwavering loyalty. But not enough attention is paid to her intellect, which she uses to protect herself for twenty years while Greek society attempts to suppress her agency. In the original ancient Greek, Penelope is equal to, or smarter than every male character. Yet in translation, Penelope fades to the background, serving only as a foil to the men. Because Penelope’s motives are complex, translators simply eliminate them for their own ease and her full character is available only in the Greek. But Penelope is an intellectual match for Odysseus,3 the cleverest of the Greeks. She surpasses him in morals, and gains acclaim in a world where women were typically hidden away. By analyzing Penelope, a new version of Odysseus and the world of the Odyssey itself is discovered.
3 Ralph J. Hexter and Robert Fitzgerald, A Guide to the Odyssey: A Commentary on the English Translation of Robert Fitzgerald (New York: Vintage Books, 1993), page lvii.
Translation Notes
To compare these translations, there are some basic notes about the formation of the epic. First, whether Homer was real, who he was, and if he was more than one person is unknown.4 Samuel Butler, a nineteenth century novelist and translator, was convinced the Odyssey and the Iliad couldn’t share an author, because the Odyssey was too focused on women in comparison to the masculine Iliad. He thought a male author would never focus on women as much as the Odyssey does and therefore it must have been written by a woman. This claim is unsubstantiated, but there is equally little evidence for the other established claims. “Homer” is believed to come from or close to the west coast of Turkey, because the dialect of Homeric Greek (which was never spoken) is similar to the historic languages spoken in the area. The name “Homeros” means both hostage and blind in Greek, and blindness has been seized upon to explain the oral history of the poems (alternatively explained by the fact that they were created prewriting). The poem treats the Trojan War as a subject the audience would be universally familiar with, leading to the theory the epic is contemporary to the war. However, details included from later history leads experts to believe that without a single written copy, the Odyssey evolved over time.
Beyond when, where, and who the epic is from, there is endless debate about what the epic is saying due to differences in the Greek and English languages. Greek words include so much more information than their equivalents in English (for example,
4 Daisy Dunn, “Who Was Homer? | British Museum,” The British Museum, accessed January 16, 2025, https://www.britishmuseum.org/blog/who-was-homer.
subject, time, gender, and more), creating translators’ main challenge of finding a good balance of including all the information while also conveying the conciseness of the Greek. Additionally, the rhythm the poem has in Greek is dactylic hexameter, which doesn’t translate well to English. Because this structure is impossible to translate into English, translators have chosen between prose, freeform poetry, or any kind of strict structure that works better in English. Following a poetic structure then limits how much of the information from the Greek can be translated to English, while alternatively prose can become too wordy with details.
The three translations analyzed here distinguish themselves along these lines. Richard Lattimore’s Odyssey has endured “among classicists, because it practically is Greek.”56 It maintains repetitive passages and epithets that the bard would use to remember what comes next as he sang and formal language that allows the epic to feel foreign even in English. Lattimore’s precision makes his translation the standard of accuracy against which others are set. But loyalty to the exact words of Homer comes at the expense of sharing how Greek audiences would have experienced the epic: lively and familiar to the point of ubiquity. Emily Wilson’s radical translation prioritizes the audience experience, continuing the oral tradition of the epic by using Shakespearean iambic pentameter familiar to English speaking audiences and contemporary language as the Greek would have
5 Lattimore.
6 Daniel Mendelsohn, “Yo, Achilles,” The New York Times, July 20, 1997, https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/20/books/yoachilles.html?searchResultPosition=17.
been to listeners thousands of years ago.7 Although often criticized for being too modern, Wilson’s accessible translation has also revitalized interest in the Odyssey and in the translation process itself. Robert Fitzgerald’s translation, published in the fifty years between the other two, accomplishes balance: accessible language and conciseness while providing the epicness a tale passed down through thousands of years requires.8 But like Lattimore, Fitzgerald doesn’t seek to provide modern audiences with the ancient experience of rhythm that Wilson does. Because he lacks the in-text context of Wilson, to an inexperienced reader Fitzgerald can read as intimidating, full of ancient words and references. As the best three translators out of hundreds, not one is superior, but they simply provide completely different experiences.
7 Homer, The Odyssey, trans. Emily R. Wilson (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2020).
8 Fitzgerald.
Translating Process
I translated the three sections focusing on Penelope to provide a baseline close to the Greek to compare with the other versions. I used the Perseus online Greek text and dictionary,9 and lightly editing it using the Perseus online translation by A. T. Murray.10 Murray’s translation is prose and very close to the exact meaning of the Greek because it is very direct and lacks the influence of a poetic structure. Because this is only my fourth year of Greek, I needed the guidance of a more experienced translator, which Murray’s text provided. I wanted an impartial version to compare to the three translators I analyze, so I finalized my own translation before reading any others (besides Murray). I then read my selected sections in the other three versions and highlighted the greatest discrepancies between translations. Given my largely direct translation of the Greek, I was able to separate the other translators’ goals for the epic from what the text actually says. Even more interestingly, I am able to identify translators’ individual motivations that affect the translation. All translations following are my own unless otherwise attributed.
9 Homer, “The Odyssey,” Homer, Odyssey, Book 1, line 1, accessed October 24, 2024, http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseusgrc1:1.1-1.43.
10 Homer, “Homer, Odyssey,” trans. A. T. Murray, Odyssey, accessed January 16, 2025, https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A199 9.01.0136.
Penelope and the Suitors
At the very beginning of the epic, Athena visits Telemachus in disguise, encouraging him to drive away the suitors and advising him on how to find information on Odysseus by asserting his power as the “Son of Penelope.”11 When Athena transforms into an owl and flies away, Telemachus realizes he received the advice of a god and immediately follows her plan. When he returns to his home, he harshly dismisses his mother after she begs a bard to stop singing about the Greeks who never returned from Troy, including Odysseus. In this scene often considered as representing his growth to adulthood, Telemachus sends Penelope out of the room so he can confront the suitors. He asserts his position as “master,” demanding the gods damn them. Antinous, notoriously Penelope’s most obnoxious suitor, mocks him, and the rest of the suitors disregard his speech. Athena emboldens Telemachus to call a council meeting of the men of Ithaca, where he denounces the suitors’ exploitation of his home and resources. Fearing the suitors will face condemnation from Ithacan men, Antinous begins his speech by mocking Telemachus’ immaturity and continues by criticizing what he characterizes as Penelope’s deceitfulness. My translation reads:
There by day she was contriving at her great loom
But by night she would unravel it after she had pine torches set before herself (105)
For three years by her craft she escaped the notice of the Achaens and mislead them with her trick
11 Wilson, 1.222.
But when the fourth year came as the seasons rolled around again
Then, certainly, one of her women who knew all told us
And as she was unravelling the splendid loom she was discovered
She finished her weaving against her will (110)
In this way the suitors explain to you, that you Yourself may know in your heart and the Achaeans may know.
Send off your mother and order her to give herself in marriage
To whomever both her father commands and pleases her, If she shall continue to greatly distress the sons of the Achaeans. (115)
Mindful in her heart of this, Athena granted her above other women
Both to know very beautiful skill in weaving and a good heart
And cunning of such we have never heard that any women of the old knew
These following who are fairhaired former Achaeans
Both Tyro and Alcmene and well crowned Mycenae (120)
Of whom not one resembles Penelope in perception
Yet this at least she did not devise.
For we will eat up your livelihood and property
As long as she possesses this mind purpose that the gods put in her heart.
To avoid marriage to any of the suitors, Penelope insisted she must first finish a funeral shroud for her living father-in-law, Laertes, before she could remarry. For three years, at night she undid each stitch by hand taking the same amount of time to unweave as it did to originally create. Antinous does praise Penelope’s cleverness and claims she is superior to any other woman, but he credits her greatness to Athena. He finishes his speech by asserting the suitors' power over Telemachus’ family. Antinous represents all of the suitors and their struggle: attempting to prove their devotion to Penelope by admiring her spirit instead of her money, while knowing their only chance at marriage is to defeat her resolve. In order to distinguish the perspective of the translator from that of Antinous, it is useful to compare different translations of Antinous’ speech.
Lattimore translates Penelope in a very negative way,12 which can be separated from Antinous’ perspective to his own personal view after seeing how other translators portray Penelope in a much more positive light. Lattimore, who translates Penelope as a wholly dependent character, portrays Penelope’s determination as uncharacteristic foolishness. Wilson and Fitzgerald, who translate Penelope as a complete character, both perceive it as perseverance against sexist expectations. Lattimore’s translation is a dismissal of Penelope’s agency rife with passive language. Even the passage summary at the top of the Lattimore translation, “The charms and guiles of Penelope,” suggests to readers more of a seductive and manipulative witch or someone
12 See Appendix A for the entirety of each translators’ version
frivolous and foolish than a woman unable to move on from her husband’s death.13
Lattimore's translation is more verbose than the other translators, spending more time on Penelope's dependence on her slaves than the original Greek. Explaining Penelope’s delay for marriage with the weaving, Lattimore does acknowledge Penelope’s power as woman of the house: “In the night she would have torches set by,”14 but he choses wordy and inefficient language that underscores Penelope as dependent on her slaves, compared to Wilson and Fitzgerald’s simpler “by torchlight.”1516 Lattimore’s translation of the torches is more accurate to the meaning of the Greek, but the Greek language fits in much more information per word than English, so Wilson and Fitzgerald’s translations are more accurate to the amount of thought and time ancient audiences would have put into this detail. Translators of Greek are forced to make a choice between exact accuracy to the text’s meaning or conveying the implications of the text to modern readers how ancient people would have understood it. Lattimore chooses to emphasize Penelope’s dependence on her slaves.
Five lines later, Lattimore again focuses on Penelope's lack of agency against the suitors while the other translators concentrate on her perseverance. Lattimore implies the suitors easily overpowered Penelope upon discovering her trickery, with Penelope and her weaving “against her will and by force, she had
13 Lattimore, 42.
14 Lattimore, 2.105
15 Wilson, 2.107.
16 Fitzgerald, 2.111.
to finish it,” 17 bold characterization for men who only discovered that her weaving never progressed for three years when someone told them. Wilson takes up only half a line with this section, saying only that the suitors “made her finish it.”18 Penelope being forced to finish the weaving is critical to emphasize her persistence but brevity is also necessary to not linger on the suitors’ questionable power over her. This balance is also seen in Fitzgerald’s translation: “She had to finish it then, although she hated it.”19 I found my translation worked best by incorporating elements from both: “She finished her weaving against her will.”
Lattimore invents Penelope resistance as intentional torture of the suitors, despite the explanation in the Greek, along with in Wilson and Fitzgerald, that she is following the will of the gods. Later in Lattimore, Antinous threatens that the suitors will continue to deplete the family’s resources “if she continues to torment the sons of the Archaians.”20 The depiction of Penelope as tormenting the suitors doesn’t exist in the Greek or in any other translation. This addition contributes to Lattimore’s Penelope being underhanded and dishonorable instead of creative, in her desperation to maintain her freedom.
The translators split on the conclusion of this speech, with Lattimore again taking the chance to detract from Penelope’s intelligence while Fitzgerald and Wilson emphasis her connection to the gods. Lattimore’s Antinous summarizes the situation by 17 Lattimore, 2.110.
18 Wilson, 2.112.
19 Fitzgerald, 2.116.
20 Lattimore, 2.115.
saying, “in this single matter she did not think rightly.”21 He acknowledges Penelope’s wisdom (a critical aspect of her characterization shared across translations) but dismisses her ploy for independence as a mistake. Fitzgerald’s Antinous says her efforts are “a plan some god / put in her mind,”22 and Wilson’s describes “this plan the gods have put in her heart.”23 While “some god” is still more contemptuous than in Wilson’s translation, both explain Penelope’s stubbornness as holy instead of heartless. When I translated this section myself, I was surprised to find how respectful the infamously annoying Antinous is. Though he is exploiting her hospitality and using up all her wealth, Antinous does spend six lines complimenting Penelope, and when he complains about her trickery, her weaving is still “splendid” and her will is god-given. Doing my own translation illuminated how this passage is intended to inform the reader of Penelope’s greatness, not the suitors' discovery of her trick. Lattimore’s focus on the trickery aspect of Penelope retaining her sovereignty is largely a personal view, not in the original.
21 Lattimore, 2.122.
22 Fitzgerald, 2.130.
23 Wilson, 2.126.
Telemachus Against Penelope
By Book 21, Odysseus has finally returned to Ithaca, but his problems are far from over. Disguised by Athena to extract revenge on the suitors, he reveals his identity only to Telemachus. They are strangers to each other, with Odysseus having been gone Telemachus’ entire life, and Penelope has no idea that he’s returned. Athena helps a desperate Penelope plan an impossible challenge: the suitors must shoot an arrow using Odysseus’ heavy bow through a small hole where the axe head attaches to the handle for twelve axes and she will marry the archer.24 Odysseus left the bow behind because it was a gift from a friend who was killed by Heracles, but despite its dark history, his family treasures the bow. By granting the suitors access to the family and Odysseus’ treasured possessions, she signifies that she is truly moving on. Though Telemachus knows Odysseus has returned, he is still frustrated that Penelope would seemingly betray Odysseus. In my translation, he complains to the suitors:
Oh shame, in truth very Zeus, son of Cronos, has made me witless
Indeed my dear mother asserts, despite being very wise, She will follow another man, turning her back on this house But you laughed and I cheered, senseless to my spirit (105) But come on, suitors, for she appears to be your prize in contest
A woman, the sort of whom is now not in Achaean land And neither in sacred Pylos nor in Argos nor in Mycenae:
24 Wilson, 547.
Not in Ithaca itself nor in the dark mainland
And you yourself know this: why is it necessary I praise my mother? (110)
Telemachus despairs that Penelope has given up, but finishes his speech by praising her. Like Antinous’ speech, complaints about Penelope are overwhelmed by compliments, attesting to her widely admired character. However, in both passages, the compliment is that she is better than other women, showing how Greek men struggled to praise women without criticizing others. In all, this speech starts as distress at his mother’s bad decision making and ends as an advertisement for the suitors to compete for her hand in marriage.
Lattimore and Fitzgerald’s insult-ridden translations may be accurate to the direct quotation in Ancient Greek but ignore Telemachus’ respect for his Penelope.25 Lattimore and Fitzgerald pair every compliment with an insult to Penelope herself or to women in general. In Lattimore, “beloved” Penelope, “though she is sensible, tells me / that she will forsake this house and go away with another.”26 Penelope has made her name through her devotion to her house and her family. “Forsaking” her home and family also means she is abandoning her own identity. In Fitzgerald, “For all her spirit, Mother has given in.”27 This romantic description demonstrates the same loss of identity as in Lattimore.
Wilson’s translation does a better job encapsulating Telemachus’ admiration for his mother by emphasizing how he
25 See Appendix B for the entirety of each translators’ version
26 Lattimore, 21.103.
27 Fitzgerald, 21.108.
understands the difficulty of her situation and ending with a compliment. Wilson’s Telemachus takes the situation more lightly, saying: “My dear mother, / despite her usual common sense, has said / that she will marry someone else and leave / this house.”28 “Leav[ing]” the house is much less charged than “forsak[ing]” it, and doesn’t portray it as an abandonment of her values. Wilson emphasizes Telemachus’ trust in his mother after the closely direct translation “There is no need for me to praise my mother,”29 by adding a line not in the Greek: “You know her worth.”30 Including this line ensures that the reader understands Penelope’s great nature well known in mythology.
Although Lattimore’s translation is again more loyal to the exact Greek, his word choice lacks information in English that was well known to Homer’s Greek audience and leads to a negative portrayal of Penelope. Wilson’s additions, though not in the original text, supply modern readers with information the ancients already had. Fitzgerald’s translation, “You all know it without praise of mine,”31 mirrors Lattimore’s and the original Greek at the expense of clarifying Penelope’s reputation.
When I chose this section to translate, I found the final line, 21.110, particularly interesting: “You yourself know this: why is it necessary I praise my mother?” The word for “praise” can also be translated as “dread,” and so although I followed the tradition (and more positive interpretation) of complimenting Penelope, another translation could be that Telemachus “dreads” Penelope because
28 Wilson, 21.101-104.
29 Wilson, 21.110.
30 Wilson, 21.111.
31 Fitzgerald, 21.115.
she has the power and agency to make decisions that he might not agree with. Though short, this section provides the opportunity to transform Telemachus and Penelope’s relationship.
Penelope and Odysseus Reunited
By Book 23, the tale is almost over. After twenty years, Odysseus is home. He has won the axe-archery contest above, slaughtered the suitors and disloyal maids/slaves, and regained his role as king of Ithaca. He has reunited with his household of slaves who have been with him since his childhood and his family. Except for one: Penelope. She is jaded after two decades of harassment and trickery by the suitors, and despite being repeatedly told that Odysseus is home, she believes it is too good to be true. When they meet, she believes the man before her is simply another suitor or a cruel god in disguise as Odysseus, as a test of loyalty from the gods or another attempt to force her to marry. Protecting herself, she tells the man a story only Odysseus will know is false. I translate:
So she spoke and made trial of her husband, but Odysseus (181)
Sorely angered, spoke to his knowing and careful wife: “Oh woman, in truth this horrible heart grieving speech you spoke
Who has moved my bed elsewhere?
For it is very difficult except for an expert, unless a god came (185)
To move it easily into the other places
But of all men there is no mortal that lives, even very strong and vigorous from youth
Who could easily hoist it out of the way, for a great trick had been made in the bed curiously wrought: I labored (and) not any others
A shrub with the (of) long pointed leaves, an olive tree (was thriving) within (the court), (190)
Full grown blooms: they were like massive pillars.
Around this I built an inner room, (until accomplished this) With compact stone, and (I covered it well) from above with a roof
I lay doors, closely joined.
And after this, I cut off the foliage off the olive tree with well pointed leaves (195)
Trimming off beforehand the root then the trunk, I shaved copper
Well and skillfully, and on the carpenter’s line straightened.
Penelope enrages Odysseus by telling him that she has moved their bed. Odysseus built their bed using the trunk and branches of an olive tree growing in their home as supports. To move their bed, Penelope would need another man to destroy Odysseus’ work and to have been disloyal to him. By provoking this rage, Penelope confirms for herself that Odysseus is also not a god with supernatural knowledge of how the bed is made and that it remains intact, but rather is her husband who is hurt she would betray him. Penelope’s ability to match Odysseus’ trickery, both using it for good, is what makes Penelope his perfect partner. But once again, the division between choosing to translate the passage as a sign of Penelope’s intelligence or despair at her apparent disloyalty falls along the gender line.
Wilson highlights Penelope’s agency and loyalty to the point that she appears superior to Odysseus.32 Penelope deliberately and actively “spoke to test him,”33 and when Odysseus gets mad, it's at his “loyal wife.”34 Wilson uses Penelope to highlight Odysseus’ faults including his hotheadedness and his hypocrisy getting mad at the idea of her remarriage while he spent much of his decade-long journey home having many affairs while she waited, desperately, for him. Additionally, while Penelope is repeatedly shown to be Odysseus’ equal in intelligence, especially when coming up with this trick, Odysseus first addresses her as “woman,”35 unable to see past her gender. Translated by Wilson, Penelope is so perfect that she begins to lose her personality and simply becomes a foil to Odysseus.
Fitzgerald’s translation is dramatic and innovative, using Penelope as a scapegoat to reinvigorate Odysseus. Lattimore’s suggestion of Penelope’s purposeful cruelty is reiterated here, when she “tried him to the breaking point,”36 as if taunting Odysseus for no reason. As the story winds down, Fitzgerald attempts to maintain the tension with dramatic language such as: “he turned on her in a flash raging,”37 “you’ve stung me now,”
38and “my handiwork / and no one else’s!”39 He includes grammatical marks nonexistent in Greek for dramatic effect
32 See Appendix C for the entirety of each translators’ version
33 Wilson, 23.181.
34 Wilson, 23.182.
35 Wilson, 23.183.
36 Fitzgerald, 23.184.
37 Fitzgerald, 23.185.
38 Fitzgerald, 23.186.
39 Fitzgerald, 23.192-193.
including many exclamation points and dashes, and strategic line breaks. He translates a particularly confusing section in the Greek as “there is our pact and pledge, our secret sign, / built into that bed.”40 The words “pact and pledge” are nowhere in the Greek, but their inclusion emphasizes the betrayal Odysseus is feeling. I translated “our secret sign / built into that bed” as “a great trick had been made / in that bed curiously wrought.” Fitzgerald’s greater emphasis on what the bed meant to Odysseus than on the building of the bed discussed later highlights Odysseus and Penelope’s relationship.
Lattimore’s translation uses romantic language and portrays more of a condescending Odysseus than an angry one. Penelope’s cunning is once again obscured: she was “trying him out,”41 when tricking him into revealing his identity. Penelope is identified in possessive as “his virtuous-minded lady,”42 with virtuous being much more passive than other identifiers such as “perceptive” and “wise.” This translation is much slower than Fitzgerald’s, without a single dramatic exclamation point, dash, or line break. Odysseus is once again focused on himself while repeating the tale of the bed to Penelope (who presumably already knows about her own bed), “I myself, no other man, made it.”43 Lattimore’s Penelope becomes condescended to, to the point that the speech is Odysseus speaking only to the reader about himself. He loses Penelope at the prime of her cleverness and thus loses her during one of her limited scenes that shape the readers’ perception of her.
40 Fitzgerald, 23.191-192.
41 Lattimore, 23.181.
42 Lattimore, 23.182.
43 Lattimore, 23.189.
This passage was very difficult to translate, speaking to Odysseus’ overwhelming anger at Penelope. It is very and therefore action heavy and uses complicated verb forms, obscuring their agent (who is likewise unknown to Odysseus). The anger Penelope elicits from Odysseus means that he fell for her trick, demonstrating her power over him even as she relinquishes her role of the leader of Ithaca back to him.
Final Thoughts on Translations
In conclusion, whether Penelope is translated with depth or flatly to emphasize the men around her falls along gender lines. Lattimore’s translation of Penelope puts her in the background of the tale, using her presence in limited scenes to elevate other characters while losing one of the most interesting characters of all. As a standard classroom translation of the Odyssey because of its other impressive qualities, Lattimore may have contributed to the loss of interest in Penelope and a loss of readers who are interested in women in classic literature. Fitzgerald’s translation treats Penelope slightly better. In the first passage about weaving he still places the agency displayed onto the slaves instead of Penelope and presents her as having given up when the mob of suitors tries to force her into remarriage. But his concise but descriptive language is accessible and enjoyable to the modern reader. He preserves the epic feeling of adventures passed down across thousands of years. Wilson’s translation is written with the motive of highlighting Penelope. She is both “careful” and “extraordinary.”4445 Although her translation is often faulted for overly modern language and derivations from the original text- line numbers are far from their original locations- Wilson’s female characters have thoughts, feelings, and understandable motivations. Each translation has its merits, but Wilson’s version excels in regards to Penelope.
Penelope is endlessly underestimated, both in myth and in modern times. Natalie Hayes, summarizing Apollodorus, explains that Penelope first comes to Ithaca for her marriage to Odysseus,
44 Wilson, 4.830.
45 Wilson, 23.166.
extremely far– especially by ancient modes of transport– from her homeland of Sparta.46 When Odysseus leaves, she is alone without her family with a newborn baby. Odysseus is called to fight in the Trojan War in the first place because he was one of the suitors of Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world. Seeing the infighting between the suitors for her hand in marriage, he proposes a pact where the men were bound to return Helen to her husband, by force if necessary, if she was ever taken from him. When Helen goes to Troy–captured or willingly is disputed among ancient sources– Odysseus is obligated to fight for her because he was among those suitors. Penelope is abandoned by her husband with their infant child because he swore to defend another woman. When Odysseus returns twenty years later after spending years together with other women by choice, he is infuriated by suitors just like himself. Penelope is Odysseus’ intellectual match but she is his moral superior. Paying attention to Penelope while translating reveals her compelling character but also makes Odysseus, famously a “complicated man,”47 a much more complex and realistic character.
46 Natalie Haynes, Pandora’s Jar: Women in the Greek Myths (New York, NY: Harper Perennial, 2022), 263-264.
47 Wilson, 1.1.
The Importance of Penelope
Penelope is worth studying beyond Odysseus. Idolized as the ideal wife for over a millenia,48 studying Penelope reveals the pressures women faced with contradicting dual expectations: they must demonstrate their agency by being completely loyal to their husbands, fathers, and brothers, despite outside pressures, while also being completely subservient to the same men. While other women more often studied in the Odyssey are notable for their volatile behavior– Helen abandons her husband and starts the Trojan War,49 Clytemnestra murders her husband to be free to live with her lover50 – Penelope is a more relatable woman who perseveres through an extraordinarily difficult challenge, but one that wasn’t unusual. In an ancient world frequently wracked by war, men were often forced to fight for causes they weren’t directly involved in out of loyalty for their city-state and women who were already socially isolated were completely alone. Penelope was an inspiration for women with her resilience and intelligence, and studying Penelope gives insight into the lives of real women in the past.
A good translation is critical to not only teaching the text but how translation works. There is no exact translation of any text and yet many people never realize they aren’t reading the original text. When readers do understand this, they still feel as though they are receiving a direct version instead of someone else’s
48 Haynes, 283.
49 Haynes, 59.
50 Haynes, 150.
interpretation of the past.51 By reading more than one translation and identifying the faults and strengths of each, even readers who can’t read the original Greek are able to separate the translator’s view of the Odyssey from what the text actually says. The Odyssey, despite its foreignness to many modern people, is a fundamental text to our culture today. Despite being a fantastical tale, the Odyssey has endless historical value: was the Trojan War real, how were families affected by war in ancient times, what was the largely unrecorded life of women like? This comes from studying what is included in the text, but just as valuable is noting what is excluded: between different versions of the Odyssey in Greek, not even in translation, there are discrepancies. Why are there differences in this largely established tale? Where did these changes come from? Making the Odyssey more accessible is critical for the world to realize how ubiquitous classics are in society today. The Odyssey continues to inspire contemporary interpretation with a renewed focus on Penelope such as star director Christopher Nolan’s next film,52 acclaimed director Kate Hamill’s new play,53 and modern classic author Margaret
51 Doizer, Curtis, interview with Rachel Kitzinger, Mirror of Antiquity, podcast audio, January 3, 2018. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mirror-ofantiquity/id1326340998?i=1000398999820
52 Dessi Gomez, “Everything We Know about Christopher Nolan’s next Film – ‘the Odyssey’: Release Date, Cast and More,” Deadline, February 19, 2025, https://deadline.com/feature/christopher-nolan-the-odysseynews-1236284537/#.
53 Alyssa Vaughn, “Penelope Takes the Spotlight at Art’s ‘the Odyssey’The Boston Globe,” BostonGlobe.com, January 16, 2025,
Atwood’s Penelopiad. 54 Beyond literal interpretations, it is the inspiration for modern classics such as Ulysses by James Joyce and new psychological methods for treating posttraumatic stress disorder in veterans by Jonathan Shay.5556 Throughout its two thousand and seven hundred year history, within its fifteen thousand lines, the Odyssey continues to be applicable to modern life in infinite ways and is foundational to our society today. 57 https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/01/16/arts/the-odyssey-americanrepertory-theater-kate-hamill/.
54 Margaret Atwood, Penelopiad (Faber & Faber, 2007).
55 Edna O’Brien, “James Joyce’s Odyssey,” The New Yorker, May 31, 1999, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1999/06/07/joycesodyssey.
56 Deborah Sontag and Amy O’Leary, “Dr. Jonathan Shay on Returning Veterans and Combat Trauma,” The New York Times, January 13, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/us/13shay-interview.html?_r=0.
57 “English Translations and Legacy of the Odyssey,” Encyclopædia Britannica, January 11, 2025, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Odyssey-epic-by-Homer/Englishtranslations-and-legacy.
Appendix A: Penelope and the Suitors
Lattimore, 2.104-125
Thereafter in the daytime she would weave at her great loom, but in the night she would have torches set by, and undo it. (105) So for three years she was secret in her design, convincing the Achaians, but when the fourth year came with the seasons returning, one of her women, who knew the whole of the story, told us, and we found her in the act of undoing her glorious weaving. So, against her will and by force, she had to finish it. (110) Now the suitors answer you thus, so that you yourself may know it in your mind, and all the Achaians may know it: send your mother back, and instruct her to be married to any man her father desires and who pleases her also. But if she continues to torment the sons of the Achaians, (115) since she is so dowered with the wisdom bestowed by Athene, to be expert in beautiful work, to have good character and cleverness, such as we are not told of, even of the ancient queens, the fair-tressed Achaian women of times before us, Tyro and Alkmene and Mykene, wearer of garlands; (120) for none of these knew thoughts so wise as those Penelope knew; yet in this single matter she did not think rightly; so long, I say, will your livelihood and possessions be eaten away, as long as she keeps this purpose, one which the very gods, I think, put into her heart. (125)
Fitzgerald, 2.110-131
So every day she wove on the great loom (110) but every night by torchlight she unwove it; and so for three years she deceived the Akhaians. But when the seasons brought the fourth around, one of her maids, who knew the secret, told us; we found her unraveling the splendid shroud. (115) She had to finish then, although she hated it.
Now here is the suitors’ answer you and all the Akhaians, mark it well: dismiss your mother from the house, or make her marry the man her father names and she prefers. (120) Does she intend to keep us dangling forever? She may rely too long on Athena’s gifts talent in handicraft and a clever mind; so cunning history cannot show the like among the ringleted ladies of Akhaia, (125) Mykênê with her coronet, Alkmênê, Tyro. Wits like Penélopê’s never were before, but this time well, she made poor use of them. For here are suitors eating up your property as long as she holds out a plan some god (130) put in her mind.
Wilson, 2.106-126
So every day she wove the mighty cloth, and then at night by torchlight, she unwove it. For three long years her trick beguiled the Greeks. But when the fourth year’s seasons rolled around, a woman slave who knew the truth told us. (110) We caught her there, unraveling the cloth, and made her finish it. This is our answer, so you and all the Greeks may understand. Dismiss your mother, let her father tell her to marry anyone his heart desires. (115) Athena blessed her with intelligence, great artistry and skill, a finer mind than anyone has ever had before, even the braided girls of ancient Greece, Tyro, Alcmene, garlanded Mycene (120) none of them had Penelope’s understanding. But if she wants to go on hurting us, her plans are contrary to destiny. We suitors will keep eating up your wealth, and livelihood, as long as she pursues (125) this plan the gods have put inside her heart.
Appendix B: Telemachus Against Penelope Lattimore, 21.102-110
Ah, how Zeus, the son of Kronos, has made me witless. My own beloved mother, though she is sensible, tells me that she will forsake this house and go away with another; 105 and then, in the witlessness of my heart, I laugh and enjoy it. (105) But come, you suitors, since here is a prize set out before you, a woman; there is none like her in all the Achaian country, neither in sacred Pylos nor Argos nor in Mykene, nor here in Ithaka itself, nor on the dark mainland. You yourselves also know this; then why should I praise my mother? (110)
Fitzgerald, 21.107-115
Has Zeus almighty made me a half-wit? For all her spirit, Mother has given in, promised to go off with someone and is that amusing? What am I cackling for? (110) Step up, my lords, contend now for your prize. There is no woman like her in Akhaia, not in old Argos, Pylos, or Mykênê, neither in Ithaka nor on the mainland, and you all know it without praise of mine. (115)
Wilson, 21.101-110
Zeus must have made me stupid! My dear mother, despite her usual common sense, has said that she will marry someone else and leave this house. But I am laughing, and my heart feels foolish gladness. Well, come on, you suitors. (105) You want this prize a woman unlike any in holy Pylos, Argos or Mycenae, or here in Ithaca or on the mainland. No woman in Achaea is like her. There is no need for me to praise my mother. (110)
Appendix C: Penelope and Odysseus Reunited Lattimore, 23.181-197
So she spoke to her husband, trying him out, but Odysseus spoke in
anger to his virtuous-minded lady: ‘What you have said, dear lady, has hurt my heart deeply. What man has put my bed in another place? But it would be difficult for even a very expert one, unless a god, coming (185) to help in person, were easily to change its position. But there is no mortal man alive, no strong man, who lightly could move the weight elsewhere. There is one particular feature in the bed's construction. I myself, no other man, made it. There was the bole of an olive tree with long leaves growing (190) strongly in the courtyard, and it was thick, like a column. I laid down my chamber around this, and built it, until I finished it, with close-set stones, and roofed it well over, and added the compacted doors, fitting closely together. Then I cut away the foliage of the long-leaved olive, (195) and trimmed the trunk from the roots up, planing it with a brazen adze, well and expertly, and trued it straight to a chalkline.
Fitzgerald, 23.184-201
With this she tried him to the breaking point, and he turned on her in a flash raging: “Woman, by heaven you’ve stung me now! Who dared to move my bed?
No builder had the skill for that unless a god came down to turn the trick. No mortal in his best days could budge it with a crowbar. (190)
There is our pact and pledge, our secret sign, built into that bed my handiwork and no one else’s!
An old trunk of olive grew like a pillar on the building plot, and I laid out our bedroom round that tree, lined up the stone walls, built the walls and roof, (195) gave it a doorway and smooth-fitting doors. Then I lopped off the silvery leaves and branches, hewed and shaped that stump from the roots up into a bedpost, drilled it, let it serve (200) as model for the rest.
Wilson 23.181-197
She spoke to test him, and Odysseus was furious, and told his loyal wife, “Woman! Your words have cut my heart! Who moved my bed? It would be difficult for even a master craftsman though a god could do it (185) with ease. No man, however young and strong, could pry it out. There is a trick to how this bed was made. I made it, no one else. Inside the court there grew an olive tree with delicate long leaves, full-grown and green, (190) as sturdy as a pillar, and I built the room around it. I packed stones together, and fixed a roof and fitted doors. At last I trimmed the olive tree and used my bronze to cut the branches off from root to tip (195) and planed it down and skillfully transformed the trunk into a bedpost.
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