The Center for Hellenic Studies

Penelope
Hellenic Studies Series

Blemished Kings: Suitors in the Odyssey, Blame Poetics, and Irish Satire

Each of the suitors in the Odyssey is eager to become the king of Ithaca by marrying Penelope and disqualifying Telemachus from his rightful royal inheritance. Their words are contentious, censorious, and intent on marking Odysseus’ son as unfit for kingship. However, in keeping with other reversals in the Odyssey, it is the suitors who are shown to be unfit to rule. In Blemished Kings, Andrea Kouklanakis interprets the language of the suitors—their fighting words—as Homeric… Read more

Curated Books

Regarding Penelope: From Character to Poetics

This text first considers the character of Penelope from the Odyssey as the object of male gazes and as a subject acting from her own desire, and then it develops the notion of “possible plots” as structures in the poem that co-exist with the plots Penelope actually plays out. “This book explores Homer’s construction of the character of Penelope, and his more general theory of poetic production and reception. Read more

Curated Articles

Nourriture(s) dans l’Odyssée: fruits, légumes et les oies de Pénélope

FALE-UFMG [This article was originally published 2009 in Nuntius antiquus, vol. 4, 162-180. The page-numbers of the printed version are embedded within curly brackets in this version: for example, {162|163} marks where p. 162 stops and p. 163 begins. The article appears here by courtesy of the author.] RESUMO: Este artigo apresenta e comenta três tipos de comida possível (as frutas, os legumes e os gansos de Penélope) que na… Read more

Hellenic Studies Series

Eve of the Festival: Making Myth in Odyssey 19

Eve of the Festival is a study of Homeric myth-making in the first and longest dialogue of Penelope and Odysseus (Odyssey 19). This study makes a case for seeing virtuoso myth-making as an essential part of this conversation, a register of communication important for the interaction between the two speakers. At the core of the book is a detailed examination of several myths in the dialogue in an attempt to understand… Read more