Symbols

Odysseus's bow The bow of Odysseus is the recurved bow, with its quiver of arrows, that Iphitus, son of Eurytus, gave to the hero in Lacedaemon, at the start of a guest friendship. Odysseus never took it to war: he left it at home, as a memento of his friend, and used it... The olive-wood bed The bed of olive wood is the bed of Odysseus and Penelope, which Odysseus himself built in Ithaca around a living olive tree with long leaves, as thick as a column. The room was raised around the tree, with close-fitted stones and well-fitted doors, the crown... Odysseus's scar The scar of Odysseus is the mark a boar opened above his knee, with its white tusk, during a hunt on Parnassus. He was young and had gone to visit Autolycus, his maternal grandfather, who had promised him gifts when he was born. He killed the boar with a... Laertes's shroud The shroud of Laertes is the cloth Penelope says she is weaving for her father-in-law, the hero Laertes, for when death takes him. She presents it to the suitors as a duty: no Achaean woman should blame her for leaving without a shroud a man who owns so much.... The dog Argos Argos is the dog Odysseus raised before leaving for Troy. The young men used to take him hunting wild goats, deer, and hares. Now his master has been gone for twenty years, and the dog lies on the dung of the mules and oxen, at the palace door, covered with... The lotus The lotus is the sweet fruit, like honey, of a flower that gives its name to the Lotus-eaters, the people who eat it. Odysseus reaches their land on the tenth day of the baleful winds that push him away from Ithaca after he rounds Cape Malea. The Lotus-eaters...