What It Is
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 thrust of his spear, and Autolycus's sons stanched the blood with incantations and sent him home with gifts. Four times the poem uses it as a sign of who he is: Eurycleia recognizes it without meaning to, Eumaeus and Philoetius see it because he shows it, Penelope hears it mentioned and does not take it as proof, and Laertes sees it as the first sign.
Where It Appears
In Book XIX, after the nurse Eurycleia is called to wash the beggar's feet, Odysseus fears what will happen:
ἷζεν ἐπʼ ἐσχαρόφιν, ποτὶ δὲ σκότον ἐτράπετʼ αἶψα· / αὐτίκα γὰρ κατὰ θυμὸν ὀΐσατο, μή ἑ λαβοῦσα / οὐλὴν ἀμφράσσαιτο καὶ ἀμφαδὰ ἔργα γένοιτο. / νίζε δʼ ἄρʼ ἆσσον ἰοῦσα ἄναχθʼ ἑόν· αὐτίκα δʼ ἔγνω / οὐλήν, τήν ποτέ μιν σῦς ἤλασε λευκῷ ὀδόντι(19.389-393), he sat by the hearth and quickly turned toward the shadow; for at once he feared in his heart that she, touching him, would feel the scar, and his deeds would come to light. Coming nearer, she washed her lord; and at once she recognized the scar that a boar once struck him with its white tusk.
The poem then returns to the day the mark was made, and it is within that memory that the hero's name is explained:
γαμβρὸς ἐμὸς θυγάτηρ τε, τίθεσθʼ ὄνομʼ ὅττι κεν εἴπω· / πολλοῖσιν γὰρ ἐγώ γε ὀδυσσάμενος τόδʼ ἱκάνω, / ἀνδράσιν ἠδὲ γυναιξὶν ἀνὰ χθόνα πουλυβότειραν· / τῷ δʼ Ὀδυσεὺς ὄνομʼ ἔστω ἐπώνυμον·(19.406-409), my son-in-law and daughter, give him the name I say: for I have come here having been hated by many, men and women, across the land that nourishes many; so let his name be Odysseus, in keeping with that.
Back in the scene, the nurse recognizes him:
τὴν γρηῢς χείρεσσι καταπρηνέσσι λαβοῦσα / γνῶ ῥʼ ἐπιμασσαμένη, πόδα δὲ προέηκε φέρεσθαι· / ἐν δὲ λέβητι πέσε κνήμη, κανάχησε δὲ χαλκός, / ἂψ δʼ ἑτέρωσʼ ἐκλίθη· τὸ δʼ ἐπὶ χθονὸς ἐξέχυθʼ ὕδωρ.(19.467-470), the old woman, taking it in her open palms, recognized it by touch, and let the foot drop; the leg fell into the basin, the bronze rang out, it tipped to the other side, and the water spilled onto the ground.
Penelope does not notice, because Athena diverts her attention. Odysseus seizes the nurse by the throat, reminds her that she raised him, and speaks low:
ὧδε γὰρ ἐξερέω, καὶ μὴν τετελεσμένον ἔσται· / εἴ χʼ ὑπʼ ἐμοί γε θεὸς δαμάσῃ μνηστῆρας ἀγαυούς, / οὐδὲ τροφοῦ οὔσης σεῦ ἀφέξομαι, ὁππότʼ ἂν ἄλλας / δμῳὰς ἐν μεγάροισιν ἐμοῖς κτείνωμι γυναῖκας.(19.487-490), for so I will say, and it will be fulfilled: if a god lets me subdue the proud suitors, I will not spare you, though you are my nurse, when I kill the other female servants in my halls.
In Book XXI, it is Odysseus who offers it, so that Eumaeus and Philoetius will be convinced he has returned:
εἰ δʼ ἄγε δή, καὶ σῆμα ἀριφραδὲς ἄλλο τι δείξω, / ὄφρα μʼ ἐῢ γνῶτον πιστωθῆτόν τʼ ἐνὶ θυμῷ, / οὐλήν, τήν ποτέ με σῦς ἤλασε λευκῷ ὀδόντι / Παρνησόνδʼ ἐλθόντα σὺν υἱάσιν Αὐτολύκοιο.(21.217-220), come, I will show you another clear sign, so that you may know me well and be persuaded in your heart: the scar that a boar once gave me with its white tusk, when I went to Parnassus with the sons of Autolycus.
In Book XXIII, Eurycleia goes up laughing to Penelope's room and, since her mistress does not believe her, offers the scar as a clear sign:
ἀλλʼ ἄγε τοι καὶ σῆμα ἀριφραδὲς ἄλλο τι εἴπω, / οὐλήν, τήν ποτέ μιν σῦς ἤλασε λευκῷ ὀδόντι.(23.73-74), but come, I will tell you another clear sign: the scar that a boar once gave him with its white tusk.
In Book XXIV, in the orchard, Laertes asks for a clear sign, and Odysseus begins with the mark:
οὐλὴν μὲν πρῶτον τήνδε φράσαι ὀφθαλμοῖσι, / τὴν ἐν Παρνησῷ μʼ ἔλασεν σῦς λευκῷ ὀδόντι / οἰχόμενον(24.331-333), first look with your eyes at this scar, which a boar with its white tusk gave me on Parnassus, when I went there.
But it is with the trees he gave him in childhood that he convinces his father:
ὄγχνας μοι δῶκας τρισκαίδεκα καὶ δέκα μηλέας, / συκέας τεσσαράκοντʼ(24.340-341), you gave me thirteen pear trees and ten apple trees, and forty fig trees.
What It Means
The scar puts the body in the place of the word. What Odysseus holds up with the false name and the story of Crete, the nurse undoes with her hand: the recognition is physical and noisy, the leg falls into the basin, the bronze rings, the water spills. The beggar's disguise fails exactly where Odysseus knew it could fail, and he himself had asked that his feet be washed by an old woman who had suffered as much as he had.
The mark also ties the name to the hero. Autolycus chooses his grandson's name for the hatred he has stirred in many, and the poem places that choice inside the scene of the scar, so that the name and the mark come from the same family, that of the mother.
The scar convinces whoever sees it and can connect it to a memory of their own: the nurse who raised him, the two servants, the father who sent him to Parnassus. It does not convince Penelope, who announces signs known only to the two of them and is convinced by the bed. The poem does not explain why she does not accept the scar, but she sets it aside at the moment she herself chooses the trial. Each sign serves a kind of recognition, that of the body to the house, that of the secret to the couple.
Relationships
- Standard themes: Identity, Truth and lies, Family.
- Characters: Odysseus, Eurycleia, Eumaeus, Laertes, Penelope.
- Neighboring symbols: the bed of olive wood, the sign Penelope chooses, the dog Argos, who recognizes his master without any sign, and the bow of Odysseus.