Written by Konstantinos Konstantinidis Amphiκtyon
We are all talking about men, so let’s also talk about a great woman, Penelope, a symbol of marital fidelity and fortitude. She was the daughter of Ikarion and Periboea. When Periboea was pregnant, Ikarion consulted the oracle and received the following oracle: “Periboea is shameful, a curse in the womb of women.” After this, when she was born, he put the baby in the boat and threw it into the sea. The Meleagrides found it and raised it. Because her father rejected her, they named her Arnaea or Arnaki. When her father heard about it, he went out of pity and took her and named her Penelope. According to others, the name means weaver (from penos and lopis). She became extremely beautiful and many people asked her in marriage. Icarion, in order not to displease anyone, called the suitors to a race. Odysseus emerged victorious and married her. The races took place in a stadium in Sparta where the street was called “Aphaites” from the beginning of the stadium. The historian Pausanias writes that this race was imitated by Danaos, while according to others, this marriage was arranged by Tyndareus, on the condition that Odysseus remained in Sparta or that Icarion wanted to keep him there. He took Penelope and got into his chariot and left. Icarion, running behind the chariot, begged Odysseus to at least let Penelope stay there. Then Odysseus, holding the chariot, said to her, if she wants to stay. But she lowered her head and was silent. Then Icarion considered this a satisfactory response and let her go. Then he built a statue of Hades for her, for the shame of Penelope. Before the Trojan War they lived in complete peace and their love was mutual. Preparing for the campaign, Odysseus left her at his feet to govern the kingdom with the order that if he died and wished to marry, she should hand over power to Telemachus. Because the other Greeks returned from the war and he was not seen or heard of what had happened and she could not learn anything about him, even though she asked and wrote letters everywhere asking everyone, her parents pressured her to marry and that is why so many suitors gathered, seeking her for her embarrassing beauty and for the reputation of her sobriety. For this they gave her various gifts. Eurymachus gave her a golden polydaedalus (a jewel in the form of a rosary). However, she always hoped that he would return and did not give in, fearing the pressures of the crowd of suitors, pretending that she was weaving the web (= cloth) and was busy. The suitors had settled there for four years, waiting for Penelope’s election. From Dolicha (an island northeast of Lefkada) 52 suitors along with six slaves. From Samos (Corfu) 24. From Zakynthos 20. From Ithaca 12, having with them preachers and musicians and soothsayers and interlopers and jesters so that they had set up an entire camp in Ithaca, fearless and free because at that time Greece had a small population. And as if the crowd were not enough, they demanded from Penelope and Telemachus to feed them luxuriously. For this reason, the old Laertes father of Odysseus stayed in the fields. Penelope, although suffering from this situation under the pretext of not finishing the web, proposed the time in the hope that one day Odysseus would return. To achieve this, what he wove during the day he unraveled at night. And Telemachus, in order to drive them away, frightened them with youths and that is why they wanted to kill him. When one day came after ten years, Odysseus destroyed them as we wrote in the relevant study about Odysseus. It should be noted that Penelope was Helen’s first cousin because Tyndareus and Icarion were brothers. So we see that for one cousin there was a war in Asia and for the other in Greece. It is said maliciously that she gave birth to Pan from the suitors or from Hermou who invented the weaving art and from Pan the cloth was named. And that Odysseus chased her away and she came to Lacedaemon and then to Mantineia where the Mantineans also pointed out her grave. From this Lycophron and Duris of Samia called her Cassorida, that is, a prostitute. However, Tzetzis calls this nonsense, because Homer and other official poets mention her as a model of sobriety and marital fidelity and say that she lived the remaining years peacefully with Odysseus. As for Penelope, the prostitute of Mantineia, that she is a different person. Commentary:
1/ Penelope constantly received letters to inform her comrades of what had become of him. Therefore, the things about the Phoenician alphabet and the Indo-European language are completely false. And unfortunately, despite the written evidence, even foreigners and some of our own “blind people” do not want to open their eyes to see the truth
2/ The Greeks everywhere had the evaluation even in the election of the groom for their daughters. They always set up competitions between the suitors and the winner takes the bride as a prize.
3/ The Greeks still speak the Homeric language. We say “lopodytis=lopo+dytis” the one who puts his hand in his pocket
4/ In Greek Mythology the name Meleagrides was given to four young women, usually referred to as sisters of the Calydonian hero Meleager, and therefore daughters of the king of Calydona Oeneus and Althea. Their names were Gorgias, Deianeira, Eurymede and Melanippe. The Meleagrides, mourning the death of their brother, continuously and uninterruptedly, were forced by the Olympian gods out of pity to transform them into the eponymous birds, the well-known Indians or turkeys, thus continuing their mournful cry.
5/ Since the time before the Trojan War, the Greeks were artistic and made statues like Hades’ for Penelope.
6/ In addition to historians and poets, there are those who wrote Greek prehistory, there are also the cunning and malicious who distort the truth, as happened with Penelope
7/ Is there any woman in the world today who resembles Penelope? I doubt it. You?
*Amphiktyon, Lieutenant General (retd) Konstantinos Konstantinidis
Author, Member of the Society of Greek Writers
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