“Then Penelope came down from her room looking like Venus or Diana, and they set her a seat inlaid with scrolls of silver and ivory near the fire”
~ The Odyssey - Book XIX (Samuel Butler Translation. p289)
Book 19 starts with Ulysses and Telemachus secretly removing weapons from the palace hall and putting them into the store room. Later, Ulysses has a long conversation with Penelope, where she tells him the story of how she has kept the suitors at bay for the past ten years. Ulysses spins up a story, tells her, and hints that her husband will return soon. After this, when the nurse Euryclea washes the beggar’s feet, she sees a scar on his leg and recognizes Ulysses immediately. So far, only three know about the beggar’s true nature - Telemachus, Argus (his dog), and Euryclea. Ulysses reveals himself to Telemachus, but Argus and Euryclea discover on their own - something to think about.
One topic that I wanted to think more about and discuss is Penelope’s beauty as depicted in the story. There are so many suitors, many wealthy men, who have been waiting for so many years because she is beautiful. Well, it may also be because they are able to have a feast daily at someone else’s expense. Let’s consider that it is due to her beauty. This book says, “Penelope came down from her room looking like Venus or Diana”. The previous book had Athena washing her with ambrosial loveliness and that “she made her taller and of a more commanding figure, while as for her complexion, it was whiter than sawn ivory.” Homer equated beauty to whiteness thousands of years old. I wonder if the equation of ‘beauty is white’ is because it has been told and retold in many stories, and if someone never read anything or was not exposed to any contemporary media, would they not consider white as beautiful? I doubt it. Something about having a fairer complexion gets one’s attention, I think.