Suitors Of Penelope
The suitors of Penelope, also known as the Proci, are one of the main subjects of Homer's Odyssey. Penelope's husband Odysseus, king of Ithaca, goes off to fight in the 10-year Trojan war. While most survivors return relatively soon, it takes Odysseus another ten years to return home, and in this time the suitors court Penelope, whom they believe (or hope) has become a widow. Once Odysseus returns home (whom Athena initially disguises as a beggar so he can plot his revenge in secret), his son Telemachus tells him that there are 108 suitors: 52 from Dulichium, 24 from Same, 20 Achaeans from Zacynthus, and 12 from Ithaca. Under the pretext of courting Penelope, the suitors proceed to spend their days at Odysseus house, and feasting on the livestock. The suitors provide one of the earliest examples of courting in Ancient Greece (although, as an epic, the accuracy of The Odyssey is debated). After Odysseus returns home, he kills all of the suitors.
Read more about Suitors Of Penelope: List of Suitors Appearing in The Odyssey, List of Suitors in Bibliotheca
Famous quotes containing the word suitors:
“She that was ever fair, and never proud,
Had tongue at will, and yet was never loud
...
She that could think, and ne’er disclose her mind,
See suitors following, and not look behind.
She was a wight, if ever such wight were—
To suckle fools and chronicle small beer.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)