Bow of Odysseus
The great composite bow that only Odysseus could string, the instrument of his revenge upon the suitors
The Meaning of Bow of Odysseus
The Bow of Odysseus is the decisive weapon of the Odyssey's climax, the instrument through which the hero reclaims his home and identity after twenty years of absence. The bow had been a gift from Iphitus, son of Eurytus, who had himself received it from Apollo. It was a powerful composite bow of horn and sinew, requiring tremendous strength and technique to string. When Odysseus departed for Troy, he left the bow at home in Ithaca as a treasured heirloom. During his twenty-year absence, 108 suitors occupied his palace, consuming his wealth and pressuring his wife Penelope to remarry. At Athena's prompting, Penelope devised a contest: she would marry whichever suitor could string Odysseus's bow and shoot an arrow through twelve axe-heads set in a row. One by one, the suitors tried and failed — they could not even bend the bow enough to loop the string. Odysseus, disguised as a beggar, asked to try. Despite the suitors' mockery, he strung the bow effortlessly, sent an arrow cleanly through all twelve axe-heads, and then turned the weapon upon the suitors. With his son Telemachus and two loyal servants at his side, he slaughtered every last suitor in the great hall, fulfilling the long-awaited justice of his homecoming.
Parents
None recorded
Symbols
Fun Fact
The feat of shooting through twelve axe-heads remains debated by scholars, with theories ranging from socket-holes in axe handles to a line of ring-topped axes
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