Penelope
The wife of Odysseus who waited twenty years for his return, fending off 108 suitors through clever stratagems. Mythology's greatest symbol of faithfulness and intelligence.
The Legend of Penelope
Wife of Odysseus and queen of Ithaca, Penelope waited twenty years for her husband's return from Troy. While Odysseus battled past the Cyclops, Circe, Calypso, and the Sirens, she managed the kingdom and raised their son Telemachus. Over a hundred suitors besieged her, demanding she choose a new husband. She delayed by weaving a shroud for Laertes by day and unravelling it each night — a trick worthy of Hermes himself. When Odysseus returned, guided by Athena, Penelope tested him with the secret of their bed built around an olive tree. Only then did she believe. Zeus honoured her fidelity.
Parents
Icarius and Periboea
Children
Telemachus
Symbols
Fun Fact
Penelope's weaving trick is one of the great examples of cunning intelligence in Greek literature.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Menelaus
🗡 heroKing of Sparta, husband of Helen
Menelaus was the king of Sparta whose stolen wife Helen was the cause of the Trojan War — yet he survived the war, the return, and old age, a rare happy ending among Greek heroes.
Megara
🗡 heroNone recorded
First wife of Heracles, given to him as a reward and later killed in his madness
Odysseus
🗡 heroKing of Ithaca, hero of the Trojan War
The cleverest of the Greek heroes, whose ten-year journey home from Troy is one of the greatest stories ever told. Odysseus's cunning was his greatest weapon.
Icarius
🗡 heroNone recorded
A legendary king of Sparta and father of Penelope who tried to prevent his daughter from leaving with Odysseus after her marriage
Jocasta
🗡 heroNone recorded
Queen of Thebes who unknowingly married her own son Oedipus after his return
Phaedra
🗡 heroQueen consumed by forbidden love
Phaedra was the wife of Theseus who was cursed by Aphrodite to fall hopelessly in love with her stepson Hippolytus — her suicide and false accusation destroyed him.
Alcmene
🗡 heroMother of Heracles
Alcmene was the mortal woman whom Zeus seduced by disguising himself as her husband — she bore Heracles, the greatest hero of Greek mythology.
Helen of Troy
🗡 heroFace that launched a thousand ships
The most beautiful woman in the ancient world — daughter of Zeus, wife of Menelaus, whose elopement with Paris launched the Trojan War and a thousand ships.
Peleus
🗡 heroMortal who married a goddess
The king of Phthia who wrestled and won the sea-nymph Thetis, fathering Achilles — the greatest warrior of the Trojan War.
Aerope
🗡 heroAdultery, royalty
Queen of Mycenae whose adultery with Thyestes caused the devastating curse upon the House of Atreus
Alcestis
🗡 heroWife who died for her husband
Alcestis was the devoted wife who volunteered to die in place of her husband Admetus — the only person willing to make the sacrifice.
Alcimede
🗡 heroMotherhood, nobility
Noble Thessalian woman and mother of Jason, leader of the Argonauts