DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT AN ANCIENT GREEK SCHOLAR. FOR THE FULL DISCLAIMER, READ HERE
“But Minerva would not let the suitors for one moment cease their insolence, for she wanted Ulysses to become even more bitter against them”
Odyssey, Book 18; Samuel Butler translation
Book 18 Summary
Another beggars comes to Odysseus’ house, berates the disguised Odysseus, and challenges him to a fight. The suitors gather around them and promise that the winner will get a meat portion and the loser will be kicked out for good. Odysseus knocks out the beggar in one hit.
Penelope goes into the dining room and questions her son Telemachus as to why he allowed the fight to happen. Since Athena beautified her appearance beforehand, all the suitors take one look at Penelope and lust after her. When they begin to try and talk to her, she tells them that if they were serious about wooing her, they would present her gifts. The suitors agree to give her gifts, but refuse to leave Odysseus’ property so they send their servants instead to get them. After she gets the gifts, Penelope goes back to her room.
The disguised Odysseus, meanwhile, gets heckled by both a group of Penelope’s maidservants and also one of the suitors. When Odysseus tells the suitor he could do better than him in any work set before them, the suitor gets furious and throws a stool at him. Odysseus dodges it and Telemachus rebukes the suitors for their treatment of the beggar. He strongly suggests the suitors leave for the evening and they agree to do so.
Penelope’s Promise
It’s here in Book 18 that we find out why Penelope held out for so long on getting remarried:
“My husband foresaw it all, and when he was leaving home he took my right wrist in his hand—‘Wife,’ he said, ‘we shall not all of us come safe home from Troy… I know not, therefore, whether heaven will send me back to you, or whether I may not fall over there at Troy. In the meantime do you look after things here. Take care of my father and mother as at present, and even more so during my absence, but when you see our son growing a beard, then marry whom you will, and leave this your present home.’”
Odyssey, Book 18; Samuel Butler translation
This is why Penelope is an example of marital faithfulness. She kept her promise to Odysseus and did not remarry until Telemachus grew up. Telemachus is an adult now though, so she’s going to have to pick someone soon. This is probably why Athena set everything in motion when she did.
We know, though, that Penelope’s faithfulness is going to pay off. She not only dupes the suitors out of some of their wealth, but she’s going to get her husband back as well—the man she truly loves and wants to be with.
A Bad Crowd Drags You Down
I briefly mentioned Amphinomus, one of the suitors, in my post on Book 16, but now it’s time to talk about him a little more.
Recall that Homer wrote this about Amphinomus:
“He was foremost among all the suitors from the… island of Dulichium; his conversation, moreover, was more agreeable to Penelope than that of any of the other suitors, for he was a man of good natural disposition.”
Odyssey, Book 16; Samuel Butler translation
He’s the most agreeable of all the suitors. In fact, when Amphinomus gives a blessing to the disguised Odysseus, Odysseus warns him that the bad behavior of the suitors is going to come back to bite them and once Odysseus returns he will show them no mercy. Before any of this happens, Amphinomus should leave. Amphinomus is shaken by this warning, his conscience pricked, but he nonetheless decides to stick around.
“But even so he did not escape destruction, for Minerva had doomed him to fall by the hand of Telemachus. So he took his seat again at the place from which he had come.”
Odyssey, Book 18; Samuel Butler translation
The second Amphinomus sat down, his fate was sealed. When it comes time for Odysseus to get his revenge, Amphinomus will die with the rest of the suitors.
Amphinomus is quite the tragic character. He’s a generally good person who got caught up with a bad crowd. He had plenty of chances to walk away—long before Odysseus gave him that warning—but he chose not to. And his choices are going to cost him his life.
Such is the fate of good people who get caught up by bad people and go along with their bad behavior. I wrote about unwise associations when I reflected on the Lotus Eaters back in Book 9. The suitors are like the Lotus Eaters to Amphinomus—only instead of being dragged down into idleness and substance dependency, he’s being dragged down into immorality and blasphemy.
And Amphinomus allowed it to happen. Unfortunately for him, his otherwise good nature is not going to save him from his poor decision to go along with the other suitors.
The bad crowd will always drag you down. Better to avoid them lest you suffer the consequences of their actions along with them.
Shallow Religiosity
In Book 12, I wrote about Odysseus’ crew promising the Sun a grand temple and making substandard offerings to the gods after killing and eating the Sun’s cattle. It was a strange display of religiosity. They were directly disobeying the gods, and even killing and eating some of their property, but nonetheless still tried to couch it all in religion like they could bribe or compromise with the gods.
At the end of Book 18, we see the suitors insist on doing a drink offering to the gods before they leave Odysseus’ house for the evening. It’s a strange thing to behold considering all the wicked acts they’ve committed up to this point.
Here they are eating up someone’s estate, forcing Odysseus’ servants to work for them (and sleeping with the maidservants), making attempts on Telemachus’ life, abusing a beggar even though he may be a god in disguise, threatening violence to anyone that opposes them, ignoring all the warning signs that the gods are displeased with their behavior… and yet they insist on performing the evening drink offering to the gods.
It reminds me of those today who act however they want to during the week, but when it comes time to put on proper displays of piety they are right there with the best of them.
It’s something I don’t understand. Why put yourself through the motions of religious practice when you’re not sincere about it? Why bear that burden? Why waste your time?
That’s all for Book 18 of the Odyssey.
May your days be filled with grace.
-Andronikos
The booklist I am going through can be found here.
Find me on social media.
Buy my book Revenge and its Discontents: My Journey through the Iliad! Electronic and paperback versions available.
Thumbnail: Penelope Awaiting Odysseus by Heva Coomans, c. 1900. Public domain.