It represents a great man's journey through life with all its victories and heartbreaks.īecause Odysseus is far from Ithaca and the only way home is by way of the sea, he shows lack of judgment when he incurs the wrath of the sea god, Poseidon, by blinding the god's son Polyphemus. The sea itself is a recurring symbol throughout the epic.
Only Odysseus can string the bow on his first attempt, and he does so with ease, showing that he is the proper mate for Penelope and the only man ready to be king of Ithaca. We take from this passage that Telemachus is almost ready to be king but patiently and properly acquiesces to his father's judgment. The reader is told that Telemachus probably could string the bow on his fourth attempt, but his father signals him to desist. Prince Telemachus, trying the bow just for sport, comes close. The suitors can't come close to stringing it (Book 21), illustrating the fact that none of them is capable of leading Ithaca. But the bow also symbolizes the maturity and perhaps the character of the king. Primarily, the bow symbolizes the physical superiority of the king - an important point in a world in which the mighty prevail. The ruse failed only when Penelope was betrayed by a disloyal maidservant. At night, she secretly unraveled what she had done, deceiving the young suitors. By day, the queen, a renowned weaver, worked at a great loom in the royal halls.
Poseidon symbols full#
The suitor Antinous bitterly tells the story of the shroud to the assembly in Book 2: Penelope devoted herself to the shroud for three full years, promising she would choose a husband when she finished. She lacks the power to fight them with physical strength so she wards them off with her wits. The shroud that Penelope weaves for her father-in-law, Laertes', eventual funeral symbolizes the cunning with which she confronts the suitors. Examples include the shroud that Penelope weaves for Laertes, the great bow of Odysseus, the sea itself, and the island of Ithaca. I assume the original pine branch wreaths of the Isthmian Games were made with branches from the Korinthian grove, but I do not know this for certain.Homer's world in The Odyssey looms large, and it presents symbols, ranging from specific objects to geographical entities, that are large in their significance.
Sacred groves of pines dedicated to Poseidon existed in Korinthos and Onkhestos. The victors at the Isthmian games were originally crowned with a wreath of pine branches, though later these were replaced with wreaths of wild celery, following the example of the Nemean Games. He bound his victims to the top of two pine trees and then released the trees, tearing the victims apart as the trees snapped back up.Īthenians claim Theseus killed Sinis in this same manner and afterwards instituted the Isthmian Games in honour of Poseidon Isthmios and to appease the angered spirit of Sinis. Poseidon had a son named Sinis, who was a bandit that waylaid travellers at the Isthmos of Korinthos. Wild celery is one of Poseidon’s sacred plants, as is the pine tree (πεύκη, Pinus halepensis and P. Taken from on 3 August 2017.īeing a King in his own right, ruling over the Seas and Waters of the World, he is also shown wearing a headband or a wreath of wild celery (σέλινον). National Archaeological Museum Jatta, Ruvo di Puglia. Poseidon and his wife Amphitrite, Poseidon is wearing a wild celery wreath.
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