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Can a Homeric hero also be female? And if so, what does epic heroism for women look like? This contribution first asks whether ancient women were supposed to take Homeric female figures as role models (and how that possibly worked), before diving into the characterization of the heroine of the Odyssey, Penelope. Through a series of comparisons and parallels with the other women mentioned in the poem (inspired by the work of Maureen Alden), I trace the outlines of the paradoxical type of heroism reserved for women, and embodied in Penelope.