2004
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publicaties
  3. Lampas
  4. Volume 59, Issue 1
  5. Artikel
Volume 59, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 0165-8204
  • E-ISSN: 2667-1573

Samenvatting

Abstract

This article responds, in the form of a diptych, to the portrayal of Penelope as presented in the 2025-26 final examination syllabus for Greek. The first part taps into a tradition that challenges the standard image we have of Penelope. After all, few women in classical literature can lay claim to a more consistent image of marital steadfastness than Penelope, an image cultivated by ancient writers from Homer to late antiquity. Yet although Penelope is famously celebrated for her unwavering fidelity to her husband Odysseus, a considerable number of ancient sources nonetheless suggest otherwise, or at least problematize their mutual bond.

The first part of this article (§1-7) examines this remarkable alternative tradition, in which the supposedly ever-loyal wife looks far more like a Jezebel than a paragon of faithfulness. The second part (§8-9) takes as its point of departure the ‘shadow text’ included in translation in the syllabus. It offers a closer look at Penelope’s own perspective on her situation, as presented by Ovid in the first letter of his , written from Penelope to Odysseus. Here we encounter a Penelope who upholds her reputation for chastity and fidelity, yet positions herself with striking independence from Odysseus. Thus, while both parts inevitably engage with Homer, they also each exhibit a degree of independence that casts Odysseus’ famous spouse in a new light.

© Bé Breij & Floris Overduin
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.5117/LAM2026.1.003.BREI
2026-02-01
2026-02-20
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Acosta-Hughes, B. en C.Cusset. 2012. Euphorion. Oeuvre poétique et autres fragments, Parijs.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Adams, J.N.1982. The Latin sexual vocabulary, Baltimore, MD.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Albrecht, M. von.2009 [2003]. Ovid, eine Einführung, Stuttgart.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Baca, A.R.1969. ‘Ovid’s claim to originality and Heroides 1’, Transactions of the American Philological Association100, 1-10.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Barchiesi, A.1992. Epistulae heroidum. Testi con commento filologico, Florence.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Belinskaya, A.2019. ‘Penelope’s Odyssey author(s)’, The Classical Journal115.2, 175-199.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Bolmarcich, S.2001. ‘ΟΜΟΦΡΟΣΥΝΗ in the Odyssey’, Classical Philology96, 205-213.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Bonner, S.1977. Education in ancient Rome. From the Elder Cato to the Younger Pliny, Londen.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Booth, J.1991. Ovid. Amores 2, edition, commentary, translation, Warminster.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Bowra, C.H.1968 [1935]. Pindari carmina cum fragmentis. Pars I, Oxford.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Byre, C.S.1988. ‘Penelope and the suitors before Odysseus: Odyssey 18.158-303’, American Journal of Philology109.2, 159-173.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Claes, P.2005. De gouden lier. Archaïsche Griekse lyriek, Amsterdam.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Courtieu, G.2019. L’Olisseus. Le monstre avant l’Ulysse homérique, Brussel.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Dam, H.J. van.1994. Priapea, Amsterdam.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Felson-Rubin, N.1997. Regarding Penelope. From character to poetics, Princeton, NJ.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Fredricksmeyer, H.1997. ‘Penelope “polutropos”. The crux at Odyssey 23, 218-24’, American Journal of Philology118.4, 487-497.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Gerber, D.E.1999. Greek iambic poetry (Loeb Classical Library 259), Cambridge, MA/Londen.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Gibson, C.A.2019. ‘Against Penelope. An invective theme from Hellenistic Greece’, Classical World113.1, 53-63.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Gross, N.P.1996. ‘Ovid, Amores 1.8. Whose amatory rhetoric?’, Classical World89.3, 197-206.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Haldane, J.A.1968. ‘Pindar and Pan. Frs. 95-100 Snell’, Phoenix22, 18-31.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Hane-Scheltema, M. d’.2019. Ovidius. Heldinnenbrieven, Amsterdam.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Holzberg, N.2005 [1997]. Ovid, Dichter und Werk, München.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Hornblower, S.2015. Lykophron. Alexandra, Oxford.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Hutchinson, G.2006. Propertius. Elegies 4, edition, commentary, Cambridge.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Jacoby, F.1923-1959. Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, Berlijn.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Katz, M.A.1991. Penelope’s renown. Meaning and indeterminacy in the Odyssey, Princeton, NJ.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Katz, M.A.1992. ‘Ideology and “the status of women” in ancient Greece’, History and Theory31.4, 70-97.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Knox, P.E.2002 [1995]. Ovid. Heroides. Select epistles, Cambridge.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Kretschmer, P.1945. ‘Penelope’, Anzeiger der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien82, 80-93.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Künzelmann, M-C.2021. ‘Rezeption der Odyssee in Ovids Heriodes. Penelopes Brief an Odysseus’, Appunti Romani di Filologia23, 25-46.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Kwapisz, J.2013. The Greek figure poems (Hellenistica Groningana 19), Leuven.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Lightfoot, J.L.2009. Hellenistic collection (Loeb Classical Library 508), Cambridge, MA/Londen.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Lowenstam, S.2000. ‘The shroud of Laertes and Penelope’s guile’, The Classical Journal95, 333-348.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Mactoux, M.-M.1975. Pénélopé. Légende et myth, Parijs.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Mitchell, J.D.G.2024. ‘Toxic masculinity in Petronius’ Satyrica’, in M.Racette-Campbell en A.McMaster (eds.), Toxic masculinity in the ancient world, Edinburgh, 113-124.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Muecke, F.1993. Horace. Satires II, Warminster.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Mühll, P. von der.1962. Homeri Odyssea, Basel.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Overduin, F.2012. ‘Een dubieuze held. Odysseus in de literaire traditie’, Lampas45.1, 3-24.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Overduin, F.2021a. ‘De kuise Penelope’, Kleio50.1, 15-24.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Overduin, F.2021b. ‘Rampspoed voor de Grieken? De “voorspellende” woorden van Lycophrons Cassandra’, Hermeneus93.4, 70-74.
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Parker, W.H.1988. Priapea. Poems for a phallic god, Londen/Sydney.
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Pomeroy, S.B.1995 [1975]. Goddesses, whores, wives, and slaves. Women in classical antiquity, New York.
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Ramírez de Verger, A.20062. P. Ovidius Naso. Carmina amatoria. Amores. Medicamina faciei femineae. Ars amatoria. Remedia amoris, München/Leipzig.
     [Google Scholar]
  44. Roy van Zuydewijn, H.J. de.1992. Homerus. Odyssee, Amsterdam.
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Russo, J., M.Fernandez-Galiano en A.Heubeck. 1992. A commentary on Homer’s Odyssey. Volume III. Books XVII-XXIV, Oxford.
     [Google Scholar]
  46. Schade, G.1999. Lykophrons ‘Odyssee’. Alexandra 648-819, Berlijn/New York.
     [Google Scholar]
  47. Scheer, E.1958. Lycophronis Alexandra, vol. 2, Berlijn.
     [Google Scholar]
  48. Schrijvers, P.2003. Horatius. Verzamelde gedichten, Groningen.
     [Google Scholar]
  49. Shackleton Bailey, D.R.1995. Q. Horati Flacci opera, Stuttgart.
     [Google Scholar]
  50. Snell, B. en H.Maehler. 1975. Pindari carmina cum fragmentis. Pars II, Leipzig.
     [Google Scholar]
  51. Steiner, D.2010. Homer. Odyssey. Books XVII and XVIII (Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics), Cambridge.
     [Google Scholar]
  52. Vollmer, F.1923. Poetae latini minores, vol. 2, fasc. 2. Ovidi nux. Consolatio ad Liviam. Priapea, Leipzig.
     [Google Scholar]
  53. Wendel, K.1914. Scholia in Theocritum vetera, Leipzig.
     [Google Scholar]
  54. Whallon, W.1960. ‘The name of Penelope’, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies3, 57-64.
     [Google Scholar]
  55. Zeitlin, F.1995. ‘Figuring fidelity in Homer’s Odyssey’, in B.Cohen (ed.), The distaff side. Representing the female in Homer’s Odyssey, New York/Oxford, 117-152.
     [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.5117/LAM2026.1.003.BREI
Loading
  • Soort artikel: Research Article
Keyword(s): Heroides; Odyssee; Ovidius; Pan; Penelope

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

Dit is een verplicht veld
Graag een geldig e-mailadres invoeren
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error