This week's reading was really intense. I knew, vaguely, that Odysseus kills the suitors but I never thought it would be so gruesome. I found the twelve slave girls' part the hardest to read. It doesn't seem fair that they were singled out for execution, for so many reasons. I guess back when the story was written, the ideas around consent and slavery were just really different than they are today.

It'll be interesting to see if Odysseus faces any consequences for this in the last two books of the story.

For next week we will be reading the final two books - books 23 and 24.

Summary:

Book 21:

Penelope arranges an archery contest for the suitors where they have to use Odysseus’ old bow to shoot an arrow through the holes of 12 axes. She will marry the first man who can do it. The game begins. However, even with the use of heat and fat to make the bow more flexible, no one manages to string it. As the competition continues, Odysseus reveals himself to two of his faithful slaves: Eumaeus and Philoetius. He fills them in on his plans and they agree to go along with it. Odysseus plans that the suitors will be locked inside the palace with him while the female slaves are taken to their rooms to await their punishments.

Antinous, seeing how all the other suitors are struggling, suggests putting the rest of the archery contest off until the next day. This saves him from making his attempt. Penelope agrees. Before she leaves, Odysseus asks if he can try with the bow, outside of the competition. Some of the suitors get angry with this, claiming that if he miraculously shoots the bow it will make them look bad. Penelope and Telemachus argue to give Odysseus a chance, with the promise that if he succeeds, they will give him clean clothes to help him on his way to employment.

The book ends with Odysseus shooting the arrow through the axes and signaling that the attack he has planned is about to begin.

Book 22:

This book is titled ‘Bloodshed’ and it lives up to that name. Odysseus reveals himself and begins the slaughter by shooting down Antinous. Odysseus then tells the other suitors that they should try to run or fight for their lives. The remaining suitors try to fight back but they’ve seen Odysseus use the bow and know that they are outmatched. Telemachus and the two slaves join in and take down some more suitors. Melanthius, the goatherd, decides to help the suitors by fetching them weapons and armour from the storeroom. For this crime Odysseus has Eumaeus and Philoetius tie him up for extra punishment later.

Athena shows up briefly, in the guise of Mentor, before turning into an owl to watch the rest of the fight.

We learn a lot of the suitors’ names as they are killed. Leodes, a religious suitor, begs for his life, claiming (honestly) that he tried to talk the others out of their bullying and disrespectful ways. Odysseus shows no mercy because he thinks Leodes must have wished him dead in the past. He beheads the man on the spot. A poet who was obliged to play for the suitors is trapped in the hall. He supplicates to Odysseus and, thanks to Telemachus intervening, he is spared along with a young boy who is a house slave. No one else is spared.

Once Odysseus finishes up with the suitors, he has Eurycleia brought to him. He asks her to tell him which of the female slaves are loyal and which are not. She names twelve girls. Instead of executing them on the spot, Odysseus has the girls brought to him. He makes them clean up the hall before they are sent out to the garden with Telemachus. Once there, Telemachus hangs them. Job done for the day, Odysseus begins burning some herbs to cleanse the bad energy from the hall. As one does after orchestrating a massacre in one's home.