#odysseus and penelope

[psyduckbuttercup]

hey so i Fully Believe that telemachus was not afraid of odysseus in Hold Them Down

people may have told him stories of Odysseus, King of Ithaca, Athena's chosen Champion, Hero of Troy

but mama's boy telemachus sat by her feet as she wove tapestry after tapestry; and penelope told her little wolf stories of his father

how they met, how he tripped over himself to woo her, how he cried his eyes out when penelope became pregnant, how telemachus wouldn't sleep in his cot as a baby because he was so used to being in his father's arms because odysseus would not put him down; and yes, how viciously he defended their family when the atrides came to retrieve him for the war

telemachus? the child of the Unhinged Power Couple? who knew very well how horrible those suitors were, how they treated him and spoke of his mother?

took one look at his dad viciously protecting their home, their family, and thought he was the coolest, strongest person ever (after mom ofc)

[anyanary]

I will fall in love with you over and over again

[tired0artist]

Once a year, Penelope orders for a painter to come and make a painting of Telemachus.

So when Odysseus finally returns, there’s a gallery of 20 paintings, showing how year after year, Telemachus grew into the young man he was now.

In some of them, Telemachus is dressed properly as a prince of Ithaca. In others, he is doing some of his daily activities (reading, playing with Argos, writing, playing the lyre), as the painter came around so often that the prince stopped caring to pose for an entire day in an uncomfortable attire.

There is one, that Odysseus finds himself staring at the longest.

It’s the twelfth painting. Where Telemachus is accompanied by his mother.

The young boy sits at her side, as she carefully teaches him to weave. It was painted in their room, as a part of the olive tree that is their bed, is also captured in the back.

Odysseus sobs, and thanks his wife for bringing the lost years in such a beautiful form to him.

Even years after his return, the King often is found in the small gallery, watching his son slowly grow with each step.

(I love this family your honour)

[cescalovestowrite]

Odysseus the simp this, Odysseus the simp that... Stop it!

Odysseus doesn't simp for Penelope, he bullies her. Bullying is their love language. Lying to each other and outsmarting each other and treating everything like a competition is their love language.

Stop trying to make them normal, they are not.

[cheesemushrooms]

Doodles <3 if the Trojan war never happened

This was fun I will draw more odypen (and telophase probably)

[restlesskeychains]

Pls give me some of your Odypen fic recs I am a very hungry sheep and 😔

(Uhh preferably aus but anything is good :3)

[teapotteakettle]

~ Penelopeeeee ~

finally some EPIC! fanart! who's next?

[apollognese]

In honor of the Ithaca Saga and Epic the Musical in general🫡🫡

Ody and Penelope have my heart🖤🖤

[katerinaaqu]

Odysseus's fixation upon his son could possibly be explained by the timeline.

A small thing that needs to be said is that according to Homer Odysseus left Telemachus a "newborn" (or at least so Menelaus says in the Odyssey). Interestingly is hard to tell how long Odysseus and Penelope have been married before they had Telemachus because the time line is not cut and clear.

It seems like their marriage took place during the oath of Tyndareus period when Odysseus was at Sparta as a suitor to Helen. From the Oath till Helen's infidelity or abduction or forced seduction by Aphrodite we see there were around 10 years of difference (quite frankly according to some accounts Helen mentions she was 20 years in Troy). That means that he and Penelope were potentially married at least a decade (which makes sense given that he made a wedding bed for her from scratch making it seem that their palace was also being rebuilt at that time)

But if Telemachus was newborn or almost newborn (like let's say about 1 year old tops) that means that Odysseus and Penelope were childless for almost a decade. Either that means they were having some issues aka Odysseus running errands in the kingdom or that they were trying very hard to have children and somehow they couldn't

Do you imagine what this means?

Odysseus potentially had to leave behind a son he wished for for almost a decade full and not to mention that Palamedes nearly killed him, that very son that he potentially tried so hard for and wished for so much!

Hell no wonder he names himself "Father of Telemachus" and quite frankly one can understand why he would hold a grudge against Palamedes (be it Higenius you follow where he frames him or be it Pausanias who says he drowned him) one can imagine why his brain would snap like that! If this hypothesis is correct that is.

[caramelmiacchiato]

polites: look! a half-full glass!

eurylochus: its not a half-full glass. its just a glass with water inside.

odysseus: penelope used to drink water...

[justsmth2]

quick odypen sketch from the ithaca saga

[psyduckbuttercup]

i like how odysseus says penelopes been "waiting for love" but she never shifts from her stance on "waiting for you"

she was not waiting for love. if it was love she wanted she could have found it elsewhere, couldve found it again, couldve loved again

she was waiting for him

her husband. her odysseus.

she would have no one else. not because she couldnt but because she Won't

Ever.

[toxinoire]

Odysseus: What?! I can't move the wedding bed!

Penelope: Oh reeeaaaallllyyy why?

Odysseus: I made that as a symbol of our love! It's carved in a tree, it literally can't be moved!

Penelope: And why would you know? Oh wait, it's cause you're my fucking husband!

Odysseus: I-

Penelope: Like, no shit you've killed people. You went to a war, Odysseus. What do you think happens in wars?! Dance parties?!

Odysseus:

Penelope: War is literally the shortened version of the word manslaughter and trauma! No shit that's what happened!

Odysseus:

Penelope: "cLeVeReSt mAn iN gReEcE" BE CLEVER THEN oh my gods. I didn't wait twenty years just for you to ask me the stupidest question in existence.

Odysseus:

Odysseus: Damn I love you.

[tired0artist]

| 20 years apart - royal paintings |

I LOVE LOVE LOVE THEM! no more waiting… <3

[cescalovestowrite]

I seriously need people to understand that Penelope didn't wait for Odysseus for twenty years because social expectations dictated it, or because she was expected to be a faithful wife even untill she died.

Actually it was exactly the opposite: her father wanted her to remarry, some of the women wanted her to remarry, her son made her understand that if she took another husband and left home he wouldn't stop her. And at a certain point she recounts that before leaving for war Odysseus had told her that if he were to die, she could remarry whoever she liked (making sure first that Telemachus would take the throne without problems).

I need people to understand that Penelope's choice was entirely personal. She didn't remarry because her love for Odysseus had never abandoned her, because she knew that with no one else could she find that complete identity of thought and mind, that homophrosyne that she had with him.

It was not the choice of a woman who was modest and trapped by the expectations of her time. It was the choice of a woman who was freer and more independent than others, who preferred to remain without the protection of a man rather than resign herself to not having HER man.

[cheesemushrooms]

Quick doodle of hurt comfort odypen yippee