Penelope

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For other uses, see Penelope (disambiguation).

Odysseus and Penelope by Francesco Primaticcio(1563)

In Homer's Odyssey, Penelope (/pnlpi/ p-NEL--pee; Greek: , Pnelpeia, or

, Pnelp) is the wife of Odysseus, who is known for her fidelity to Odysseus while
he was absent, despite having many suitors.
Her name has traditionally been associated with marital fidelity,[1] epitomizing the traditional
view of the dutiful Penelope.[2]

Contents
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1Etymology
2Role in the Odyssey
3Iconography
4Latin tradition
5Notes
6Ancient sources
7Secondary sources
8External links

Etymology[edit]
The origin of her name is believed by Robert S. P. Beekes to be Pre-Greek and related
to pnelops ()[3] or pnelps(), glossed by Hesychius as "some kind of
bird"[4] (today arbitrarily identified with the Eurasian wigeon, to which Linnaeus gave the
binomial Anas penelope), where -elps (-) is a common Pre-Greek suffix for predatory
animals;[5] however, the semantic relation between the proper name and the gloss is not clear.
In folk etymology, Pnelop() is usually understood to combine the Greek wor