1. Study the ceiling fresci of the Palazzo Milzetti, and think about how the scenes represented capture the episodes of the Odyssey in which Penelope appears. What elements are the same or similar? Which are different? What aspects of the similarities and differences are due to the difference in media (painting versus narrative), and which to a difference in the artist's conception of Penelope? What important episodes involving Penelope are not represented?

2. Contrast the paintings of Calypso by van Balen, Breughel, and deLairesse with those by Boeklin, Cazin, Burroghs, and Beckman. Which group corresponds best with your sense of Odysseus' relation with Calypso and of his sojourn on her island? What does Odysseus actually say about his relationship with her? What does the poet say? Are there differences in the two perspectives? Do these differences correspond with those between the groups of paintings?

3. There are many vase paintings depicting Kirke, but none or few showing Kalypso. Why do you think this is? What is it about Odysseus' sojourn with Calypso which may have made this theme an unappealing one for vase painters? In thinking about this question you may wish to reflect on what aspects of the Kirke episode vase painters chose to depict and what aspects are left unrepresented. Think, too, about how later painters chose to represent Kalypso. Consider also the one vase representation identified as "Kirke offering Odysseus a box," and think about what kind of relationship between Odysseus and Kalypso it might be meant to show.

4. Study Briton Riviere's "Circe and the Friends of Ulysses." What insights does it offer about Kirke as a character? How does this representation of Kirke differ from others by ancient and modern artists?

5. Study the four ancient Greek vases on which the episode of Odysseus and Nausikaa is represented. What elements correspond to details in the narrative? Which are different? What do these similarities and differences contribute to your understanding of the character of Nausikaa in the Odyssey?

6. In the first half of the Odyssey, we do not see Penelope and Odysseus together. But we do see or hear about his relationships with three other women: Kalypso, Kirke, and Nausikaa. Which of these three characters has the most in common with Penelope? What specific aspects of her character anticipate or reflect those of Penelope?

7. Many artists have represented Penelope at her weaving, but we never actually see her engaged in this activity in the Odyssey. How do medieval and modern representations of this scene help us to understand Penelope as a character? Consider one or more of the following : the Franco-Flemish tapestry, and paintings by Pinturicchio, Reardon, Bassano, Stanhope, Waterhouse, Bouguereau, Klinger, and Spruance. How do the representations differ, and what individual features distinguish one painting and one conception of Penelope weaving from another?

8. Compare the following three sets of representations of Penelope and Odysseus: (1) "Penelope and Odysseus with Argos (Attic red-figure stamnos and Etruscan mirror-cover), (2) "Penelope and Odysseus" (three Melian terracotta reliefs, in the Louvre, Metropolitan, and in Munich), and (3) "Footwashing scene" (one with Telemakhos, and the other with Penelope at the loom). None of these scenes actually occurs in the Odyssey. Which of the three sets of themes do you think best captures the relationship between Penelope and Odysseus as it is presented in the Odyssey? What are the differences among the groups in the ways in which they conceptualize the relationship between Penelope and Odysseus?

9. How do the three accounts of the weaving-trick in the Odyssey differ? Look at the passages on the Lecture Outlines site, and focus on the sections in bold type, which highlight the passages which are particular to each retelling of the story. How is each of the retellings accommodated to the character of the speaker? How does each represent Penelope differently while telling essentially the same story?

10. In Book 24, Amphinomos describes the trial of the bow to Agamemnon as a plot hatched by Odysseus and Penelope together (line 173). This is not, however, the way the contest comes about in the text. What warrant does the narrative provide for Amphinomos' assertion? Why does he make this supposition? In thinking about this question, go back to the end of Book 19 and the beginning of Book 20 and reread the passage where the bow context is set in the narrative.