Slaughter of the Suitors

The Slaughter of the Suitors is the decisive, violent climax of the Odyssey, in which Odysseus, after twenty years of absence, single-handedly—with the aid of his son Telemachus and two loyal servants—kills every one of the 108 suitors who had been devouring his property and pressing his wife Penelope to remarry. The massacre is the long-awaited fulfillment of the revenge plot that has been building since Odysseus's return to Ithaca, and it marks the moment when the disguised king sheds his beggar's rags and reasserts his identity, authority, and dominion over his own house. The scene is a brutal, methodical, and almost ritualistic act of justice, driven by Odysseus's righteous fury and sanctioned by the gods, particularly Athena, who stands by him throughout the carnage.

Causes and Background

The slaughter is the culmination of a carefully laid plan that begins the moment Odysseus, disguised as a beggar by Athena, sets foot on Ithaca. After revealing himself to his son Telemachus at the swineherd Eumaeus's hut, the two conspire to hide the household's weapons in a storeroom, leaving only enough for themselves and their allies. The plan is set in motion when Penelope, at Athena's prompting, announces a contest: whoever can string Odysseus's great bow and shoot an arrow through the holes of twelve axes will win her hand. The suitors, one by one, fail to string the bow. When the beggar—Odysseus in disguise—asks for a turn, the suitors mock and threaten him, but Telemachus insists he be allowed to try. With ease, Odysseus strings the bow and sends an arrow through all twelve axes, a feat that signals the beginning of the end.

What Happens

As the suitors sit stunned, Odysseus tears off his rags, springs onto the threshold of the great hall, and pours the arrows from his quiver at his feet. He declares, "The mighty contest is at an end. I will now see whether Apollo will vouchsafe it to me to hit another mark which no man has yet hit." With that, he aims a deadly arrow at Antinous, the most insolent of the suitors, who is just raising a two-handled gold cup to his lips. The arrow strikes Antinous in the throat, the point passing clean through his neck; he falls, the cup drops from his hand, and a thick stream of blood gushes from his nostrils. The suitors, at first believing the killing to be an accident, threaten the stranger, but Odysseus reveals himself: "Dogs, did you think that I should not come back from Troy? You have wasted my substance, have forced my women servants to lie with you, and have wooed my wife while I was still living. You have feared neither God nor man, and now you shall die." Eurymachus tries to bargain, blaming Antinous and offering compensation, but Odysseus refuses. Eurymachus then calls the suitors to fight, drawing his sword and rushing at Odysseus, but Odysseus shoots him through the breast, the arrow fixing itself in his liver. Amphinomus charges at Odysseus, but Telemachus spears him from behind, the point going through his chest. As long as his arrows last, Odysseus shoots the suitors down one by one; when they are exhausted, he arms himself with shield, helmet, and spears. The goatherd Melanthius treacherously brings arms from the storeroom to the suitors, but Eumaeus and Philoetius capture him, bind him, and string him up from a pillar to die in agony. Athena, in the form of Mentor, appears to encourage Odysseus, though she withholds full victory to test his mettle, and later, from the rafters in the form of a swallow, she holds up her deadly aegis, causing the suitors' hearts to quail. The remaining suitors are slaughtered in a frenzy: Odysseus kills Demoptolemus, Eurydamas, and others; Telemachus kills Euryades, Amphimedon, and Leocritus; Eumaeus kills Elatus; Philoetius kills Pisander and then Ctesippus, taunting him for the ox's foot he had thrown at Odysseus. The floor runs with blood, and the bodies pile up. Only the herald Medon and the bard Phemius are spared at Telemachus's intercession. After the killing, Odysseus orders the disloyal maidservants—twelve in number—to clean the hall and then has them hanged in the courtyard. Melanthius is taken out, his nose and ears cut off, his vitals torn out and fed to the dogs, and his hands and feet severed.

Consequences and Aftermath

The slaughter immediately restores Odysseus's physical control over his house, but it also creates a crisis of legitimacy. The bodies of the suitors are piled in the gatehouse, and Odysseus purifies the hall with fire and sulphur. Penelope, who has been asleep through the carnage, is awakened by Euryclea and at first refuses to believe that her husband has returned. Only after Odysseus proves his identity by describing the secret of their bed—a bed built around a living olive tree that cannot be moved—does she accept him, and the two are joyfully reunited. The next morning, Odysseus, Telemachus, Eumaeus, and Philoetius arm themselves and go to the farm of Laertes, Odysseus's aged father. Meanwhile, the news of the massacre spreads through Ithaca, and the relatives of the slain suitors, led by Eupeithes, the father of Antinous, gather in anger and prepare to attack. A battle nearly breaks out, but Athena, at Zeus's command, intervenes and forces a peace covenant between Odysseus and the Ithacans, ending the cycle of bloodshed and establishing Odysseus as the rightful ruler once more.