After dining Penelope retrieves Ulysses bow. She declares that the first person to string and then use the bow to shoot an arrow throw twelve axes wins her hand in marriage The suitors pone by one fail to string the bow even though they warm and grease the bow to make it supple and easier to work with. Ulysses escorts Eumaeus and Philoetius outside, He assures himself of their loyalty then reveals himself by the same scar the maid washing his feet figured out it was Ulysses. He promises Eumaeus and Philoetius that they will be treated like Telemachus brothers and family if they fight on his side. The scar is the humble method of revealing himself. Thus Ulysses reaches to his servants as friends offering them family status for staying loyal and fighting on his side. This is not how he revealed himself to Telemachus who saw the full paradigm of the new type of hero Ulysses embodies.
Upon returning inside Ulysses find Eurymachus disgraced in his failure to string the bow, Eurymachus knows this failing portrays him as inferior to Ulysses and not equal or better to the paradigm represented by Ulysses. Antinous suggests they adjourn till the following day when they might sacrifice to Apollo the archer god for help string the bow. The disguised Ulysses then asks for the bow and is insulted by Antinous, who like the other suitors fears the beggar might succeed in string they bow they could not. Antinous accuses the disguised Ulysses for letting the wine get to his head and his better judgment. He claims the beggar will bring disaster upon himself if he tries to string the bow like the legendary drunken centaur Eurytion. Telemachus steps in and orders the bow be given to the disguised Ulysses who of course strings the bow and succeeds in shooting an arrow through the twelve axes The stringing of the bow is reminiscent of Rama string the bow and proving himself the divinely sanctioned leader and avatar of Vishnu. Ulysses strings the bow thus proving himself capable of utilising the technology of Ulysses. The twelve axes represent the twelve peoples that came out of the Minoan empire as the axe is a symbol of their civilisation. Labyrinth in Minoan means two sided axe. Ulysses not the suitors unifies these twelve people and thus deserves the throne. Only he could peacefully unify each with an arrow representing peaceful conquest like cupids arrow. The suitors could not unify the Greeks let alone the matriarchal societies and other peoples who grew inn the post Minoan empire times during the rise of troy. Only he who could cause such a unity was truly the embodiment of the divinely sanctioned peaceful and heroic hero of the new age dawning in Ulysses time. Lastly the old suitors plan to pray only after they failed on their own accord to best or even prove themselves equals to Ulysses, on the other hand Ulysses prays to Zeus with Penelope the night before as she confesses her faith for him and recie4ves the thunder clap as approval to his virtuous deeds, Ulysses and not the suitors are the ones blessed. Divine blessing are crucial for success in any endeavour
Till next week.
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