Source-groundedThe Odyssey
All entities

Item · Individual

Ulysses’s purple mantle

Published entity metadata

Read-only identity and editorial metadata.

Canonical name
Ulysses’s purple mantle
Disambiguator
None
Kind
Item
Scope
Individual
Editorial note
No editorial note published.

Aliases

0

No aliases recorded.

Location presence

Phase 6 currently covers 24 processed books.

1
store-room in Ulysses’ house1 observation
·Remembered

Ulysses’ purple mantle was among the clothes Penelope recalled taking from the store-room.

See evidence text
“Penelope was moved still more deeply as she heard the indisputable proofs that Ulysses laid before her; and when she had again found relief in tears she said to him, ‘Stranger, I was already disposed to pity you, but henceforth you shall be honoured and made welcome in my house. It was I who gave Ulysses the clothes you speak of. I took them out of the store room and folded them up myself, and I gave him also the gold brooch to wear as an ornament. Alas! I shall never welcome him home again. It was by an ill fate that he ever set out for that detested city whose very name I cannot bring myself even to mention.’ ”

Claims

2
·Direct

Ulysses uses his purple mantle to conceal his weeping from the Phaeacians.

See evidence text
“Thus sang the bard, but Ulysses drew his purple mantle over his head and covered his face, for he was ashamed to let the Phaeacians see that he was weeping.”
·Disguised

Ulysses’s mantle is described as purple wool, double lined, and fastened by a two-catch gold brooch.

See evidence text
“a mantle of purple wool, double lined, and it was fastened by a gold brooch with two catches for the pin.”

Additional evidence

Evidence records not already represented by a claim.

3
·Direct
“Ulysses drew his purple mantle over his head”
·Disguised
“Ulysses wore a mantle of purple wool, double lined”
·Direct
“It was I who gave Ulysses the clothes you speak of. I took them out of the store room and folded them up myself”

Passage preview

Book 8 · Passage 7

Thus sang the bard, but Ulysses drew his purple mantle over his head and covered his face, for he was ashamed to let the Phaeacians see that he was weeping. When the bard left off singing he wiped the tears from his eyes, uncovered his face, and, taking his cup, made a drink-offering to the gods; but when the Phaeacians pressed Demodocus to sing further, for they delighted in his lays, then Ulysses again drew his mantle over his head and wept bitterly. No one noticed his distress except Alcinous, who was sitting near him, and heard the heavy sighs that he was heaving. So he at once said, ‘Aldermen and town councillors of the Phaeacians, we have had enough now, both of the feast, and of the minstrelsy that is its due accompaniment; let us proceed therefore to the athletic sports, so that our guest on his return home may be able to tell his friends how much we surpass all other nations as boxers, wrestlers, jumpers, and runners.’