1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 26, pp. 403–404, Tapestry article. Wikimedia Commons image.
Notes
Penelope was the queen of Ithaca (Corfu), an island off the west coast of Greece. Her
husband, Odysseus (also known as Ulysses) committed to going to fight at the Trojan War
where he spent ten years. It took another ten years for him to get home to Ithaca where
Penelope was fending off hundreds of suitors because her queenship offered the successful
suitor the kingship. She is said to have woven and unwoven the same work on her loom to
keep the suitors at bay until it was finished. Her name comes from two Greek words
meaning ‘weft’ and ‘face’ suggesting a cunning weaver. In my view, Penelope has been
underrated as she is cast as the faithful wife (in a similar role as that of Sita in the
Ramayana).