Odyssey 4.762 · Book 4, lines 762–766
Penelope's prayer to Atrytone
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Penelope — κλῦθί μευ, αἰγιόχοιο Διὸς τέκος, Ἀτρυτώνη, εἴ ποτέ τοι πολύμητις ἐνὶ μεγάροισιν Ὀδυσσεὺς ἢ βοὸς ἢ ὄϊος κατὰ πίονα μηρίʼ ἔκηε, τῶν νῦν μοι μνῆσαι, καί μοι φίλον υἷα σάωσον, μνηστῆρας δʼ ἀπάλαλκε κακῶς ὑπερηνορέοντας.
Hear me, child of aegis-bearing Zeus, Atrytone: if ever cunning Odysseus in his halls burned for you fat thigh-pieces of ox or of sheep, remember it for me now, and save my dear son, and ward off the suitors in their wicked insolence.
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The setting
In her upper chamber, barley scattered, Penelope prays to Athena — here called Atrytone, 'the Unwearied.' Homeric prayer recalls past sacrifices as a claim on the god, then asks; Odysseus's offerings become her collateral for Telemachus's life.
A note on this passage
Penelope's prayer keeps the fixed three-part shape: she names the goddess (Atrytone, the Unwearied), recalls a past service — Odysseus's burnt thigh-pieces of ox and sheep — and only then asks. Her requests are three and plain: remember, save my son, drive off the suitors.
The engine of the prayer is reciprocity. If ever he gave you offerings, repay it now: the same do-and-be-repaid logic that governs guest-friendship runs between mortals and gods too. She spends the husband's stored credit of piety to buy the son's safety — the absent Odysseus shielding Telemachus even now, through the ledger of old sacrifices. It is the very formula Chryses uses in the Iliad's first prayer.
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