Odyssey 7.95 · Book 7, lines 95–97
Thrones and the woven robes
Read the full text in our reader
ἐν δὲ θρόνοι περὶ τοῖχον ἐρηρέδατʼ ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα, ἐς μυχὸν ἐξ οὐδοῖο διαμπερές, ἔνθʼ ἐνὶ πέπλοι λεπτοὶ ἐύννητοι βεβλήατο, ἔργα γυναικῶν.
And within, thrones were set around the wall here and there, from the threshold to the inmost room, right through; and on them fine well-woven robes had been laid, the work of women.
Word by word
The setting
The catalogue of the palace continues inward from the door. Along the walls of the great hall run fixed seats, from the entrance all the way to the innermost recess, draped with fine cloths — the handiwork of the palace women.
A note on this passage
The eye moves from the doorway into the hall. Seats are built against the wall in an unbroken line, from the entrance to the deepest corner, and over them lie soft, finely spun cloths. It is a picture of settled, permanent hospitality: a place always ready to receive and seat its guests.
The closing phrase, ἔργα γυναικῶν — "the work of women" — is the quiet note. The splendour is not only the god-forged and the golden; it is also the daily labour of the women of the house. The poem will return to that labour a few lines on, and the detail plants it here: Phaeacian magnificence rests on ordinary weaving hands.
Read the full commentary — and tap any word for its dictionary entry — in the interlinear reader.
Open Odyssey 7.95 in the full reader
Always open passages in the reader
From the Great Library
You are reading a page of the Odyssey — the whole book is free in our interlinear reader.
The Great Library Project presses the classics in their original languages, glossed word by word — free to read, always. Browse the whole library.
Also on our shelves:
Odyssey 7.95 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/odyssey/7.95/