batch.motif.greek-odyssey-butler-gutenberg-l9416-l9503
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-odyssey-butler-gutenberg-l9416-l9503
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/odyssey-butler.md
passage_locator:
label: BOOK XVIII / BOOK XIX / BOOK XX / BOOK XXI; lines 9416-9503
start: '9416'
end: '9503'
translation: The Odyssey
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: Ulysses secretly instructs Eumaeus and Philoetius to control the bow, quiver,
and doors. Inside, Eurymachus cannot string Ulysses' bow and laments the suitors'
inferiority. Antinous proposes postponement because it is Apollo's feast and calls
for offerings. Ulysses craftily asks to try the bow, provoking anger and a warning
that invokes the drunken Centaur Eurytion. Penelope defends the stranger as a
guest, while Eurymachus fears public disgrace if a beggar succeeds where the suitors
failed.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: Ulysses tells the two servants to enter separately and establishes a token
involving the bow and quiver.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: Eumaeus is instructed to place the bow in Ulysses' hands when carrying it.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: The women are to close the doors of their apartment and remain at work if
they hear groaning or fighting.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:4
text: Philoetius is ordered to fasten and bind the doors of the outer court.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:5
text: Eurymachus warms the bow by the fire but cannot string it.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: Antinous identifies the day as Apollo's feast and proposes drink-offerings
and a later goat sacrifice before another bow trial.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:7
text: Ulysses asks the suitors to let him try the bow so he can test the strength
of his hands.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:8
text: Antinous warns Ulysses by recounting the drunken violence and punishment of
the Centaur Eurytion.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:9
text: Penelope states that it is not right to ill-treat a guest of Telemachus in
the house.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:10
text: Eurymachus says the suitors fear gossip and scandal if a beggarly tramp strings
the bow and shoots through the iron.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Ulysses
description: He commands the servants, returns to his seat, and craftily asks to
try the bow to test his strength.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Eumaeus
description: A servant instructed to put the bow in Ulysses' hands.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Philoetius
description: A servant charged with making fast and binding the doors of the outer
court.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Eurymachus
description: A suitor who cannot string the bow, grieves over the suitors' inferiority
to Ulysses, and fears scandal.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:9
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Antinous
description: A suitor who proposes postponing the bow trial for Apollo's feast,
rebukes Ulysses, tells the Eurytion story, and threatens him with Echetus.
role_refs:
- role:3
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:7
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Penelope
description: The queen who objects to Antinous ill-treating a guest and dismisses
the idea that the stranger would take her as wife.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: the suitors
description: Collective rivals for Penelope who are angered by Ulysses' request
and fear the shame of failure at the bow trial.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:9
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: women in the apartment
description: Women instructed to keep quiet and stay at their work if they hear
sounds of fighting.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Apollo
description: A deity named as the one whose feast is being observed and as the mighty
archer to receive offerings.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: Centaur Eurytion
description: A centaur in Antinous' warning tale who becomes drunk, commits wrongdoing
in Peirithous' house, is mutilated, and causes war between mankind and centaurs.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:11
name_or_label: Peirithous and the assembled heroes/Lapithae
description: Hosts or assembled heroes in the Eurytion story who punish the centaur
after his drunken misconduct.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:12
name_or_label: king Echetus
description: A threatening king whom Antinous says kills everyone who comes near
him.
role_refs:
- role:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
roles:
- id: role:1
label: crafty requester and planner
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Ulysses gives secret operational commands and later craftily asks to test
the bow.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: role:2
label: servants executing secret instructions
assigned_to:
- fig:2
- fig:3
basis: They are named as servants and given tasks involving the bow and secured
doors.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: role:3
label: failed or anxious suitors
assigned_to:
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:7
basis: The suitors cannot string the bow, fear disgrace, and oppose Ulysses' request.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:7
- ev:9
- id: role:4
label: queen defending guest treatment
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: Penelope says it is not right to ill-treat a guest of Telemachus.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:5
label: secluded household workers
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: The women are told to remain in their apartment at their work if conflict
is heard.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:6
label: deity of feast and archery offering
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: Antinous names Apollo's feast and proposes offering thigh bones to Apollo
the mighty archer.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:7
label: speaker of warning and threat
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Antinous uses Eurytion as a warning and threatens to send Ulysses to Echetus.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:8
label: cautionary drunken transgressor
assigned_to:
- fig:10
basis: Eurytion is described as driven mad by wine, committing wrongdoing, and suffering
punishment.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:9
label: punishing heroes
assigned_to:
- fig:11
basis: The assembled heroes rush at Eurytion, mutilate him, and drag him from the
house.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:10
label: threatened destination of lethal punishment
assigned_to:
- fig:12
basis: Antinous says Echetus kills everyone who comes near him and that Ulysses
would not escape alive.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: bow and quiver
literal_form: Ulysses' bow and quiver, the contested weapon set that the suitors
try to control and string.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:6
- ev:9
- id: sym:2
label: fire warming the bow
literal_form: The fire by which Eurymachus warms the bow while trying to string
it.
associated_figures:
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:3
label: closed and fastened doors
literal_form: The women's apartment doors and the outer court doors, both ordered
secured or kept closed.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:4
label: wine, water, and drink-offerings
literal_form: Water poured over hands, wine and water mixed in bowls, and drink-offerings
made before drinking.
associated_figures:
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:5
label: goats and thigh bones for Apollo
literal_form: Goats to be brought for offering thigh bones to Apollo the mighty
archer.
associated_figures:
- fig:5
- fig:9
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:6
label: axes and iron of the contest
literal_form: Axes left in place and iron through which an arrow may be sent in
the bow contest.
associated_figures:
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:9
- id: sym:7
label: mutilated centaur body
literal_form: Eurytion's ears and nostrils are cut off before he is dragged through
the doorway.
associated_figures:
- fig:10
- fig:11
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: secret instructions before re-entering the house
summary: Ulysses tells the servants to enter separately, control the bow and quiver,
keep the women inside, and secure the outer court doors.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: failed stringing of the bow
summary: Eurymachus warms Ulysses' bow by the fire but cannot string it, and he
laments that the suitors are inferior to Ulysses in strength.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: ritual postponement proposed for Apollo
summary: Antinous argues that the bow trial should stop because it is Apollo's feast
and proposes drink-offerings and a goat sacrifice to Apollo before a renewed attempt.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
- fig:7
- fig:9
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:4
- sym:5
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:4
label: Ulysses asks to try the bow
summary: After the offerings, Ulysses craftily asks the suitors to give him the
bow so he can test whether he still has his former strength.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: scene:5
label: Antinous' rebuke and centaur exemplum
summary: Antinous rebukes Ulysses, attributes his request to wine, recounts Eurytion's
drunken misconduct and punishment, and threatens to send Ulysses to Echetus.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:5
- fig:10
- fig:11
- fig:12
symbol_refs:
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: scene:6
label: Penelope's defense and Eurymachus' fear of scandal
summary: Penelope says the guest should not be ill-treated, while Eurymachus explains
that the suitors fear disgrace if a beggar succeeds in the bow contest.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: weapon test determining status and marriage claim
taxonomy_refs:
- royal_legitimacy
basis: The bow belongs to Ulysses, the suitors cannot string it, and Eurymachus
links success or failure with the suitors' public standing and Penelope's courtship.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:6
- ev:9
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage presents the contest and its social implications, but the
full outcome lies outside the supplied excerpt.
- id: motif:2
label: divinely sanctioned contest outcome
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_judgment
basis: Antinous invokes Apollo's feast and future offering, while Ulysses says the
matter should be left to the gods and that heaven should give victory.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage contains divine invocation and ritual framing, but no explicit
divine intervention occurs within the excerpt.
- id: motif:3
label: offering before dangerous or decisive action
taxonomy_refs:
- sacrifice
- sacred_exchange
basis: The suitors make drink-offerings and Antinous proposes sacrificing goat thigh
bones to Apollo before resuming the bow trial.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: The offering is proposed and partially enacted through drink-offerings;
the goat sacrifice itself is scheduled for later and not performed in this passage.
- id: motif:4
label: crafty marginal challenger requests the elite test object
taxonomy_refs:
- trickster_boundary
basis: Ulysses is described as speaking craftily and asks to try the bow; the suitors
treat him as a beggar or stranger and react angrily.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:9
confidence: medium
cautions: The excerpt does not explicitly describe a disguise, though the speakers
call him a beggar, stranger, or tramp.
- id: motif:5
label: guest-right defense against hostile hosts
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Penelope states that it is not right to ill-treat a guest of Telemachus who
has come to the house.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
confidence: high
cautions: No supplied taxonomy reference directly names guest-right or xenia.
- id: motif:6
label: mythic exemplum of drunken transgression and punishment
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Antinous uses the story of Centaur Eurytion's drunken misconduct, mutilation,
and resulting conflict as a warning to Ulysses.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: This is an embedded comparison within the speech rather than the main
action of the scene.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: Antinous explicitly compares Ulysses' alleged wine-driven boldness to the
cautionary case of Centaur Eurytion, using that mythic episode as a warning about
drunken transgression and punishment.
claim_level: same_function
target: Centaur Eurytion among Peirithous and the Lapithae as an internal mythic
exemplum
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The comparison is rhetorical within Antinous' speech; it does not establish
that Ulysses actually shares Eurytion's condition or conduct.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: 9416-9427
quote_or_summary: Ulysses tells the servants to stop weeping, enter separately,
use the bow and quiver as a token, keep the women behind closed doors, and secure
the outer court doors.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/odyssey-butler.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: 9428-9431
quote_or_summary: Ulysses returns to the house and his seat; the two servants follow
him inside.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/odyssey-butler.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: 9432-9441
quote_or_summary: Eurymachus warms the bow by the fire but cannot string it and
laments that the suitors are inferior to Ulysses in strength.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/odyssey-butler.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: 9442-9453
quote_or_summary: Antinous says it is Apollo's feast, advises putting aside the
bow, calls for drink-offerings, and proposes goat thigh bones for Apollo before
trying the bow again.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/odyssey-butler.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: 9454-9459
quote_or_summary: Servants wash guests' hands, pages mix wine and water, drink-offerings
are made, and Ulysses craftily begins to speak.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/odyssey-butler.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: quote
locator: 9460-9468
quote_or_summary: "“give me the bow that I may prove the power of my hands among
you all”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/odyssey-butler.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; short excerpt quoted.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: 9469-9490
quote_or_summary: The suitors are angered; Antinous rebukes Ulysses, tells of wine
causing Centaur Eurytion's madness, wrongdoing, mutilation, and war with centaurs,
and threatens to send Ulysses to deadly king Echetus.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/odyssey-butler.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: 9491-9498
quote_or_summary: Penelope tells Antinous it is not right to ill-treat any guest
of Telemachus and says the stranger would not expect to take her as wife even
if he strung the bow.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/odyssey-butler.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: 9499-9503
quote_or_summary: Eurymachus says the suitors fear gossip that they were too feeble
to string the brave man's bow while a beggarly tramp strung it and shot through
the iron.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/odyssey-butler.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: high
notes: The main actions, figures, and internal comparison are explicit in the passage.
Motif taxonomy assignments are interpretive and should be reviewed, especially
royal_legitimacy and trickster_boundary.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
Used only the supplied passage and metadata. No external Odyssey context was added beyond names and relationships stated in the excerpt.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-odyssey-butler-gutenberg__l9416-l9503
passage_sha256=35b03fcbc0ef4d8b38cc8c5670a86c37330d263e14bb059fef13d15308593084