/lit/ - Literature

>>23147380
Odysseus didn’t have superhuman strength nor was that ever implied in text. Rather, his bow was a recurve bow which was advanced technology to the ancients. Your typical guy on the street wouldn’t have access to something like that.

>The description of how Odysseus' famous bow is strung makes clear it's actually a recurve bow, that has to be strung in a completely different way from a straight bow, looks like one when unstrung, and was a new technological development in the time of the Odyssey. All of this explains why the suitors couldn't string it: they had no idea what they were dealing with. As Penelope obviously knew - hence why she came up with that contest.