“Wise, prudent, discerning.”
If Odysseus is the man of many ways, Penelope is the woman who knows how to wait without ever ceasing to think.
The Περίφρων necklace is dedicated to Penelope, one of the most fascinating figures of Homeric epic: not simply the wife waiting for her husband's return, but a woman capable of resisting, devising, observing, and testing those who stand before her.
At the heart of the necklace, a delicate gold-toned crown holds an elongated blue and gold bead, from which hangs a delicate gold-toned stainless steel heart locket.
The front of the heart features an engraving inspired by one of the most iconic ancient Greek depictions of Penelope, shown at her loom, with the faithful companion of her long wait: the fabric she weaves by day and secretly unravels by night to deceive her suitors.
Inside the locket, a phrase that does not belong to the Odyssey, yet perfectly captures the Penelope portrayed here:
“To be a woman is a powerful thing.”
Because her strength lies not only in her faithfulness, but in her ability to turn waiting into a form of power. For twenty years, Penelope keeps her suitors at bay through intelligence and cunning, until the test of the bow and the moment when even Odysseus must prove that he truly is who he claims to be.
And perhaps this is where Penelope and Odysseus truly meet: in their ingenuity.
Their final recognition can itself be read as a shared game of wits, in which Penelope is not merely the woman finally found, but one who watches, doubts, and tests. A reading echoed by Luigi Malerba's retelling of the Odyssey, where Penelope's failure to immediately recognize Odysseus takes on the subtle flavour of one final act of defiance — an intricate game of cunning in which, for once, she too holds the reins.
Along the chain, four small leafy branches intertwine with freshwater pearls and delicate sea-blue Austrian crystals: echoes of nature, tears, the sea separating Penelope from her husband, and the distant horizon towards which she has looked for so many years.
A piece dedicated to women who know how to wait, but above all, to those who never stop choosing, thinking, and deciding for themselves.
Because being a woman is, indeed, a powerful thing.
Details
• Gold-toned stainless steel
• Heart-shaped locket
• Engraving inspired by an ancient Greek depiction of Penelope at her loom
• Inner engraving: “To be a woman is a powerful thing”
• Decorative gold-toned crown
• Elongated blue and gold bead
• Freshwater pearls
• Sea-blue Austrian crystals
• Four intertwined leafy branches
• Handmade in Italy with love♥ Each jewel is meticulously handcrafted, meticulously designed and proudly realized by me in my Studio Lab.
The Roots of the Myth 🌿
Penelope in epic and iconography
Penelope is one of the central figures of the Odyssey: wife of Odysseus, mother of Telemachus, and queen of Ithaca, she spends twenty years awaiting her husband's return while resisting the many suitors who have taken over her household.
Her legendary ingenuity is most famously revealed through the loom: she promises the suitors that she will choose a new husband once she has finished weaving the shroud for Laertes, yet each night she secretly unravels what she has woven during the day. Waiting, therefore, is not a purely passive condition for Penelope. It becomes a space in which she can exercise intelligence, strategy, and control.
The image of Penelope at her loom engraved on the locket is inspired by the ancient Greek artistic tradition, in which the queen of Ithaca is depicted precisely in the act of weaving.
The theme of recognition is equally important. When Odysseus finally returns to Ithaca, Penelope does not immediately surrender to the certainty of his identity. Instead, she puts him to the test by asking that their marriage bed be moved, knowing perfectly well that it cannot be moved because it was built around the trunk of an olive tree.
This moment reveals an intelligence that mirrors Odysseus' own: she tests him in much the same way he has spent his journey testing others.
This reading is further echoed by Luigi Malerba's retelling, which imagines Penelope's failure to immediately recognize Odysseus as a conscious act — almost one final gesture of defiance or revenge after twenty years of waiting. In this interpretation, Penelope remains a player in the game of wits even at the moment of reunion, allowing Odysseus to be the one who must prove his identity.
It is from this intertwining of faithfulness, intelligence, and autonomy that the Penelope of Nóstos emerges: not merely the woman who waits for her hero, but a woman who, throughout the waiting, never stops being the author of her own story.
The phrase engraved inside the locket, “To be a woman is a powerful thing,” is a contemporary reinterpretation of this idea and is not a quotation from the Odyssey.
