Have you already discovered our collection Odyssey ?
This is our first collection - in a very limited edition - imagined from antique pieces and created by hand in Paris by our workshop.
It evokes the love story of Odysseus and Penelope told in two epic poems by Homer: the Iliad and the Odyssey.
There is hardly any romance, except that in our story Odysseus gleans a coin for his beloved from each island he visits. Penelope, after her husband's return, turns them into jewels to celebrate the strength of their love.
Constantine Roman coin pendant necklace
But do you know the original story?
The Odyssey tells the epic story of Odysseus - which in Greek is called Odysseus . It follows The Iliad, which recounts the Trojan War and lasts about ten years. Odysseus, facing storms and multiple adventures, will take another decade to return home. Partly because of his arrogance, partly because of a disobedient crew, and almost entirely because of Calypso, who was not very comfortable with consent.
Meanwhile, Penelope, the most faithful wife on Earth, sees a swarm of suitors moving in on her. Because Odysseus is king of the island of Ithaca, so to get a throne and a wife in one fell swoop, of course there's a lot of jostling.
John William Waterhouse, Penelope and the suitors, 1912, Oil on canvas, Aberdeen, Aberdeen Art Gallery.
Penelope, who has no desire to remarry, is forced to find a subterfuge to make her suitors wait. So she starts weaving a piece of work and says that she will marry again once it is finished. But our devoted young woman has more than one trick up her sleeve, and although she weaves all day she undoes her work at night. [Spoiler Alert] It's a good thing Odysseus eventually returns, because after twenty years the suitors have begun to wonder if there's something fishy going on. And what took our hero so long (he looks like Véronique Sanson telling Michel Berger that she's going to buy cigarettes and run off to the United States with Stephen Stills)?
It would take too long to tell you about all the stages of his journey, as Ulysses visits no less than nine islands, but we have chosen a few.
After having passed through the land of the Cycones, having sacked the island and having been beaten up by the inhabitants, then having stopped on the island of the Lotophages: amnesiac plant-eating hippies, Ulysses and his men arrive at the Cyclops.
Polyphemus
Odysseus takes twelve men and some wine (this will be of little importance) with him and sets off to explore the island of the Cyclops. He stumbles upon Polyphemus' cave, which he finds quite welcoming. If you've ever watched the series, Ulysses is a bit like Joey Tribbiani from Friends who enters your house like a mill and empties your fridge without any complexes. Of course, Polyphemus is not very happy when he returns. He starts by biting two or three men and then Ulysses, having been eaten last, gets the cave dweller drunk and pokes his eye out. As he has presented himself under a pseudonym, when the Cyclops complains that 'Nobody' has blinded him he is not taken very seriously.
Odysseus and the rest of his men manage to escape by hiding among Polyphemus' sheep. Reaching the boat, our hero then shouts his real name to the Cyclops. A sin of pride! But Polyphemus is the son of Poseidon, God of the Seas, and will demand revenge.
Garnet necklace and Roman coin goddess Diana
Odysseus and his companions then run aground on the island of Aeolus, the Master and Ruler of the Winds, who invites them to bamboozle for almost a month (yes, the Odyssey is not all storms and sea monsters.) Really nice, he decides to help Odysseus get home. So Aeolus locks up all the mischievous winds in a box, leaving only the one that will bring our hero home. But the crew, looking for a potential treasure, opens the box and off they go again.
We leave aside the island of Telepylus, where Ulysses encounters cannibal giants, and arrive on the island of Aea.
Circe
Wright Barker, Circe, 1889, Oil on canvas, Bradford, Cartwright Hall Art Gallery.
Circe is a magician who lives surrounded by animals (Felindra, tiger's head.) This time Odysseus, brave but not foolhardy, decides to send his men on a reconnaissance mission - Eurylochus in the lead. Circe comes to meet them and offers them wine, but the wine contains a magic potion, so that Odysseus' team members are turned into pigs. Eurylope, who sensed the trick, did not want to drink and ran to find Ulysses. Odysseus meets Hermes, messenger of the gods, who gives him a protective plant to prevent him from being turned into a pig. And when Odysseus drinks Circe's wine... nothing happens. Except love! So Circe gives back their appearance to Odysseus' men (but in version 2.0). The sailors will stay on the island for one year, after which Odysseus asks the sorceress to help him go home. Apparently she has run out of spells... At the same time, would you encourage your lover to go back to his wife - who, incidentally, is just weaving while he's off getting drunk?
Circé nevertheless advises Ulysses to ask Tiresias, who belongs to the Kingdom of the Dead, for directions. Tiresias indicates that our hero and his companions will return safely if they don't touch the cattle on the island of the Sun God. As Odysseus' team-mates are the docile type, you can imagine that they are not going to leave Apollo's cows in peace!
Before going to the island of Helios, you have to face the sirens.
The sirens
Herbert Draper, Odysseus and the Sirens, circa 1909, Hull, Ferens Art Gallery.
This is probably one of, if not the most famous episode in the Odyssey. Mermaids are monstrous creatures, half-woman, half-bird (not to be confused with the Northern European mermaids, half-fish) but apparently less sexy to portray if Herbert Draper's painting is to be believed. Nevertheless, our creatures with bewitching voices sing to attract the sailors they devour. Ulysses decides to make wax plugs for the ears of his acolytes - a great leadership on this one - but he wants to hear this extraordinary melody. So he gets himself tied to the mast of his ship, making his crew promise not to undo his ties under any circumstances. It's a good thing, with their antique earplugs they couldn't hear his pleas.
Roman coin ring Constance Galle
Finally all goes well with the mermaids, Odysseus then has the choice of passing by Charybdis, a whirlpool, or Sylla, a six-headed female monster. The crew finally lands on the island of Helios - remember the prophecy of Tiresias? Barbecue with the cattle = angry sun god, storm no. 54, then arrive on Calypso's island.
The latter captures Odysseus and makes him her husband for seven years, until Athena, goddess of wisdom, intervenes.
After a passage to the Kingdom of Pheax where he meets Nausicaa, Ulysses is finally back in Ithaca. Twenty years later, then.
Having devised a subterfuge to chase away Penelope's unwelcome suitors, he disguises himself as a beggar and goes to the palace. In the meantime, the suitors have realised that Odysseus' wife has played them for fools with her weaving story, so they ask her to choose a new husband. An archery contest is organised, but obviously no man can string Odysseus' bow, except the beggar who was allowed to participate thanks to the intervention of Telemachus, his son, whom Athena had put in the picture.
Odysseus, bow in hand, takes advantage of this to kill almost all his rivals, helped by Telemachus.
All that remains is to convince Penelope, who, in addition to being faithful and cunning, is obviously also a critical thinker. She suggests that Odysseus move the marriage bed, but knowing that it is rooted in the ground, our hero foils his wife's trap.
You know the rest (at least ours): Odysseus, who has not stopped thinking about his wife throughout his journey, gives Penelope the antique coins which she transforms into jewellery, symbols of their love.
Find the complete selection in the drop-down menu on the right or below for the mobile version.
Probus, Diocletian 1, Diocletian 2, Severus, Galerius, Flavius, Hercules
