So the women's heads were trapped in a line, nooses yanking their necks up, one by one so all might die a pitiful, ghastly death

Then, as doves or thrushes beating their spread wings
against some snare rigged up in thickets – flying in
for a cozy nest but a grisly bed receives them –
so the women’s heads were trapped in a line,
nooses yanking their necks up, one by one
so all might die a pitiful, ghastly death…
They kicked up heels for a little – not for long.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 22, lines 494-500. Calling them "sluts" and "whores," Telemachus executes the twelve disloyal servant women who have slept with the suitors. An epic simile describes their pitiful death as they are hanged using a ship’s cable and nooses. The women are likened to small birds thinking they are flying into a cosy nest but instead are trapped in a snare and end up with nooses around their necks. Before they are killed, the women are made clear away the corpses of the suitors and clean up the blood.

Homer Quotes