Throughout the Odyssey, birds represent Athena and her power, she repeatedly turns into a bird. In Book XXII, after Athena makes the suitors and bad servants go crazy, Odysseus and his three men are described as vultures, symbolizing the ferocity and mercilessness of Odysseus and his men in battle. The mad men are said to be "flying low under the clouds" using birds to show the fear of the victims. Birds also symbolize good and bad omens, like the eagles that are sent by Zeus in Book II. Odysseus' wound symbolizes truth and identity. He uses over and over again to show people that he really is who he says he is, people know him by this mark. Hades obviously symbolizes death, more the unpleasantness of death, after all, it is the underworld. It symbolizes a place of despair and emptiness. The souls there are just "flitting shadows".
"Symbols in The Odyssey"
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