The Saint of Faithfulness: Attār’s Odyssean Pious Woman

This article offers a detailed study of a story by one of the giants of Persian literature, Farid al-din Attār. It particularly focuses on the character of Attār’s “The Pious Woman”, who emerges as a symbol of faithfulness and discusses her significance as a character of mystical proportion and grandeur that also appears as personification of virtue in a world dominated by acquisitive and lascivious men. In many aspects, the Pious Woman reminds one of Penelope in Homer’s The Odyssey who is also celebrated for her faithfulness to her husband and for her patience and feminine virtues.