Allusion in The Odyssey

Homer’s specific mention of olive wood is an allusion, or reference, to the myth of Hermes’ slaying of Argus, who was protecting the heifer lo while she was chained to an olive tree. Homer’s consistent mention of olive wood is a symbol of hope and salvation throughout Odysseus’s journey.

Aeaea (also, Aiaia) is the island of Colchis, the home of King Aietes and where Jason and the Argonauts found the Golden Fleece, so Homer is making a clear connection between Odysseus's journey and the earlier Argonauts' journey.

Scyros is an island in the southern Aegean Sea where Achilles' son was being raised. When Achilles was killed, Odysseus went to Scyros and took Neoptolemos to Troy, where he became a respected warrior in his own right. Achilles' death happened in the middle of the war, meaning Odysseus would've had to leave and return to bring his son to Troy.

Homer includes a description of the key as a way of alluding to the status of the storeroom's contents. Since it is made of bronze and ivory, precious materials, the kinds of items within the storeroom are likely valuable as well.

It's very important to Odysseus that the suitors' destruction be seen as an act of the gods ("Heaven's doom") rather than an act of a man. Odysseus, Telemachus, and the other two must be seen as merely the instruments of divine justice, not as murderers bent on private revenge.