From the opening of Book 1 the empty seat of Odysseus is the loudest presence in the hall. Telemachus sits apart; the suitors feast; the seat itself waits. In the Book I Sequence design the seat is nearly silent on early examines and gains a single memory line only after the Resolve beat. The object is absence made visible.
— Material culture —
Mycenaean-influenced high seat or throne of the period — elevated, with presence, not a modern chair. Power of the object is its emptiness: the suitors occupy the house but do not take the seat of the absent king. Wear where a king once sat, age, and the quiet authority of the vacant place.
Books (Butler): 1, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
Epithet: The empty seat of the king