However, his journey is not over yet. This last stage of Ulysses' journey is perhaps the most important and crucial. Odysseus' nurse and servant, Eurycleia is the first woman in Ithaca to know that Odysseus has returned after recognizing the scar on his leg while washing him. Eurycleia vows to keep her identity secret. Odysseus' wife, Penelope, remained faithful to Odysseus throughout the years that he was gone. Penelope constantly unrolled her web to delay suitors. The reader even becomes sympathetic to Penelope as "we see her struggle to make the virtuous choice regarding her marriage, despite pressure from her suitors, her son's perilous situation, and her own uncertainty about Odysseus' survival" (Foley) . In the end Ulysses reveals his identity and Penelope is shocked, but immediately embraces her husband after he reveals the secret of their still bed. It is the loyalty of Penelope and her nurse Eurycleia that ensures Ulysses' survival until the end. Both the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Odyssey are a balance between masculine and feminine principles. She is the prostitute who brings humanity to Enkidu and it is Athena who protects Odysseus from all harm and brings him safely back to Ithaca. The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Odyssey take place in a rigid patriarchal society, but both epics reveal the hidden workings of the female figure during the journey. Perfectly said: “ . . . the hero's initiatory journey,