The widow comes from a story told by Thelyphron at a feast hosted by Byrrhena. She appears to be mourning her husband and hires Thelyphron to help guard the corpse from witches, but in fact, she murdered her husband to get ahold of his inheritance. The widow is one of many characters who acts deceptively for the sake of her own greed.
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The Widow Character Timeline in The Golden Ass
The timeline below shows where the character The Widow appears in The Golden Ass. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 2
The old man leads Thelyphron to the house of a weeping widow who needs someone to guard her husband’s corpse. Thelyphron promises to be such a good...
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...to check on the corpse, but it still seems to be entirely intact. Eventually, the widow comes in, still weeping, and does her own inspection. She thanks him and pays him.
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...mourners goes forward and announces that the dead man was murdered by his wife (the widow) in order to steal his inheritance for her and her other lover. He calls for...
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...tell how he died. The man says he was murdered by his adulterous wife, the widow.
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