what is he symbolic meaning of the olive tree and the marriage bed in the book, The Odyssey by Homer?

Answer 1

he built the bed out of the tree to symbolize that this is his house, his bed and his country, he wasn't leaving it...something like that its really hard to put into words but it pretty much meant that he was staying there and that would always be his home. It was also a symbol of his love for Penelope (that was her name right?)
meaning that it was everlasting and could never be altered.

Answer 2

The Iliad & Odyssey by Homer, are Fiction and not strictly Mythology Oedipus Rex & Oedipus at Colonus are plays by Sophocles. There are translations of the Greek Myths, a well known version is by Robert Graves, although I suspect there are better ones Look on Ebay and do a search, or Amazon. The Iliad comes first in the 2 Homer works, it tells of the siege of Troy by the Greeks, Troy was a real place and was besieged on a few occasions, but treat Homer a little more like Bernard Cornwell with the Sharp Novels. It is a fictitious account of real events and some of the characters may well have lived. The Odyssey ( which I place as one of my all time favourite books) tells of Odysseus (often referred to in his Roman name of Ulysses) after Troy and his ten year voyage home to Ithaca and his beloved wife Penelope. I haven't seen or read Sophocles but it is readily available as are the plays of Aristophanes, another Greek Playwrite. The Myths are worth reading first if only to understand the mindset of the Greeks. They entered their whole life and were real to them. Hercules and his twelve labours are worth noting along with the story of the Titans, (Prometheus is worth reading alone if only to wet your appetite for Frankenstein) Perseus and the gorgons. Often these are referenced by Homer and as his audience knew them some detail or reason may miss you, although the context should help anyway.