![]() But Telemachus allays her fears by saying that he knows that a god is at his side. He confides in Eurycleia, his wise and aged nurse, but she pleads with him not to take to the open sea as his father did. Telemachus does not tell any of the household servants of his trip, fearing that his departure will upset his mother. She then assumes the disguise of Telemachus and collects a loyal crew from the town to man his ship. She lifts his morale and predicts that his journey will be fruitful. As Telemachus is getting ready to leave for Pylos and Sparta, Athena comes again, this time disguised as Mentor, another old friend of Odysseus. The suitors laugh at his foolishness and the meeting ends in a deadlock. He warns the suitors that they will have to face death if they don’t leave. The soothsayer Halitherses predicts their struggle as a sign of Odysseus’ imminent return. ![]() Telemachus opposes the move to throw his mother out of the castle and prays to gods to punish the suitors.Īt that very moment, a pair of eagles locked in combat appears overhead. Antonious says that if Penelope is undecided then she should be sent back to Icarius so that he can choose a new husband for her. But each night, she undid the knitting that she had completed during the day so that the shroud remained incomplete. Penelope declared that she would remarry as soon as she finished weaving a burial shroud for her elderly father-in-law, Laertes. In the assembly, he reminds the suitors of a ruse that Penelope concocted to put off remarrying: One of the suitor, Antinous, blames Penelope for the impasse, saying that she seduces every suitor but will commits to none. He humiliates them for eating his father’s oxen and sheep as they pursue their courtship of Penelope whereas any other decent man would have approached Penelope’s father Icarius and asked him for her hand in marriage. His mother’s suitors, who are the sons of Ithaca’s elders, have taken it over. Telemachus, in a passionate speech, laments the loss of his father and his father’s home. He makes it a point to register that this is the first time that the assembly has been called since Odysseus left. When the assembly called by Telemachus meets the next day, Aegyptius, a wise Ithacan elder, praises Telemachus for taking up the role of a leader. Although Telemachus has a faint hint that the visitor might be a goddess in disguise, he tells them only that the man was a friend of his father. Two defiant suitors, Antinous and Eurymachus get angry over this and ask Telemachus to disclose the identity of the visitor with whom he has just met. Telemachus then gives the suitors notice that he will hold an assembly the next day at which they will be ordered to leave his father’s estate. If she doesn’t like the music in the men’s quarters, she should retire to her own chamber and let him take care of the suitors. ![]() Seeing her upset, Telemachus rebukes and reminds her that Odysseus isn’t the only Greek to not return from Troy. Like Homer sings in the Iliad, the bard sings of the sufferings of the Greeks on their return from Troy. She also suggests Telemachus to banish the suitors from his father’s estate and make a journey to Pylos and Sparta to get any news of him.Īs soon as the conversation gets over, Telemachus finds Penelope in the suitors’ quarters, upset over a song that the court bard is singing. She assumes the form of Odysseus’ old friend Mentes and meets Telemachus to predict that Odysseus is alive and will soon return to Ithaca. ![]() Athena, with the consent of Zeus, travels to Ithaca to assure Telemachus that his father is alive. He has almost started believing that his father is dead. Odysseus' son Telemachus, an infant when Odysseus left for the war but now a young man, is finding it difficult to stop them. Back at home, a group of suitors has captured Odysseus estate in Ithaca and are courting his wife Penelope with an eye over his kingdom. Odysseus is stuck on a remote island Ogygia with the goddess Calypso, who has fallen for him and refuses to let him go home. All the Greek heroes except Odysseus have returned home. The story takes off ten years after the end of Trojan War, the subject of the Iliad. The narrator invokes the muse, asking for inspiration as he narrates the heroic tale of Odysseus.
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