This study guide is a companion to The Odyssey by Homer
Book 1: Athene Visits Telemachus
New Major Characters
Telemachus: The son of Odysseus who plans to regain control of his estate and longs for his father’s return.
Athene: (Athena) Goddess who pleads with Zeus for Odysseus’ release and inspires Telemachus to seek his father’s return.
Poseidon: Father of Odysseus, hinders Odysseus’ journey.
Zeus: Commands Odysseus’ freedom from Calypso.
Odysseus: Father of Telemachus and husband to Penelope, held captive on the island Ogygia by the Nymph Calypso.
Calypso: Nymph who keeps Odysseus captive in the hopes that he’ll marry her.
In the beginning Odysseus has spent many long years, yearning for home, on the isle of Ogygia where he is held prisoner by the Nymph Calypso. That being said, the gods on Olympia take pity on his aching heart and wish for his return to Ithaca, that is all but one, the god Poseidon, who begrudges Odysseus for maiming his Cyclops Polyphemus. However the goddess Athene grows tired of Odysseus’ imprisonment and urges the Father of Gods, Zeus to release him.
After Zeus commands that Odysseus is to finally return home, Athene flies down from Mount Olympus disguised as an old family friend, Mentes, in order to prepare Telemachus for his father’s arrival. When she first arrives at Odysseus’ estate, Athene is immediately subjected to the unsavory behavior of many suitors who flood the banquet halls each night and take advantage of the house. Seeing the visitor, Telemachus ushers her in and showers his guest with delicacies and a comfortable place to rest, far from the suitors of whose presence he is ashamed.
While talking with Telemachus, Athene inspires a new hope in him of his father’s survival and of his possible return to Ithaca. She also confirms in him the shameful actions of the suitors and his own fault in allowing them to have the run of his house ultimately convincing him to throw them out after her departure. Before leaving, Athene gives Telemachus two tasks in which he must complete to be sure of his father’s return; to travel to Pylos in order to question Nestor and to then journey to Sparta to speak with Menelaus, the last of the Spartans to return home after the Trojan War.
Odysseus is left with the feeling that he has been visited by a god and he takes the advice given immediately to heart. This leaves the suitors in surprise when Telemachus tells them all that they must leave that night and that they may not take advantage of his house any longer and himself in conviction that he must go to confirm Odysseus’ return.
Book 2: The Debate in Ithaca
New Major Characters
Penelope: Telemachus’ mother who is leading the suitors on and by doing so encouraging their stay on the estate.
The Suitors: A group of young men from Ithaca who pine for Penelope’s hand in marriage and ravage Odysseus’ estate and all of its riches.
Telemachus begins by calling all of the Achaeans to Assembly where he proceeds to declare that his estate is being misused in his father’s absence and that he no longer wishes for the Suitors to be present. Upon this declaration Telemachus also invokes the wrath of the gods to any who choose to linger still in his home and further destroy his livelihood.
Outraged, the Suitors retort that it is actually Penelope’s fault for their nightly gathering, since it is she, they claim, who encourages their presence. In the eyes of the Suitors, Penelope is highly deceptive because fooled them all for three years by promising that after finishing a shroud for the great Laertes, she would take a husband all the while unraveling her daily progress so that the shroud would never be completed. In response Telemachus calls upon the wrath of Zeus to all who would continue to court his mother and in answer Zeus sends two eagles to fly above the Assembly.
The sight of the eagles provokes a prophesy in the old soothsayer, Halitherses, who warns that doom will come to the Suitors if they continue their wrongful behavior. He continues on to reiterate his prophesy of Odysseus’ return after twenty years away from home, both of which are denied and debunked by the Suitors and left by the wayside. Seeing that there is no hope of persuading the Suitors, Telemachus declares that he will sail to Sparta and Pylos with a good ship and twenty men in order to hear word of his long-lost father. He goes on to say that if he does hear word of his father’s return then he will endure the Suitors for another year, but if he hears that his father is dead then he will return and build his father a proper burial mound and after give his mother away in marriage.
Later that evening Telemachus prays to Athene for help and guidance and in return he is approached by her in the form of Mentor, an old friend of Odysseus. Athene offers words of strength and courage to Telemachus and instructs him to go prepare food and drink for the journey while she finds a crew and a good ship in town. With haste Telemachus returns to his house, full of Suitors, and has his maid, who is in charge of the storeroom, draw up flagons of wine and bags of grain for the journey. He also begs the maid to keep his absence secret from his mother for twelve days so as to keep her from worrying.
All the while Athene, disguised as Telemachus, procures the best ship in Ithaca with a good crew and before the night is over, puts all of the Suitors into a drowsy state and sends them all back to their houses. After, Athene returns to Odysseus, again as Mentor, and leads him to the ship where he finds the crew waiting on the beach. With the aid of the crew, Telemachus loads all of the provisions onto the ship and takes his place on the afterdeck alongside Athene, who then called upon a swift wind to fill their sails. That night the ship took sail and the crew poured libations to the gods, most especially to Athene.
*Notes based off reading “The Odyssey” by Homer