DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT AN ANCIENT GREEK SCHOLAR. FOR THE FULL DISCLAIMER, READ HERE.
"You are too old to plead infancy any longer... You are a fine, smart looking fellow; show your mettle, then, and make yourself a name in story."
Odyssey, Book 1; Samuel Butler translation
Book 1 Summary
For a list of the major characters, with Greek and Latin names, go here.
Odysseus has been shipwrecked on the goddess Calypso's island for years. He wants to return home to his wife and son, but Calypso wants him to stay because she is in love with him. Poseidon has been preventing Odysseus from returning home because he blinded Polyphemus the Cyclopes and Poseidon’s son.
During an assembly of the gods, Athena implores them to help get Odysseus home and Zeus agrees. Athena then goes to Ithaca and meet with Telemachus, Odysseus' son. She disguises herself as one of Odysseus’ old friends and approaches the estate. She sees men lounging about, playing games, eating food and drinking wine, while the servants wait on them hand-and-foot. These are suitors who are all trying to court Odysseus’ wife Penelope, but she refuses to choose any of them. As a result, they visit Odysseus’ estate everyday and make themselves at home until Penelope decides. Telemachus, who is sitting by himself and extremely unhappy with the situation, is the first to see Athena and invites her to a meal.
Athena, in disguise, introduces herself and asks what’s going on. Telemachus tells her his father is no longer alive and explains the situation with the suitors. Athena encourages him to call an assembly to publicly rebuke the suitors, then go on a voyage to find out more about Odysseus. He should go to Pylos first and meet the venerable Nestor, then go to Sparta and meet Menelaus because he was the last Achaean to return home.
After the conversation, Athena disappears and Telemachus is suddenly filled with courage. He realizes he was just visited by a god.
With Telemachus’ newfound courage, he rebukes the suitors for their antics which surprises them. At the end of the day, everyone goes home and Telemachus goes to bed thinking about nothing but the voyage he is about to embark on.
The Great Conversation
The tagline I chose for my blog Wends of Change is “My journey through the classics of the Western Canon.” That’s what I believe I’m doing reading through these work. However, if there were a second tagline, it would be something like “Eavesdropping in on the Great Conversation.”
As we get further into this journey, we’re going to notice works either building off of previous works, commenting on them, or even critiquing them. At other times, we’ll notice works commenting on or critiquing ideas that may be found in other works without talking about them specifically. This is the Great Conversation. It’s something I want to be able to pay close attention to and it’s one of the main reasons I started writing on these works rather than simply reading them.
It’s obvious the Iliad was building off of previous traditions and possibly other works. After all, the Trojan War took place centuries before the Iliad was composed and it also referenced stories that were older than the war. What’s not so obvious to me, due to my lack of knowledge, is whether the Iliad was also commenting on and critiquing previous traditions or works. Was Achilles or Hector presented in one way during Homer’s time and decided he needed to bring a different take on them? Was he bringing the portrayal of the Olympians in previous traditions to their logical conclusion or making fun of contradictions between the gods’ roles and behaviors found in previous traditions or works? Was there something about the traditions or works regarding the Trojan War (or, perhaps, war in general) that Homer didn’t like or thought was more interesting than what was typically focused on?
I don’t know the answers to any of these questions—and there are many more questions that can be asked. However, since the Iliad is the first step on this journey, it will be the starting point for our eavesdropping. From here on out, we’ll be able to make comparisons between the Iliad and everything else we read. As we go through more works, there will be more voices and contributions to the Conversation and we’ll be able to compare them with each other.
The Name of the Odyssey
While the Iliad is a fantastic piece of literature, I like the Odyssey far more. There are fewer breaks in the action, less politics, and it’s more personal. The Iliad is about one man’s revenge in the midst of a war. The Odyssey is about one man trying to get home and the struggles his family face due to his absence.
Like the Iliad though, I think the Odyssey is a bit misnamed. It’s not as bad—the Iliad would have been better off being called The Anger of Achilles or something to that effect—but the Odyssey is about more than just Odysseus. It’s about his whole family: Telemachus his son, Penelope his wife, and even Laertes his father. Odyssey could imply Odysseus and his household, and therefore it’s not as badly misnamed as the Iliad, but a better name would try to explicitly include Odysseus’ family into the title (Ithaca? The House of Odysseus?).
Aside from being mentioned, Odysseus won’t even show up until Book 5 and it’s already years into his ten year voyage home from the Trojan War. Most of Odysseus’ famous adventure is told in exposition to the people who eventually help him get home. The first four books center around Odysseus’ son Telemachus, what he’s going through as a result of his father’s absence, and how he intends to do something about it. Telemachus’ story may not be as exciting as Odysseus’, but as I’ll explain shortly, it’s a very important story to tell—especially today.
I realize I’m just nitpicking at this point about the titles, but it just disappoints me that they often misinform people not familiar with these works about their stories.
Father of Mine (Why the Odyssey Should Be Taught in School)
Telemachus was very young, probably an infant, when his father Odysseus left for the Trojan War. Now, Telemachus is in his very early 20s. He grew up without his dad. His grandmother died of grief and his grandfather confines himself to his farm. His mother is a prisoner in her own home. A group of obnoxious and impudent suitors harass her everyday while they devour Odysseus’ estate and bully Telemachus. The people of Ithaca basically look the other way.
Listen to what Telemachus tells the disguised Athena:
“My mother,” answered Telemachus, “tells me I am son to Ulysses, but it is a wise child that knows his own father. Would that I were son to one who had grown old upon his own estates, for, since you ask me, there is no more ill-starred man under heaven than he who they tell me is my father.”
Odyssey, Book 1; Samuel Butler translation
Do you hear the bitterness and cynicism in Telemachus’ words? The wishful thinking?
“The chiefs from all our islands… as also all the principal men of Ithaca itself, are eating up my house under the pretext of paying their court to my mother, who will neither point blank say that she will not marry, nor yet bring matters to an end; so they are making havoc of my estate, and before long will do so also with myself.”
Odyssey, Book 1; Samuel Butler translation
Do you hear how powerless he feels?
It’s no wonder Telemachus feels the way he does—most of his male role models are shut-ins, reprobates, and cowards.
It’s a situation that cuts too close to home today. I was fortunate to grow up with my mother and father who never divorced, but many men in my generation and the generations since did not. They often grew up either without a responsible father or no father at all. They were left to find male role models elsewhere—and that didn’t always turn out well.
We can debate about why this reality came about—and we should, vigorously, so future generations won’t have to suffer—but we can at least agree that this is indeed a reality and it’s not good.
Having said all of that, we also see in Book 1 the beginnings of a transformation in Telemachus. He becomes more confident, stands up for himself, and takes action. He surprises his bullies, the suitors, with his sudden transformation. You can see the cynicism and helplessness begin to fade away from Telemachus’ psyche.
What caused the change?
It’s quite simple. Athena, disguised as one of Odysseus’ old friends, gives Telemachus a quest: sail the seas and seek out two men who knew his father personally and ask whether they’ve heard any news about him.
To put it a different way: Athena tells Telemachus to go on an adventure. A voyage with a clear goal that will be fraught with hardship, danger, and the unknown.
And it’s not just any adventure—it’s an adventure meant to resolve his situation, alleviate his suffering, and make him into a man.
Athena also reminds Telemachus of someone close to his age whom he can strive to emulate: Orestes.
Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, took matters into his own hands when his father was murdered and he himself was exiled. He came back from exile, killed the man who murdered his father and seduced his mother, and reclaimed his home. If Orestes can do something like that, who was in a far worse situation than Telemachus, then Telemachus the son of Odysseus can too.
To sum it up: Athena gives Telemachus a difficult, life changing task for him to accomplish that will solve his predicament and make him a stronger man. She also gives him an inspiration and someone to compete with, in order to push him to accomplish that task. Preparing for the voyage, the voyage itself, and the two men Telemachus is to meet, are a part of that adventure for specific reasons. Those will be explored in Books 2, 3, and 4.
Perhaps there’s a blue print in the Odyssey to at least mitigate the suffering caused by fatherlessness? Maybe we can look at Telemachus’ situation—what he did to resolve it, the advice he was given, and how he grew into a man—and get some ideas about what we can do today?
So far, this is what Telemachus’ journey looks like:
Step 1: Telemachus is given a quest—one that will lead to changing his circumstances, put an end to his suffering, and make him into a good man.
Step 2: Telemachus is given an inspiring peer to emulate and aim for.
The Gods Are Different
Athena is noticeably different in the Odyssey compared with the Iliad. In the Iliad, she was vindictive, petty, and had an irrational hatred for the Trojans. She was not so much on the Achaeans’ side as she was against the Trojans. However, she seemed to favor Odysseus, was jealously protective of Diomedes, and looked out for Achilles like an older sister.
In the Odyssey though, her favor toward Odysseus is far more obvious and it extends to his whole family. You’ll see her go back and forth between Olympus and wherever Odysseus or one of his family members are dispensing advice or providing assistance. In this way, she seems to be less like a goddess and more like a fairy godmother.
It’s actually safe to say that all of the gods are different to some degree. Poseidon hates Odysseus for blinding his son and is one of the main reasons Odysseus has taken so long to get home. Athena turned on the Achaeans after they had sacked Troy for some reason. Other gods and goddesses will be introduced in the Odyssey who did not appear in the Iliad.
What doesn’t seem to be different, however, are the gods’ aloofness. While Odysseus is stuck on an island with a possessive goddess, yearning for home after being gone for twenty years, Poseidon is off having a feast and a party in another land—just like the gods in the beginning of the Iliad while the mortals suffered in a war and Achilles had a revenge plot that needed Zeus’ approval.
Also, why does it take ten years for Athena to do something about the issue? Why is Zeus deferring to Poseidon when in the Iliad he threatened Poseidon for interfering in the war and Poseidon begrudgingly backed down?
All’s that to say is prepare for the gods to be different in the Odyssey. Their roles will be different, their allegiances will be different, and they are far stranger.
A Wise Saying (When Out of Context)
The Odyssey, like the Iliad, has great statements that, at face value, are decent words to live by. However, in the context they are spoken, they lose a bit of their value. Take this statement by Zeus:
“See now, how men lay blame upon us gods for what is after all nothing but their own folly.”
Odyssey, Book 1; Samuel Butler translation
Out of context, I think that’s sound theology. There are people who like to blame God, or the Devil, or karma, or the universe, or some outside force, for their suffering, when in reality they brought it upon themselves due to their foolish behavior.
In context, however, it’s fresh Zeus is saying this when the gods interfere all the time in the mortals’ lives. Or worse, the gods don’t practice what they preach. What they tell the mortals not to do they would happily do for their selfish desires or to ensure fate runs its course.
That’s all for Book 1 of the Odyssey.
May your days be filled with grace.
-Andronikos
The booklist I am going through can be found here.
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Thumbnail: The Sorrow of Telemachus by Angelica Kauffman (1783). Public domain. This painting was actually inspired by the French novel The Adventures of Telemachus by François Fénelon (1699) and depicts Telemachus on the island of Calypso grieving over his father after being reminded of him. It’s not an exact scene from the Odyssey, but it captures where Telemachus is at mentally and emotionally when the poem starts.