Telemacheia: Story of the development
of an adolescent becoming a basileus
Revenge
This essay is concerning the idea
of revenge and how it pertains to the first four books in The Odyssey. Telemachus,
Odysseus’s son, was the man of the house after his father left for the Trojan
War. When his father did not return to
To begin with, Telemachus was scared to even approach the suitors of his mother about his desire for them to be gone. He also has lost hope that his father is still alive, but in some other part of the world. “Yet, were Odysseus to return, were they to see him here again, they would not only pray for gold or richer clothes-just faster feet. But he has died by now, died wretchedly” (Mandelbaum 8). Telemachus spoke these words to Athena quietly so the suitors did not hear. They can be interpreted to mean that Telemachus does not want them in his house anymore, but does not have the courage to say anything to the suitors themselves. Athena tells Telemachus about his father, and what he should do to find out some information about his fathers whereabouts. She also tells him to grow up, basically, on page 13 by saying, “Forget the pastimes of child: you are a boy no longer.” He took this to heart, and told the suitors that he was to call an assembly.
As Telemachus begins to mature, and
desire revenge on the invaders of his house, other signs are shown of this
desire. Page 28 shows that Zeus knows
already of the revenge Telemachus is going to wage on the suitors. He sends a pair of eagle down from
At the end of the Telemacheia, the
first four books, comes to an end, Telemachus has made a huge
transformation. He is on his return
voyage to
The vengeance Telemachus found against the suitors was nowhere to be found at the beginning of the book. Telemachus was too scared to even confront the suitors about his disapproval of their “invasion of his house, and ravaging of his livestock. Within pages he becomes much braver and less tolerant of the suitors, calls an assembly, and he even talks back to the suitors, as opposed to just letting them do whatever they please. As Telemachus matures, and becomes increasingly brave, the suitors never change their demeanor, they never read the signs, and they never think of having any fear of what is to happen to them for their actions in Odysseus house while trying to court Odysseus’s wife.
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This link shows how revenge was prevalent not only in Telemacheia, but through the rest of The Odyssey and even today. Visit http://www.siu.edu/~dfll/classics/Johnson/GreekCiv/alia/oct11.html This is a picture of Telemachus. It shows food and drink, which caused him to take revenge because the suitors took advantage of his father’s house. Image
taken from http://odyssey_08540.tripod.com/summery.html |
Hospitality
Telemacheia, the first four books in The Odyssey, are important in many ways, particularly its hospitality feature. In search for his father, Odysseus, Telemachus’ interactions with hospitality are evident in his house, Nestor’s halls, and Menelaus’ halls. Telemachus’ maturing nature grasps life in its appropriate ways – one being xenia (hospitality).
There are several possible reasons for hospitality in The Odyssey. The host always holds a feast where he and his guests are indulged with blessed meats and wines. Prayer is usually performed here- primarily to the gods and goddesses. This feast could be perceived as a polite inquiry. The host is then excused from an invasion of privacy when asking the guests who they are and where they came from. Because the host was so kind and offered them a chance to enrich their bodies and minds with food and baths, the guest is obligated to tell of his objectives. This then creates an opportunity for the host as well as the guest to share stories of their history; whether it is concerning battles, voyages, or faithless wives, the guest and host become more familiar with each other. Then there is always the chance that the “guest” could be a disguised god or goddess. This is a crucial incentive for the host to be distinctively generous and inviting in case the god or goddess is testing or strategizing a plan for the host; the host must show his best qualities and characteristics to dodge an unwanted fate. Before departing it is often common for the host to present a gift to the guest, usually something of significance to the host. Of course this is an example of the customary life of a wealthy man in the ancient Greek times. There are always exceptions to this culturally defined conduct of both the host and guest interactions, as it is in The Odyssey with the suitors.
The first book describes
Telemachus’ first meeting with Athena in the guise of
Telemachus travels to Pylos and
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This link shows contrasting views when Telemachus reaches King Nestor in Pylos. Visit http://pages.cabrini.edu/jzurek/homer/odyssey03.htm This picture shows how the gods were leaders; Athena in
the guise of Image taken from www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/ashp/flaxman_odyssey.html |
Telemachus:
An Intriguingly Shrewd Prince
One of the most significant sections of The Odyssey is the “Telemacheia”. This is because it offers an intimate look into the intricacies and themes of the epic. This essay will illustrate one of these topics. The emphasis will be to further understand Telemachus’ mental progression, particularly, how he matures through inner spiritual growth.
Upon further evaluation of Book I, the reader is struck by Telemachus’ lack of assertiveness. At this point, there are many remarks one could make about Telemachus’ nature. However, there appears to be one dominant characteristic he embodies, faithlessness. This can be observed in his negative views pertaining to his father’s status, and even more importantly, in his depressed confidence. His boyish insecurity is demonstrated early in Book I when Telemachus explicates, “…since the firm Odysseus now is dead. I am left with grief and misery. I sigh not only over him: the gods have given me still more calamities (Mandelbaum, 17).” This statement vividly illustrates how Telemachus considers himself a victim and consequently, embraces a defeatist-mentality.
In Book II, Telemachus inspired by
Athena, takes his first steps toward becoming independent. These baby steps
begin with Telemachus calling for an assembly, which is profound, for there
hasn’t been one in twenty years. Even more surprising is the fact that he
finally accuses the suitors of injustice (something he had never publicly
done). At first this appears to be a monumental step, after all, he has finally
verbally asserted himself. Yet, upon further scrutiny, we ascertain that he
really hasn’t made much progress. In a response to the suitors, he remarks,
“But if I hear that he no longer lives (regarding Odysseus’s fate), then I,
returning to my own dear land, to honor him will heap a death-mounted high and
offer to his memory rich rites—and give my mother to another husband
(Mandelbaum, 30).” Quite possibly, the latter part of that sentence is the most
important utterance Telemachus articulates in the first two Books. They embody
his complete apathy towards becoming a king (paramount basileus) like his
father. Instead, Telemachus seems content with relinquishing his hereditary
power, and assuming an inferior role on
Telemachus learns invaluable
lessons in hospitality during his stay with King Nestor (on Pylos) and King
Menelaus (on
Arguably the most significant
reason for Telemachus’ new faithfulness is that during his journey he was
forced to look within himself. Like an impressionable teen, Telemachus has
emulated the people with which he has interacted, the result being a nearly
complete transformation of his character.
This greater journey, a voyage of self-discovery, has resulted in
greater self-confidence. In shedding his inferiority complex, Telemachus has
finally put himself in a reasonable position to set things straight back on
A positive, external confirmation of this inner journey is that Telemachus begins to demonstrate signs of becoming an even greater person than Odysseus. This is quite a fantastic feat, for most conservative scholars would argue that Odysseus has the most resolve of any individual found in the epic. However, there is more to maturity than merely vigor. While Telemachus may not embody that characteristic, as readily, he does possess a significant quality that Odysseus never seems to fully exemplify. Specifically, Telemachus shows a masterful ability for suave conversation. Throughout his journey he brilliantly manipulates and compliments others, and in doing so, shows an amazing capacity for tactfulness. He does such a wonderful job building social capital with Menelaus that the king pleads for him to extend his stay. In short, the important understanding is that his debonair character is a priceless trait for a prince to personify. Nevertheless, only upon discovering his inner-self, does he truly exploit this tremendous resource.
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This picture shows how Telemachus is growing into the strong and powerful ruler his father once was. Image
taken from www.clarkson.edu/~melville/ls195/ody1a.html |
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Faith in the
Unknown, But Not What is at Hand
The first four chapters of The Odyssey, which is also known as the “Telemacheia”, are very important in developing themes that are seen throughout the rest of the epic. This part of the book also allows us to take a closer look at the development of the young Telemachus. He grows and matures and becomes a well-respected man like his beloved father. One of the things I noticed about Telemachus was his faith. He had varying degrees of faith in himself, strangers, the gods, his father, Odysseus, and his mother, Penelope. Faith continues to be an important repetitive theme throughout the epic.
Telemachus’ faith in strangers was
one of the first things that I noticed about him early in Book I. When Athena comes disguised as Mentes to
visit Telemachus, upon first seeing her, Telemachus rushes to her and says, “My
greetings, stranger. Welcome to our
feast. Eat first – and then do tell us
what you seek (Mandelbaum, 7).” He is
only interested in what is best for the stranger without knowing what kind of
bad tidings he could bring. He also has faith
in the Kings Nestor and Menelaus to house him, feed him, bring him the truth
about his father, and to give him gifts.
Of course, this has to do with xenia, a type of guest hospitality and
friendship that was expected in ancient
Telemachus also has a great amount of faith in the gods. When Athena leaves him in Book I after being in disguise he was “aware that he had some god as visitor (Mandelbaum, 14).” Telemachus has faith that the gods will bring the suitors what they truly deserve for their wrongdoings, a harsh death. He is also sure to offer libations and sacrifices to the gods when eating and at many times throughout the first four books. Besides having faith in the gods, I believe he also has some fear. He has seen all to clear how much one can suffer if he angers even one of the gods as is the case with his father, Odysseus.
As we go further in the
“Telemacheia”, Telemachus develops more faith in himself. For years he has let the suitors eat away his
wealth and belittle him within his own house.
Finally, in Book II, he calls an assembly and publicly denounces them
and asks for help to find his father. It
states in Book III that the suitors are shocked upon finding out the Telemachus
actually followed through to search for word of his father. The Telemachus of old would have never done
such a thing. He still has troubles and
doubts himself when going to talk to King Nestor. He worries, “When one is young, he may indeed
be blamed for questioning his elders.
I’m ashamed. (Mendelbaum, 41).”
After meeting with the kings he begins to realize that he is well
respected for his young age because of his eloquent speaking, and because he
was the son of Odysseus who was known for being a hero throughout the Greek
world even if not in his own
Another type of faith that Telemachus shows is faith in his parents. He shows very different levels of faith in his mother and father, which I do not quite understand. He shows faith in his father whom he has never really known, and who has been missing from his life for twenty years. Telemachus pleads to Nestor, “I’ve come in search of word about my father- the famous, the unfaltering Odysseus (Mandelbaum, 44).” He believes from the words of others that his father is a great man and is willing to risk his life in traveling to find even the slightest word about his father. Telemachus seems to find it easy to believe in things that can’t be seen, like his father and the gods, and even the unknown, such at the goodwill of others, but he can’t seem to believe in the only thing or person who has been there for him his whole life, his mother. As he tells Menelaus, he has “no longing for my mother and my home (Mendelbaum, 83).” Why such resentment for his mother? Telemachus believes his mother would turn against him and Odysseus and marry one of her many suitors when, in truth, Penelope is suffering as much as or possibly more then Telemachus himself. With all the things Telemachus has faith in, he should be able to believe in his own mother who has never given him a reason to distrust her. I saw this lack of faith in his loving mother one of Telemachus’ only weaknesses.
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This link is relevant because it talks about the important
events of Telemachus’ life. Visit http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Telemachus.html In this picture, you can see the tension between Telemachus and Penelope. Their relationship was not the best because of the strain put on them from Odysseus’ absence. Image
taken from http://www.utexas.edu/courses/mythmoore/imagefiles19/telemachus.html |
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Coming of Age
Telemacheia, the first 4 books of The Odyssey, features a young, immature boy that grows into an older, wiser and stronger man. It deals with a character that most students can relate to because of his closeness in age to theirs. Telemacheia pertains mostly to the story of Telemachus and his own epic of growth and rise to power.
At the beginning of Telemacheia, Telemachus is around 19 or 20, has grown up with no father and is very immature and naïve about the world around him. It is at this point that he learns from Athena about his father more and decides he needs to grow up. It is with this ‘coming of age’ that Telemachus starts his journey to become like his father, and calls an assembly to tell all that he is indeed the son of Odysseus and will rule his house accordingly.
This growth plays an important role in the rest of the book. At first, Telemachus’ age defines him, but it’s later in Telemacheia (and eventually in the closing books) we see him as Odysseus’ equal in power, courage and intelligence, while only getting a couple of years older. This sudden growth represents the basic concept of Telemacheia. It’s built in for the reader to understand both background and to better comprehend the point of maturity, or ‘coming of age’.
It seems to be this
factor, that age is unimportant to who you are and are willing to become, that
is of most importance in the Odyssey. This
process of maturing is really what Telemacheia is all about. It’s a process that is about learning,
accepting and understanding. Once Telemachus learned about his past, decided on
his future, he became a power. He could
have been 20 or 30, and it wouldn’t have mattered. Homer believed that maturity was an important
theme for Telemacheia. Since Telemacheia
starts the novel, it’s with this main theme that the book can progress and have
a growth of its own.
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This picture shows Telemachus’ immaturity earlier in The Odyssey before he gains courage to fight for his household. Image
taken from www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/ashp/flaxman_odyssey.html |
For
another look on how xenia was important in The
Odyssey check out! http://www.indiana.edu/~gkcultur/guide/8/web1.html This website agrees with ours in respect that
the Greeks kept xenia in the households out of fear of the gods.
A
big theme in The Odyssey is
Telemachus’ coming of age. This website
talks about his growth through hope, perseverance, and courage. http://www.indiana.edu/~gkcultur/guide/13/
This
website http://www.indiana.edu/~gkcultur/guide/3/part1.htm
shows how Odysseus’ absence affected both Telemachus and Penelope which is
explained in Telemacheia, the first four books in The Odyssey.
Webpage by Casey Friske, Lindsay Grossheim, JT
Dominick, Liz Weyerbacher, and Andy Payne (respectively).