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The Telemachy is a term used to describe the first four books of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey.
The Telemachy as an Introduction to the Odyssey
It is widely known that the Odyssey tells the epic story of Odysseus' travels home to Ithaka from the Trojan War. The epic consists of more than twelve thousand lines of text and it is divided into twenty-four books. The story must be understood in the context of its events following those of the Iliad - an earlier work dealing with the conduct of the War itself. Odysseus is well known in the Iliad as being the clever architect of Troy's demise, and the threads of the two epics are carefully linked despite the fact that the Odyssey begins ten years after the Iliad has closed. That decade of years allows the various Iliadic heroes to meet their respective fate. Only Odysseus remains abroad.
The first book of the Odyssey, however, neither begins with Odysseus nor in Troy. Instead the tale starts where it will later end: in Ithaka at Odysseus' palace. This circular format is employed because the Odyssey is not only the story of Odysseus' heroic journey, but also of his homecoming and the events that transpire upon his return. The first four books of the Odyssey indulge us with a glimpse of the goings-on and the palace in Ithaka - in order that we should understand the homecoming and in order that we should realize the urgency of the journey. The principal character developed throughout those books is Telemachos - Odysseus' son. In consequence, the four books are often referred to as the Telemachy.
The Telemachy begins by introducing us to the year of Odysseus' return. The nymph Kalypso detains Odysseus on Ogygia. Odysseus has angered Poseidon for reasons that the story later reveals; the God of the sea blocks his progress from the island. Poseidon, however, is away and Athene pleads Odysseus' case to the other Olympians. Zeus makes a decision and the wishes of Poseidon are set aside: Odysseus will be allowed to return home.
Ithaka
In Ithaka, meanwhile, the question of Odysseus' fate is not merely academic. Suitors beset Odysseus' wife Penelope. They are rapidly consuming the absent King's wealth as they entertain themselves at his palace. Penelope, faithful to the possibility of Odysseus' return, has sucessfully avoided the suitors for the last ten years - but things cannot go on as they are. The matter of her re-marriage must be addressed.
Homer does not clarify the constitutional situation on Ithaka, but it is far more than the fate of the crown that is at risk. Lives are at stake. If Odysseus lives, then to court his wife is treason, and, as the story of Aigisthos and Agamemnon relates, the penalty for treason is death. In the case of Aigisthos, Agamemnon's son Orestes inflicted that penalty. Therefore, Odysseus' son Telemachos is a danger to the suitors; and he is coming of age as Orestes did. The suitors decide to kill Telemachos. Their success, however, would leave Odysseus without an heir. To avoid this unhappy outcome Athene escorts Telemachos on a voyage of his own: a quest for news of his father.
Odysseus in the Telemachy
Whilst the Telemachy develops Telemachos and sets the scene in Ithaka, it is not at all true to say that Odysseus is left unmentioned. In fact, any opportunity to remind us of the acclaim that he achieved in the Iliad is fully exploited. Although second-hand, much of this information comes from the champions of the Iliad themselves. The spinning of their tales and personalities into the Odyssey dignifies the epic by including it amongst the Nostoi or stories of homecoming that surround the heroes of Troy.
Two characters introduced to encourage Telemachos and to build the credibility of Odysseus are Nestor and Menelaos, both heroes of the Iliad and the kings of Pylos and Sparta respectively. They lavish their praise upon Odysseus, in particular with regard to his guile.
During Book 3, when in Pylos, Telemachos is told of his father by Nestor:
- "Then there was no man who wanted to be set up for cunning against the great Odysseus; he far surpassed them in every kind of strategem..." (3.120-2)
In Book 4, at the Spartan palace, Menelaos states:
- "In my time I have studied the wit and counsel of many men who were heroes, and I have been over much of the world, yet nowhere have I seen with my own eyes anyone like him, nor known an inward heart like the heart of enduring Odysseus." (4.267-9)
Odysseus, then, is a man of insight and cunning; but is this the way in which a great hero should behave? Reassurance as to this comes from both the gods and men.
Athene, instead of intervening directly into the situation on Ithaka, assumes human form and gives Telemachos the confidence to act for himself. She uses disguise to coach Telemachos, but he must do his own 'dirty work'. Part of the role of the Telemachy, perhaps, is to prepare us for this indirect application of the Gods' influence. The characters of the Odyssey are the masters of their own destiny. Zeus says as much when he relates the story of Aigisthos; and the proem says as much when it describes the fate of Odysseus' crew.
Menelaos is also prepared to use trickery during his own sea voyage home from Troy. In Book 4 he tells us how he and his crew found themselves marooned on the island of Pharos off the Egyptian shore. He tells Telemachos how he used a sly plan to capture Proteus, the Old Man of the Sea, in order that the way home would be made known to him. The plot involved Menelaos and three others concealing themselves inside seal skins and lying on a sandbank. There they waited, each with a pinch of Ambrosia to guard against the smell of the beasts, until Proteus arrived whereupon they revealed themselves and took hold of him. The scheme was not of Menelaos' devising, however, it does demonstrate that whilst the battlefield permitted only bravery of its heroes, shrewd plotting was more than acceptable from them on the way home.
The nature of epic poetry
Tales of derring-do are not the only way in which Odysseus' fine character is established. The poet makes frequent use of 'Homeric epithet' as the content of the story is fixed into the metrical framework of the poem. There is repitition of such phrases as 'godlike Odysseus', 'great Odysseus', 'wise Odysseus', and 'resourceful Odysseus'. It should be realized that these epithets are a result of the formulaic system through which the poem is related orally to the audience in rhyme.
Jones[2] gives an instructive example of the formulaic system at work. Homer often repeats a particular phrase to introduce Telemachos as a speaker: 'Then the thoughtful Telemachos said to him/her in answer'. The phrase is used at 1.213, 230, 306, 345, 388, 412 and so on. It is not, however, the case that everything that Telemachos says is thoughtful. The phrase is employed because it conveniently fills an entire line and fits the pattern of the metre. The other main characters of the epic have their own phrases as have many commonplace events such as sunrise. Without the use of these stock phrases as building blocks, the bard would have far greater difficulty in telling the story. Nevertheless, it would be wrong to think that the epithets ascribed to Odysseus are choosen at random. By lauding him with superlatives the poet clearly wishes Odysseus to be considered godlike and great and wise and resourceful. The epithets may be convenient but to a limited extent they are also revealing. Perhaps they are intended to indoctrinate the audience, but in so doing they disclose the hidden-agenda of the poet as he strengthens Odysseus' reputation.
Ancient listeners might, conceivably, be disappointed if a heroic champion of Troy were to thereafter win all of his battles by deception. Odysseus, then, must also be described as a man of action. Likewise, the audience must be prepared for the suitors' violent fate, as the matter may seem too cold-blooded if introduced suddenly upon Odysseus' return.
Thus, in Book 1, Athene vists Odysseus' palace in the form of the traveller Mentes. She witnesses the suitors' behaviour for herself whilst she is being entertained by Telemachos. He complains to her,
- "... all these are after my mother for marriage, and wear my house out. And she does not refuse the hateful marriage, nor is she able to make an end of the matter; and these eating up my substance waste it away; and soon they will break me myself to pieces." (1.248-51)
Athene responds,
- "Oh, for shame. How great your need is now of the absent Odysseus, who would lay his hands on these shameless suitors. I wish he could come now to stand in the outer doorway of his house, wearing a helmet and carrying shield and two spears ... I wish that such an Odysseus would come now among the suitors. They all would find death was quick, and marriage a painful matter." (1.253-66)
We have been told what will happen when Odysseus reaches Ithaka. He will attack the suitors, and the goddess Athene sanctions this action. An essential motif of the poem is, thus, established early on. The suitors, by their own particular wild recklessness (as it were), have brought his wrath upon themselves.
Is the Telemachy useful?
The Odyssey is sometimes criticized because Odysseus is not encountered in the text until Book 5. The question then is whether or not the Telemachy is a worthwile diversion? Those that seek to support the Telemachy point out the benefits of this four-book introduction to Ithakan politics. The listeners are briefed about the situation on the island and they understand that Odysseus' urgent return is necessary. Telemachos and Penelope are developed as characters. The excesses of the suitors are detailed and their murderous plot against Telemachos is revealed. Likewise, influential friends at Pylos and Sparta are visited and they speak well of Odysseus. Odysseus' good standing with the gods is established and, with the exception of Poseidon, he clearly enjoys their support. How much poorer wold the epic be if it failed to achieve our early understanding of these elements?
By the end of the Telemachy, the scene is set for Odysseus to appear in chief.
References
- Griffin, J. 1999. Homer: the Odyssey. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Jones, P. 2001. Homer's Odyssey. London: Bristol Classical Press.
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