3.1–50

Ἠέλιος δ᾽ ἀνόρουσε λιπὼν περικαλλέα λίμνην,
οὐρανὸν ἐς πολύχαλκον, ἵν᾽ ἀθανάτοισι φαείνοι
καὶ θνητοῖσι βροτοῖσιν ἐπὶ ζείδωρον ἄρουραν:

Helios rose, leaving the lovely ocean stream, 
into the brazen sky, to shine for the gods 
and mortals, over the grain-giving earth.

Odyssey 3.1-3¹

The hero’s son has himself been up all night, sailing beside Athena disguised as Mentor, who urged him down to the seashore while others slept (Od. 2.393–434). The poet is drawing ever so lightly on some potent traditional material here. A hero’s wakefulness while others sleep is often the prelude in Homeric poetry to a significant heroic action, the impetus for which sometimes comes from a divine visitation in the form of a dream. After rising, the hero starts the movement toward action by calling an assembly. The motif is flexible, as the poet adapts the parts to the situation at hand (See Il. 2.1–47; 23.57–897; 24.1–804; Od. 20.1–101). Seen in the light of this recurrent narrative pattern, Telemachus’s departure from Ithaka is consistent with other signs we have noted that he is a hero-in-training. His divine visitation is not mysterious, not requiring interpretation as a dream might. The goddess is disguised, but her message is unambiguous, allowing no room for the hero’s initiative. She, not he, assembles the sailors for the journey. He is awake because escaping his mother’s notice requires it, not because he is forming a plan of action. Having separated from his mother’s nurture, Telemachus is on his way toward being fit for adult heroic action, but he is not yet there. His father’s world awaits.

The poet wastes no time in plunging Telemachus into the midst of that new world. His experience at home, with a diminished family under siege from outsiders, has not prepared him for the thriving society he finds at Pylos. The communal sacrifice to Poseidon models a crucial part of a healthy society, maintaining a fruitful connection with the gods. That the god is Poseidon is of course especially relevant to Telemachus, given that the sea god is Odysseus’s principal divine antagonist. He can begin to help his father by learning how to get along with Poseidon.

But he needs another nudge from Athena. As we imagine him edging slowly forward, we might reflect again on the cost of the chaos in Ithaka. It is easy to see how the household stores there are being depleted by the suitors’ freeloading, as they gorge and guzzle every day, but the family’s most precious resource, its future vitality, has also been stunted. In Telemachus we see the marks of a childhood under extraordinary pressure. Children need models to aim at as they navigate the bewildering rush of new feelings that accompanies adolescence. They are pointed toward adulthood, but without some guardrails embodied by the adults around them, the journey can be frightening. We have seen that resource in short supply for Telemachus. Penelope seems to be largely absent, upstairs in her bedchamber, leaving the rest of the palace to a group of men who are characterized by self-indulgence, lacking the crucial self-control that Odysseus has in abundance. Left on his own, Telemachus mingles uneasily with the interlopers, unable to control them but, as his first interactions with the disguised Athena reveal, he is desperate for some guidance and support. Nausicaa, the young Phaeacian princess we will meet in Book 6, models how a child with a healthy, loving family negotiates the same passage that Telemachus must make. The gods have decided that he must move now, ready or not. 

Athena, still disguised as Mentor, leads the way toward Nestor and his sons, who have offered a portion of their food to Poseidon and are preparing for a meal by the seashore. The scene might remind us of the poem’s opening, when Athena arrives, disguised as Mentes, leader of the neighboring Taphians, at the door of Odysseus’s palace:

εὗρε δ᾽ ἄρα μνηστῆρας ἀγήνορας. οἱ μὲν ἔπειτα
πεσσοῖσι προπάροιθε θυράων θυμὸν ἔτερπον
ἥμενοι ἐν ῥινοῖσι βοῶν, οὓς ἔκτανον αὐτοί:
κήρυκες δ᾽ αὐτοῖσι καὶ ὀτρηροὶ θεράποντες
οἱ μὲν οἶνον ἔμισγον ἐνὶ κρητῆρσι καὶ ὕδωρ,
οἱ δ᾽ αὖτε σπόγγοισι πολυτρήτοισι τραπέζας
νίζον καὶ πρότιθεν, τοὶ δὲ κρέα πολλὰ δατεῦντο.

And she found there the haughty suitors. They were
at that moment amusing themselves with dice in front of the doorway
sitting on the hides of cattle they themselves had killed.
And around them their heralds and nimble henchmen—;
some pouring wine and water in the mixing bowls,
some wiping down the tables with porous sponges—
set them out and cut up the meat in abundance.

Odyssey 1.106–12

The arrival of strangers prompts a different response in Pylos. While Penelope’s suitors ignore their guest, Nestor and his sons rise immediately to greet Telemachus and Athena/Mentor, making a place for them at the feast. In Ithaka, the usurping intruders play games while others serve them, while here the royal hosts have prepared their own meal. The casual debauchery in Odysseus’s home contrasts with the carefully ordered rituals underway in Pylos. Telemachus must learn not only about his father, but also about the adult world Odysseus lives in, how a healthy family works, its relations with others in the society and the gods, how it receives strangers.  

So far, we have seen two families, in Ithaka and, as a dark, cautionary parallel, the family of Agamemnon, with Clytemnestra as the specter of what might await Odysseus if he makes it back to Ithaka and Orestes as the good son who avenges his father’s murder (Od. 1.30). Now Peisistratus steps forward to model a more benign version of the prince, taking Telemachus and Athena/Mentor by the hand and leading them to a place of honor next to his father and brothers, serving them food and drink. Nestor’s son offers a handsome welcome, inviting the strangers to join them in offering a libation to Poseidon. He shows proper etiquette in giving the cup to Athena/ Mentor first as his elder but includes Telemachus in the invitation. In case we have missed the point that he is to be a model for how a good son behaves, he notes that Telemachus is the same age as he is. The visit has begun well.

Further Reading

Nagler. M. 1974. Spontaneity and Tradition: The Oral Art of Homer, 113–130. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Tracy, S. 1990. The Story of the Odyssey, 16–22. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Footnotes

1. All translations of Greek or Latin are mine.