Telemakhos as Adolescent: Growing Up in the Homeric World

A glimpse of what might be termed "Homeric adolescence."

 Dale P. Woodiel

Conard High School

West Hartford, CT

In the final scene of Book 1 of Homer's Odyssey we find Odysseus' son Telemakhos being "put to bed" by his old nurse Eurykleia who has watched over him, like his father before him, since his infancy. She ac­companies him to his sleeping quarters, essentially to "tuck him in": she folds his tunic, turns out the torch, so to speak, and secures the door (1.425 ff.).

Recently, a curious but literal-minded fourteen-­year-old in one of my classes inquired whether Telema­khos was not a bit old for that sort of treatment. He pointed out that if, in fact, Odysseus had been gone for almost twenty years, his son would have to be at least approaching twenty, even if he had been born after Odysseus had rushed off to Troy! The question evoked a lively discussion.

From the appeal to the Muse in the opening lines of the poem we know that Odysseus will return, and we expect the action of the poem to lead up to that climac­tic moment. However, Zeus has hardly agreed to Athe­ne's appeal to bring Odysseus home and Hermes has been dispatched to Calypso's island with orders for Odysseus' release when Athene makes clear her plans to venture to Ithaka to attend to Odysseus' no-longer­-young son Telemakhos. Although the spirit of Odys­seus pervades the opening books of the Odyssey, the poem focuses for the moment on the growth and de­velopment of his abandoned son Telemakhos, no longer a child, but still unprepared to assume the role held by his famous father.

Athene's mission in Ithaka, she says, will be "to stir up (Telemakhos) a little, and put some confidence in him" (1.189) to oppose the suitors. Afterward she will accompany him to Pylos and Sparta in search of news of his father's homecoming. Why? "So that among people he may win a good reputation" (1. 95), in a word: kleos. 2

Charles Segal, in a discussion of kleos in the Odys­sey,  has observed that in the "shame-culture" of Homer­ic society, "esteem depends almost solely on how one is viewed and talked of by one's peers. Kleos is fun­damental as a measure of one's value to others and to oneself,3 a value that is repeatedly reenforced in the interactions between Telemakhos and every major figure he encounters on his journey.

Clearly, the Telemakhos of Book I who is accom­panied to his sleeping quarters by Eurykleia is not meant to be perceived as the Telemakhos who will appear to his father at the hut of the swineherd Eumaios in Book 26. His journey to Pylos and Sparta, accompa­nied by Athene/Mentor, constitutes his rite of passage to the adult world, his education, so to speak. An analysis of the Telemachy provides a glimpse - vague and confused as it might be - of what might be termed "Homeric adolescence."

Although at this point Telemakhos is nearing the age of twenty, his reputation is that of an insecure child essentially bullied by the adult suitors. His journey to maturity is, therefore, abnormal, at least in its timing. Although Athene clearly desires to assist Telemakhos in literally gaining "a good report  among men," his kleos will not be won in battle (even if one includes the assist he provides in the slaughter of the suitors), nor will it be won (as in the case of his father Odysseus) in an encounter as a youth with a wild beast, the result of which allowed the shedding of blood and the bestowal of a marvelous tale-telling scar (19.427 tt). His education will, however, be largely carried out in the company of Nestor's son Peisistratos, a considerably more mature youth of approximately Telemakhos' age.

John Finley, in his book on the Odyssey, com­ments on what he sees as Homer's tendency to cast a "sparkling gaze toward the young."4 Certainly, this is born out in the way the poem repeatedly focuses on the maturation of youth, not only Telemakhos and Peisistra­tos, who befriends Telemakhos during his visit to Py­los, but also Nausikaa, the daughter of Queen Arete and King Alkinoos, who befriends Odysseus when he reach­es the land of the Phaiakians.

The action of the Telemachy begins with the ap­pearance of Athene, disguised as Mentes, to Telema­khos in Book 1. Athene will initiate Telemakhos' first confrontation of the suitors, subsequently direct his journey to Pylos and Spana, and support his safe return where he is reunited with his long-absent and, to him. unknown father.

Crash course though it is, under the tutelage of Athene Telemakhos' journey constitutes a mini-version of the journey of Odysseus. Like his father, Telema­-

khos will see, if not great cities, at least two great households, and he will learn much from the minds of those he meets. More significantly, he is exposed to a civilized world of sophistication and culture that differs markedly from the world he has known, char­acterized by the barbaric antics of the suitors.

When Athene appears to Telemakbos in Book I she finds him in the midst of what can only be called a dysfunctional household, absent of a father for decades, long abandoned by the elder grandfather Laertes, and filled daily (and one assumes nightly as well) with over one hundred boisterous males bent on partying and con­suming the household's resources. Although Telema­khos is moping in their midst, his thoughts on the re­turn of his father, when he recognizes the stranger at the door, his "right instincts" kick in. He has not forgotten his manners. Although embarrassed by the atmosphere in the hall, he welcomes the stranger, finds him a chair aside from the major activity, and offers him food (113 ff).

Claiming guest-friendship with Odysseus for years, Athene/Mentes immediately reminds Telemakhos of the renowned reputation of his father and comments on their physical resemblance: "Big as you are," she ob­serves, "you are strangely like about the head, the fine eyes, as I remember. . ." (205-7).  Assuming his fa­ther Odysseus now dead or disappeared, Telemakhos regrets the loss of kleos which would have come to him had Odysseus "gone down among his companions in the land of the Trojans" (236), for had he done so, "he would have won great fame for himself and his son hereafter" (239-40).

Athene assures Telemakhos that he will not "go nameless hereafter" (223-24) and urges him instead to accept her advice and assistance in devising a plan to rid the household of the suitors. "Come now," she says to him, "pay close attention to me and do as I tell you . . . I will counsel you shrewdly, and hope you will listen" (271 ff).

She then outlines the plans for their journey, speci­fies that he will be expected to assist at least in the killing of the suitors, and concludes with the blunt pronouncement that it is time to grow up! "You should not." she admonishes, "go on clinging to your child­hood. You are no longer of an age to do that." (296­-97).

Clearly there is glory in such violent, revengeful action for Homeric youth if it is designed to restore a kind of order in the household. Once again the heroic paradigm is the action of Orestes in revenging the murder of his father Agamemnon. Telemakhos' final response at Athene's departure is noteworthy: "My guest," he says, "your words to me are very kind and considerate, what any father would say to his son. I shall not forget them" (307-8). When Athene vanishes and Telemakhos returns, as he does, to the suitors, he is now described as "a god-like man" (324).

NECN&J Feb. 1995

Having been touched by divine intervention, Tele­makbos begins suddenly to mature; he starts to take charge, confronting the suitors, even ordering his moth­er about. Even his view of the songs being sung by the minstrel Phemios reflects a less provincial, more mature point of view. He urges his mother not to begrudge the singer for the song (in this case the return of the Greeks, which she finds upsetting); his father has not been, after all, the only Greek lost returning from Troy (354-55). He then suggests that she return to her housework (357), leaving him to make the big deci­sions. It is "the men [who) must see to discussion, all men, but I most of all. For mine is the power in this household" (358-9).

However, Telemakbos' confidence is short-lived. Although his initial confrontations of the suitors cause them to bite their lips in amazement at his daring new manner (381), they are not completely cowered.  Anti­noos, the most vocal of the group, senses that the gods have prompted Telemakhos "to speak so daringly" to them (385); he recognizes that Telemakhos bas the right to inherit the kingship of Ithaka, but he hopes Zeus will not see fit to make him so. Telemakhos' reply makes clear his newly-acquired feeling that he should be the absolute lord over his own household and servants "whom the great Odysseus won by force" (397-98).

Then, in response to Eurymakhos' inquiry about the stranger who has just visited, Telemakhos lies re­garding the identity of Athene and, accompanied by Eurykleia, turns in for what John Finley has termed his final night of rest in "the beautiful security of boy­hood." His rite of passage from childhood to man­hood -his education- has been set in motion, as he falls to sleep "ponder[ing] in his heart the journey that Pallas Athene had counseled" (443-4).

The change in Telemakhos will not be miraculous, however; there will be relapses to the behavior of ado­lescence, losses of courage which will require repeated assistance from Athene. At the assembly on the follow­ing morning, he bursts into tears and dashes the scepter to the ground, aware of his weakness in the face of the suitors. He vows he will call upon Zeus "to grant a reversal of [the suitors'] fortunes" (2.144) if they did not leave voluntarily, and he is given some encourage­ment when the vow is dramatically punctuated by the appearance of two eagles who swoop over the heads of the assembly and tear at each other throats before speeding away, an action that is interpreted as an ominous warning that, in fact, Odysseus is alive and close by (163-64).

The major contrasts that exist between the world in Ithaka and the worlds Telemakhos encounters in Pylos and Sparta can perhaps be best illustrated in the attention given in these scenes to two pillars of appro­priate behavior in civilized Homeric society: the proper treatment of guests and the attention given to religious sacrifice. As we saw in the scene of Athene's initial appearance (and we shall certainly see after Odysseus' return), the proper treatment of guests has almost, but not entirely, vanished from the Ithakan household. Likewise, along with civil behavior, the religious ritual of the sacrifice has disappeared. In fact, Athene com­ments on the "disgraceful behavior" within the house­hold (1.229). In contrast, upon his arrival in Pylos Telemakhos finds Nestor, his sons and their compan­ions, engaged in an elaborate sacrifice to Poseidon, in which he and Athene/Mentor are invited to participate. Nestor's son Peisistratos carefully explains the purpose of the sacrifice to the visitors, after which he offers the wine cup first to the elder Mentor, requesting that he then pass it to the younger Telemakhos. "I think," says Peisistratos, "he [Telemakhos) also will make his prayer to the immortals .  All men need the gods" (3.47-48). Athene is described as "happy at the thoughtfulness” (3. 52) - and one assumes the maturity as well-reflected in this gesture. Where could Telema­khos find a better role model? When Athene/Mentor leaves the scene, Nestor realizes her identity and, more importantly, the significance of the fact that she is guiding Telemakhos. He vows then to make to Athene a special sacrifice of a yearling cow and to open the special wine to accompany it. There follows perhaps in all of Homer the most detailed description of such a sacrifice, one that might be called a textbook illustration.

When Telemakhos and the young Peisistratos arrive together at the home of Menelaos and Helen in Sparta, they find a double wedding celebration in progress. 6 Both Menelaos' son and daughter are being married. Upon their arrival, Telemakhos and Peisistratos are ac­knowledged by Menelaos' henchman Eteoneus who goes to his master and quietly informs him of the arrival of two men, and requests whether he should unharness their horses or [one assumes, in view of the festivities] "send them on to somebody else, who can entertain them" (4.28-29). Menelaos, "deeply vexed" by his servant's question, accuses him of babbling nonsense like a fool, and orders him to unharness the strangers' horses immediately and to bring the men to the feast.

Apart from the proper treatment of guests and gods, however, there are also certain social amenities which must be acquired on this journey, what might be considered simply good manners or courtesies: knowing how to behave, knowing what to say and knowing how and when to say it. Words and their proper use solicit respect and equal power in the Homeric society.

From his first encounter with Nestor it is obvious Telemakhos lacks the verbal and social sophistication of Peisistratos. Yet, we sense already that he is a fast learner. To the suitor Antinoos he has made clear that he has put his childhood behind him. Now, he says, he has "grown big" and more powerful and will eventually "learn the truth" by "listening to others" (2.314-15).

When he steps ashore on Pylos, however, he ap­peals to Athene for help because he is afraid to speak "up close" to the elder Nestor. Athene, like the good coach, urges him simply to do his best, and assures him one way or another that he will have the words required to say what he needs to say. "Some of it," she says, "you yourself will see in your own heart, and some the divinity will put in your mind" (3.26-28). And, of course, with help from Athene he is able to impress the elder Nestor with his words, as he later impresses Menelaos with his refusal of his gift of horses and a chariot (4.600 ff).

It is important to remember that, apart from the attention to civilized behavior and attention to niceties, the Homeric adult, unlike the child, must be able and willing to kill, and it should be noted that when Tele­makhos returns to Ithaka from his journey abroad, he is prepared to join his father in doing the work re­quired, viz. engaging in a massive slaughter of 108 suitors who have not been behaving properly. At the poem's end, one senses that Telemakhos is capable of assuming the responsibilities of his famous father. The climactic slaughter, in this respect, reflects his "proper" education.

However, there are elements of Telemakhos' edu­cation that are, atypical, even ambiguous. They clearly have as their goal the acquisition of a good

reputation in the eyes of others; and they clearly include the development of the characteristic willingness to kill; but they also involve the acquisition of behaviors that reflect sensitivity and good manners - style and conduct - which are to be gained through social encounters with the "right" people. In this respect, they bear striking resemblance to the clearly didactic works of ancient wisdom literature in which, typically, an eldest son is instructed in the skills and responsibilities necessary to assume his father's estate.

Segal has suggested that in the Odyssey even the treatment of Odysseus' kleos in the poem is "ambigu­ous" and might well reflect a time when the heroic ideal was being redefined. Perhaps, Segal suggests, the poet is using "traditional elements" in "new ways" reflecting a style in which "non-heroic values and fresh social, ethical, and aesthetic currents make themselves felt."7

This sense of ambiguity is, in fact, echoed in Odys­seus' final lines in Book 24 where, in that great scene of three-generational male bonding, Telemakhos fights side by side with Odysseus and old Laertes. In this scene - where Athene and Zeus stop the fighting before it really begins - Odysseus charges Telemakhos to "be certain not to shame the blood of [his) futhers" who have "all across the world surpassed in manhood and valor" (24.508-9).  Telemakhos can only reply: "You will see, dear father, if you wish, that as for as my will goes, I will not shame my blood that comes from you, which you speak of" (511-12).

The final spear-cast of old Laertes is symbolic. Guided effectively by Athene, it will bring about the final death before peace settles over the land. No more fighting. If kleos is to be gained in the future, other standards will have to be recognized. Perhaps in the character of Telemakhos we have a model in progress.

[This essay was previously published in Volume XXII February 1995 Number 3 of the New England Classical Newsletter & Journal.]

Additional note: When preparing this paper for the 1994 annual meeting of the Classical Association of New England I could not have predicted my later association with the late Charles Segal (whose work I quote here) who was known to me as one of the most admirable among living classicists.  Later in the year this essay was published I had the great pleasure of auditing Professor’s Segal’s “Odyssey” seminar at Harvard where I spent the academic year as an NEH Visiting Scholar.  In fact, I was pleased to preside over his final exam in his absence away at a conference in Pisa.

End Notes

1 All references are to Richmond Lattimore's translation. The Odyssey of Homer (New York 1967).

2 The unique nature of Telemakhos' search for kleos. intro­duced by Athene in Book I, has long been a subject of inter­est to scholars. An excellent summary of the major critical positions on the subject can be found in P. V. Jones' "The kleos of Telemachus: Odyssey 1.95," AJP 109 (1988) 496­506.

3 C. Segal. "Kleos and Its Ironies in the Odyssey" in Homer's The Odyssey. ed. H. Bloom (New Haven 1988).

4 J. Finley, Homer's Odyssey (Cambridge. MA 1978) 144. SPinley (above, note 4) 156.

6 The subject of marriage as a natural continuation of a young

man's growth dominates Telemakhos' visit to the home of Menelaos and Helen. Note particularly Helen's gift to Tele­makhos of a robe for his wife to wear "on the occasion of his marriage" (15.126-7).

7 Segal (above, note 3) 148.