The first four books of the Odyssey focus on Telemachus's journeys in search of news about his father, who has yet to return home from the Trojan War, and are traditionally given the title Telemachy.

At the outset of Telemachus's journey, Odysseus had been absent from his home at Ithaca for twenty years due to the Trojan War and the intervention of Poseidon.

Telemachus then departs with Nestor's son Peisistratus,[4] who accompanies him to the halls of Menelaus and his wife Helen.

Whilst there, Telemachus is again treated as an honored guest as Menelaus and Helen tell complementary yet contradictory stories of his father's exploits at Troy.

After Odysseus reveals himself to Telemachus due to Athena's advice, the two men plan the downfall of the suitors.

[6] When Penelope challenges the suitors to string Odysseus's bow and shoot an arrow through the handle-holes of twelve axe heads, Telemachus is the first to attempt the task.

[7] The Telegony was a short two-book epic poem recounting the life and death of Odysseus after the events of the Odyssey.

In this mythological postscript, Odysseus is accidentally killed by Telegonus, his unknown son by the goddess Circe.

[8] From the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology: In the post-Homeric traditions, we read that Palamedes, when endeavouring to persuade Odysseus to join the Greeks against Troy, and the latter feigned idiocy, placed the infant Telemachus before the plough with which Odysseus was ploughing (Hygin.

[9][10] According to Aristotle and Dictys of Crete, Telemachus married Nausicaa, King Alcinous's daughter, and fathered a son named Perseptolis or Ptoliporthus.

Telemachus appears in Alfred, Lord Tennyson's 1833 poem "Ulysses", where the title speaker (based on Dante's version) expresses disappointment in his son.

[16] Telemachus was the name of Carole King's cat and is pictured on the cover of her album Tapestry.