Telemachy

The Telemachy (from Greek Τηλεμάχεια, Tēlemacheia) is a term traditionally applied to the first four books of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey.

The Odyssey is a nostos that recalls the story of Odysseus' journey home to Ithaca, finally completed twenty years after the Trojan War began.

Homeric scholarship generally recognizes the Telemachy as the story of its eponymous hero's journey from boyhood to manhood.

His first step toward Homer's ideal of manhood is a figurative one: in Book 1 Penelope tries to dictate what songs a bard should sing for the suitors.

admonishes her, and directs her to go back to her room; this signals the first time that Telemachus asserts himself as the head of the household in the Odyssey.

But since Telemachus is, in his own words (61-2), "a weakling knowing nothing of valor," the suitors refuse, blaming Penelope for their staying so long.

Menelaus tells Telemachus of his own detour in Egypt on his way home from the Trojan War, during which he learned that Odysseus is still alive, a virtual captive of the nymph Calypso.

Whereas he arrived at Pylos afraid to even speak to Nestor, upon leaving Menelaus he has enough confidence in himself to ask for a gift more appropriate for an inhabitant of rocky Ithaca.

Near the end of the Odyssey, Telemachus demonstrates his decisiveness and independence by hanging the disloyal women slaves, instead of killing them by sword, for the sake of his honor.

Although the scheme was not of Menelaus' devising, it does demonstrate that while the battlefield inspires bravery from its heroes, wily cunning also has its place when the situation demands.