book one - athene visits telemachus

three key plot points -odysseus is trapped on ogygia -athene tells zeus to free odysseus -athene appears to telemachus in disguise

‘tell me, Muse, the story of that resourceful man’

-opening words of the poem

-homer invokes the voice of the muse of the epic song calliope to appeal to a highly religious homeric society

-’that resourceful man’ - odysseus epithet, demonstrates his importance

‘all the survivors of war…’

-beginning of poem

-in medias res, creates suspense and anticipation

‘what a lamentable thing it is that men should blame the gods and regard us as the source of their troubles, when it is their own transgressions which bring them suffering that was not their destiny’

zeus addresses the immortals, who blame the gods

‘but he failed to save those comrades, in spite of all his efforts. it was their own transgressions that brought them to their doom’

poem morally relieves Odysseus

‘it is for Odysseus that my heart is wrung, the wise and unlucky Odysseus, who has been parted so long from all his friends and is pining on a lonely island far away in the middle of the seas’

-athene addresses her father

-odysseus’ patronage with zeus?

‘Poseidon, who pursued the heroic Odysseus with relentless malice’

establishes Posiedon’s hatred for Odysseus

‘it was not his destiny to steal Agamemnon's wife and murder her husband’

Zeus uses Aegisthus as an example for how fate works

‘pining on a lonely island in the middle of the seas’

Odysseus is emotionally and physically isolated at the start of the epic

‘why are you at odds with Odysseus, Zeus?’

Athene uses a pun when conversing with her father

‘he is not only the wisest man alive but has been the most generous in his offerings to the immortals who live in the wide heaven’

superlatives to emphasise Odysseus’ piety and greatness

‘ashamed that a stranger should be left standing at the gates’

Telemachus strives to practice correct xenia

‘my mother certainly says i am odysseus’ son, but for myself i cannot tell’

-evidence for telemachus wallowing in sadness without his father

-jibe at Penelope? unfaithful?

‘the family will arrange a marriage and see that she has a generous dowry, as is only right for a beloved daughter’

Athene’s words suggest how women were traded like objects in marriage

‘(laertes) has tired himself out by dragging himself up and down his vineyard”, laziness exists in his oikos, he can either be like odysseus or like laertes’

-evidence which exacerbates the threat of telemachus becoming sad and idle

-laertes is odysseus’ father

‘any decent man would be disgusted at the sight of such disgraceful behaviour’

-Athene/ Mentes comment to Telemachus on the Suitors

‘of all island chieftains in dulichium, in same and in wooded zacynthus, all the noblles in rocky ithaca, there is not one that isnt courting my mother’ ‘they are eating me out of house and home’

-telemachus is growing frustrated and tired with the suitors

‘I can announce my demand that you quit my palace’

Telemachus showing authority to the Suitors

‘the great lady drew her shining veil across her cheeks and took her stand by a pillar of the massive roof, with one of her faithful maids on either side’

Penelope’s introduction demonstrates her modesty