The Odyssey - Book 1 (ATHENE VISITS TELEMACHUS)

• The story begins 10 years after the Trojan war. 
• All of the suitors have returned to their homes apart from Odysseus. 
• "Odysseus alone was prevented from returning to the home and wife he yearned for by that powerful goddess, the nymph Calypso, who longed him to marry her, and kept him vaulted in her cave" - 1.13-16
• The God pitied Odysseus, apart from Poseidon. 
• Poseidon however was not in Mount Olympus with the rest of the Gods, he was visiting the Ethiopians- he had gone to accept sacrifice of bulls and rams. 
• Whilst Poseidon was away the rest of the Gods assembled "in the palace of Olympian Zeus" (1.27)
• Athene brings up the conversation of Odysseus and how unfortunate he has been in his journey home from Troy. "it is for Odysseus my heart is wrung, the wise and unlucky Odysseus, who has been parted so long from his friends and is pining on a lonely island in the middle of the seas" (1.48-51)
• Zeus tells Athene that he is not at odds with Odysseus as he is "not the wisest man but has been the most generous in his offerings to the immortals" (1.66-68). He goes on to tell Athene that Poseidon is the one who is at odds with Odysseus. 
• Athene tells Zeus to send Hermes, the messenger of the Gods to Ogygia to tell Calypso to let Odysseus resume his travel home to Ithaca, she goes on to say how she herself will travel to Ithaca to tell Telemachus to call an assembly with the suitors, then she will tell him to travel to Sparta and to Pylos to seek news of his fathers return- as they are the places most likely he would find out that his father is still alive. 
• Athene then left and flew to Ithaca, when she reached the court in front of Odysseus' house she took the form of Mentes (a family friend). 
• She saw a number of the suitors sitting in front of the door playing counters whilst their squires and pages were busy around them "some blending wine and water in the mixing bowls, and others carving meat in lavish portions and wiping down the tables with sponges before set them ready" (1.109-112)
• The first person who saw her was Telemachus "the god like youth" (1.14)- who was sitting with the suitors. 
• Telemachus went up to Athene and welcomed her into the house, to took her over to a "beautifully carved chair" (1.129) 
• Telemachus wanted to question "Mentes" (Athene) about his absent father. 
• A housekeeper brought some bread and set up some delicacies with various meats, Telemachus helped himself and his "gold cup" (1.143) was frequently filled with wine as stewards passed. 
•  The suitors came and sat in rows on chairs and their squires poured them water, whilst maids put bread in bowls beside them. After the suitors were finished they began to dance and create music (adding to the pleasures of a banquet). 
• Phemius, the minstrel was handed a Lyre and began to play in. 
• As the minstrel played Telemachus spoke to Athene, asking her who she was and where she came from (obviously he thought he was talking to Mentes). Athene answers Telemachus' questions, saying she is the son of Anchialus and is the chieftain of the Taphians. She says she is in Ithaca whilst on her travels to Temesa to trade for bronze. She goes on to explain that she has actually come to Ithaca because she heard that Odysseus was home, she goes on to say that the Gods must have hindered his journey home as he is not dead. "He must be on some distant island out in the sea, in the hands of enemies, savages no doubt, who will keep him there by force" (1.197-200) 
• She then goes on to tell Telemachus how he has grown since she last saw him (speaking in the perception of Mentes to make him trust her) 
• Athene asks why there are so many people at Odysseus' house and Telemachus explains that they are trying to court his mother, Athene tells Telemachus that it is dreadful and if Odysseus was ever to find out they would basically be dead. 
• Athene tells Telemachus that he needs to find a way of getting rid of all of the suitors from his house. She tells him to call an assembly with the Achaean lords, asking the gods as witnesses and tell the suitors to leave. She them tells him that he needs to choose his best ship with its 20 oarsmen and go to inquuire about his missing dad. She tells him to go to Pylos first and question the king, Nestor and then go to Sparta and question Menelaus as he was the last of the Spartans to return home from Troy. She tells him that if he hears his father is dead then he is to return home to Ithaca immediately, and marry his mother to another man. "You are no longer a child, you must put your childish thoughts away" (1.298-299)
• "The goddess spoke and the next moment she was gone, vanishing like a bird through a hole in the roof" (1.319-320)
• Telemachus then sat and found himself listening to a bard singing a famous song about the Archaeans' return from Troy and the disasters that Athene made them suffer.
• Penelope was upstairs in her room listening to the song which the bard was singing taking in all of the words, and then emerged from her room. Whenever Penelope came across one of her suitors she would fold a shining veil across her cheeks and take a stand by the pillar of the roof, with one of her faithful maids on either side. 
• She then burst into tears, she broke on the inspired minstrel. 
• She tells Phemius the bard to stop performing that song as it is too sad given the circumstances. 
• Telemachus interrupts and tells Penelope that is is not Phemius' fault if he decides to sing "Danaan's tragic fate" as it is the song with an audience applauds the most for. He then tells Penelope the return to her quarters and attend her own work (the loom and spindle). 
• "Making decisions must be men's concern, and mine in particular: for I am the master of this house" (1.358-359)
• Penelope went to her quarters after being bossed around by her son. "She took her sons sensible words to heart" (1.361)
• In the hallway the suitors burst into uproar, each man prayed that he would get to sleep with Penelope, Telemachus heard them all and invited them to his assembly the following morning. 
• The suitors were amazed that Telemachus had adopted such an angry and dominating tone to his voice when talking to them. At this one of the suitors Antinous said to Telemachus that the gods are teaching him this way of speaking, and he hopes that he will never be King of Ithaca if he keeps this tone. 
• Telemachus then replies to Antinous telling him that he intends to be master of his house and the servants who Odysseus won for him in the war- basically saying that he doesnt want any of the suitors to marry his mum as he is the master of his house, so even if one of them marries Penelope, they won't have any authority over him. 
• Then another suitor Eurymachus tells him that he can keep all of his belongings and rule his own house. Then he begins to ask Telemachus who the man was that visited the house earlier (Mentes/ Athene) 
• Telemachus replies telling him that he is almost certain that Odysseus will never return and that his guest was an old friend of his fathers from Taphos. But secretly Telemachus knew that it was a goddess who visited him- he obviously didn't say this out loud, but in his heart/ head he knew. 
• Then when night fell they went off to bed, each man to his own house. Telemachus was escorted by Eurycleia, who was a faithful maid. 
• Telemachus sat down on his bed and took off his soft tunic, Eurycleia put it on a peg by the wooden bedstead and went out of his room. 
• "Telemachus lay planning in his mind his journey that Athene had suggested" (1.444)