Guiding questions:

Think about: why is everyone (even the gods) talking about Agamemnon and Clytemnestra at the start of The Odyssey? 

A story is told where Aegisthus overstepped by sleeping with Agamemnon’s wife and then killing him when he arrives home from war. 

The Gods

• Zeus uses the story to convey that human beings wrongly accuse the gods of ruining their lives when it is their actions that do so. (as Aegisthus
  • This is quite ironic though because throughout this story, the Gods basically create Odysseus’s fate. 
• Athena agrees that Aegisthus got what he deserved, but then uses the story to highlight how Odysseus has done nothing wrong yet he is stuck on an island far from home.

It might also be foreshadowing Odysseus possibly having the same fate as Agamemnon (Since Odysseus is on his long journey home, and Penelope might agree to be with one of the suitors before he arrives back home).

Why are we starting with Telemachus and Penelope? Why not Odysseus?

• I think the main reason is to allow Telemachus to go on this journey to find his father to help him gain experience. So that he can mature into a man before he meets his father. This concept of gaining experience in order to mature from a boy to a man is quite normal in greek mythology. 

• Another reason is to build up suspense. The reader keeps hearing about this heroic man and his adventure, creating excitement for the reveal!

• The reader can also get some context (it introduces Odysseus, his story). Since Odysseus has an incredibly long adventure, having context allows Homer to skip a couple of years (Because what would Homer talk about when Odysseus is on the island with Calypso for 10 years!?)

Some notes: 

• The gods hold a council
• Athena asks the cloud god Zeus to help Odysseus, a friendless man who is trapped on an island with Calypso. 
• Zeus tells the story of how Aegisthus overstepped by sleeping with Agamemnon’s wife and then killing him.
  • The idea of family is brought up(putting your family first)
  • *Comparison: Agamemnon’s wife left him because he was absent. Odysseus is worried that his wife will be with another man after he finally reaches home.

• Unrelenting, raging Poseidon will not forgive Odysseus for killing his son.
• Athena visits Telemachus at Odysseus’s home disguised as Mentes. Several suitors for Penelope are there. Athena tells him to be brave, his father is alive and he should go look for him. The owl-eyed goddess then flies away. 
• Athena: “You must not stick to childhood; you are no longer just a little boy. You surely heard how everybody praised Orestes when he killed the man who killed his famous father – devious Aegisthus?”
  • Father and son: Telemachus is unsure of his masculinity. His father being absent from his childhood left him with no one to teach him how to be a ‘man’. The suitors may seem intimidating to him and he is in a vulnerable state. After talking to Athena, he tries to step up.
  • *the story of Aegisthus is brought up again

• A song is sung about Troy and Penelope is reminded of her husband. She tells him to stop. To her surprise, Telemachus scolds her for that. 
• Suitors ask who was the strange man (Athena in disguise) but they do not get the truth.
• Athena acts as a parent figure to Telemachus

Some common ways Homer describes characters/personifies things:

• Athena’s bright eyes
• Wine dark sea
• Hermes the giant slayer(the messenger)