Editing Telemachy (section)

==The ''Telemachy'' as an introduction to the ''Odyssey''==

The ''Odyssey'' is a ''[[nostos]]'' that recalls the story of Odysseus' journey home to [[Homer's Ithaca|Ithaca]], finally completed twenty years after the [[Trojan War]] began. Odysseus, however, does not directly appear in the narrative until Book 5. Instead, the ''Telemachy''{{'}}s subject is the effect of Odysseus' absence on his family, Telemachus in particular. The first four books of the ''Odyssey'' give the reader a glimpse of the goings-on at the palace in Ithaca. There are a multitude of suitors vying for Penelope's hand in marriage, consuming the absent king's estate. They have been a terrible drain on the family's wealth, as they have been nearly permanent houseguests while Penelope put off her choice for three to four years. A brooding Telemachus wants to eject the suitors, and in fact announces his intention to do so; but he is not strong enough to act on the threat. Homer thus provides Telemachus with a motive for leaving Ithaca, and the reader with this portrait of Ithaca to place Odysseus' homecoming in context and to underscore the urgency of his journey.