Editing Telemachus

{{short description|Mythological son of Odysseus}}
{{other uses}}
{{Infobox character
| name = Telemachus
| title = Prince of Ithaca
| image= Telemachus departing from Nestor - Henry Howard - Project Gutenberg eText 13725.jpg
| caption = Telemachus departing from Nestor, painting by [[Henry Howard (artist)|Henry Howard]] (1769–1847)
| nationality = Greek
| spouse = [[Circe]];<br/> or [[Cassiphone]] or [[Polycaste]] or [[Nausicaa]]
| relatives = [[Odysseus]] (father)<br/>[[Penelope]] (mother) <br/>
| children = [[Latinus]]<br/>[[Persepolis (mythology)|Persepolis]]<br/>Ptoliporthus<br/>[[Poliporthes]]
}}
In [[Greek mythology]], '''Telemachus''' ({{IPAc-en|t|ə|ˈ|l|ɛ|m|ə|k|ə|s|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-Telemachus.wav}} {{respell|tə|LEM|ə|kəs}}; {{langx|grc|Τηλέμαχος|Tēlemakhos|lit=far-fighter}}) is the son of [[Odysseus]] and [[Penelope]], who are central characters in [[Homer]]'s ''[[Odyssey]]''. When Telemachus reached manhood, he visited [[Pylos]] and [[Sparta]] in search of his wandering father. On his return to [[Homer's Ithaca|Ithaca]], he found that Odysseus had reached home before him. Then father and son slew the [[Suitors of Penelope|suitors]] who had gathered around Penelope. According to later tradition, Telemachus married [[Circe]] after Odysseus's death.

The first four books of the ''Odyssey'' focus on Telemachus's journeys in search of news about his father, who has yet to return home from the [[Trojan War]], and are traditionally given the title ''[[Telemachy]]''.<ref>''The Odyssey''. [[George Herbert Palmer]], 1921, prose.</ref>

==Etymology==

Telemachus's name in [[Greek language|Greek]] means "far from battle", or perhaps "fighting from afar", as a bowman does.<ref>Brann, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Tr0sHkgKBmUC&pg=PA277 p. 277].</ref>

==''Odyssey''==
[[File:Mnesterophonia Louvre CA7124.jpg|thumb|right|Slaughter of the suitors by Odysseus and Telemachus, [[Campania]]n red-figure bell-[[krater]], ca. 330 BC, [[Louvre]] (CA 7124)]]

In Homer's ''Odyssey'', Telemachus, under the instructions of [[Athena]] (who accompanies him during the quest), spends the first four books trying to gain knowledge of his father, Odysseus, who left for Troy when Telemachus was still an infant. At the outset of Telemachus's journey, Odysseus had been absent from his home at [[Homer's Ithaca|Ithaca]] for twenty years due to the Trojan War and the intervention of [[Poseidon]]. During his absence, Odysseus's house has been occupied by hordes of [[Suitors of Penelope|suitors seeking the hand of Penelope]].<ref>Homer, ''Odyssey'' Books I–II</ref> Telemachus first visits [[Nestor (mythology)|Nestor]] and is well received by the old man who regales him with stories of his father's glory. Telemachus then departs with Nestor's son [[Peisistratus (Odyssey)|Peisistratus]],<ref>Homer ''Odyssey'' Book III</ref> who accompanies him to the halls of [[Menelaus]] and his wife [[Helen of Troy|Helen]]. Whilst there, Telemachus is again treated as an honored guest as Menelaus and Helen tell complementary yet contradictory stories of his father's exploits at Troy. Telemachus also learns from Menelaus that his father was last seen stranded on [[Ogygia]].<ref>Homer ''Odyssey'' Book IV</ref>

Telemachus focuses on his father's [[Returns from Troy#The Odyssey|return to Ithaca]] in Book XV.  He visits [[Eumaeus]], the swineherd, who happens to be hosting a disguised Odysseus.  After Odysseus reveals himself to Telemachus due to Athena's advice, the two men plan the downfall of the suitors. Telemachus then returns to the palace to keep an eye on the suitors and to await his father as the beggar.<ref>Homer, ''Odyssey'' Books XV–XVI</ref>

When Penelope challenges the suitors to string Odysseus's bow and shoot an arrow through the handle-holes of twelve axe heads, Telemachus is the first to attempt the task. He would have completed the task, nearly stringing the bow on his fourth attempt; however, Odysseus subtly stops him before he can finish his attempt. Following the suitors' failure at this task, Odysseus reveals himself and he and Telemachus bring swift and bloody death to the suitors.<ref>Homer, ''Odyssey'' Books XXI–XXII</ref>

==''Telegony''==
[[File:Telemachos Saarbruecken.jpg|left|thumb|Statue depicting Telemachus]]
The ''[[Telegony]]'' was a short two-book epic poem recounting the life and death of Odysseus after the events of the ''Odyssey''. In this mythological postscript, Odysseus is accidentally killed by [[Telegonus (son of Odysseus)|Telegonus]], his unknown son by the goddess [[Circe]]. After Odysseus's death, Telemachus returns to [[Aeaea]] with Telegonus and Penelope, and there marries Circe.

Seemingly later tradition included the character of [[Cassiphone]]&mdash;the daughter of Odysseus and Circe, and therefore half-sister of Telemachus&mdash;into the narrative. In this account, Telemachus still marries Circe, but Odysseus is resurrected by Circe at some point. Afterward, he weds Telemachus to Cassiphone. When events transpire that result in Telemachus killing Circe after quarrelling with her, Cassiphone kills Telemachus in revenge.<ref>{{cite book |last=Salazar |first=Christine |date=2002–2003 |title=Brill's New Pauly Volume 2 |location=The Netherlands |publisher=Brill Leiden Boston |page=1164 |isbn=9004122656 |url=https://archive.org/details/brillsnewpaulyen0002unse }}</ref>

==Later classical authors==
From the ''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'': In the post-Homeric traditions, we read that Palamedes, when endeavouring to persuade Odysseus to join the Greeks against Troy, and the latter feigned idiocy, placed the infant Telemachus before the plough with which Odysseus was ploughing.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' 95; [[Servius the Grammarian|Servius]] on [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'', 2.81; [[Tzetzes]] on [[Lycophron]], 384; [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], ''Varia Historia'' 8.12.</ref>

In ''[[Contest of Homer and Hesiod]]'', it is alleged that the Roman Emperor [[Hadrian]] asked the [[Delphic Oracle]] about Homer's birthplace and parentage. The Oracle replied that Homer came from Ithaca and that Telemachus was his father by [[Epicasta]], daughter of Nestor.<ref>[http://mcllibrary.org/Hesiod/homrhes.html "Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns, and Homerica"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203182529/http://mcllibrary.org/Hesiod/homrhes.html |date=2019-12-03 }} (''[[Contest of Homer and Hesiod]]'')</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Herbert William|last=Parke|title=Greek Oracles|year=1967|pages=136–137 citing the ''[[Contest of Homer and Hesiod|Certamen]]'', 12}}</ref>

According to [[Aristotle]] and [[Dictys of Crete]], Telemachus married [[Nausicaa]], King Alcinous's daughter, and fathered a son named [[Persepolis (mythology)|Perseptolis]] or [[Poliporthes|Ptoliporthus]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Allan |first=Arlene |date=2010 |title=The Authority of Telemachus |url=https://online.ucpress.edu/ca/article-abstract/33/1/31/25729/The-Authority-of-Telemachus |journal=Classical Antiquity |language=en |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=14–30 |doi=10.1525/CA.2014.33.1.31|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

[[Eustathius of Thessalonica|Eustathius]] says that the mother was [[Polycaste]], the daughter of [[Nestor (mythology)|Nestor]].<ref>''Brill's New Pauly'' [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/*-e915060 s.v. Perseptolis] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220429150156/https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/*-e915060 |date=2022-04-29 }}.</ref> Others relate that he became the father of [[Latinus]] by Circe.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' 127; cf. Telegonus.</ref> He is also said to have had a daughter called Roma, who married [[Aeneas]].<ref>''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]''; [[Servius the Grammarian|Servius]] on [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'', 1.273.</ref>

Servius makes Telemachus the founder of the town of [[Clusium]] in Etruria.<ref>{{Cite DGRBM|author=LS|title=Telemachus|volume=III|page=989|url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/ACL3129.0003.001/997?rgn=full+text;view=image;q1=Telemachus|short=}}</ref><ref>[[Servius the Grammarian|Servius]] on [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'', 10.167.</ref>

==Other appearances==
Telemachus was the subject of numerous [[opera]]s throughout the eighteenth century, most based on Fénelon's version.<ref>{{Cite Grove |last=Monson |first=Dale E. |title=Telemachus}}</ref> Among the most famous of these operas were [[André Cardinal Destouches]]'s ''[[Télémaque (Destouches)|Télémaque]]'' (1714), [[Alessandro Scarlatti]]'s ''[[Telemaco (Scarlatti)|Telemaco]]'' (1718), Gluck's ''[[Telemaco (Gluck)|Telemaco, ossia L'isola di Circe]]'' (1765), [[Giuseppe Gazzaniga]]'s ''Gli errori di Telemaco'' (1776), [[Jean-François Le Sueur]]'s ''Télémaque dans l'île de Calypso ou Le triomphe de la sagesse'' (1796), [[Simon Mayr]]'s ''[[Telemaco (Mayr)|Telemaco nell'isola di Calipso]]'' (1797), and Fernando Sor's ''[[Telemaco (Sor)|Telemaco nell'isola di Calipso]]'' (1797).

Telemachus appears in Alfred, Lord Tennyson's 1833 poem "[[Ulysses (poem)|Ulysses]]", where the title speaker (based on Dante's version) hands over his throne to him to spend the rest of his life wandering.

Telemachus is a frequent character in the poetry of [[Louise Glück]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.baymoon.com/~ariadne/poets/louise.gluck.htm|title=Louise Glück's Poetry and Prose|website=www.baymoon.com|accessdate=Feb 19, 2023|archive-date=May 29, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220529082635/http://www.baymoon.com/~ariadne/poets/louise.gluck.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Telemachus was the name of [[Carole King]]'s cat and is pictured on the cover of her album ''[[Tapestry (Carole King album)|Tapestry]]''.<ref>{{Cite news|url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/helen-brown/5201808/Carole-King-interview.html|title = Carole King interview: 'I didn't have the courage to write songs initially'|newspaper = The Telegraph|date = 7 March 2016|last1 = Brown|first1 = Helen|access-date = 5 April 2018|archive-date = 28 December 2012|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121228015247/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/helen-brown/5201808/Carole-King-interview.html|url-status = live}}</ref>

"Telemachus" is the title of a poem by American poet [[Ocean Vuong]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.forwardartsfoundation.org/poetry/telemachus/ |title=Telemachus &#124; Forward Arts Foundation |access-date=2018-09-05 |archive-date=2018-09-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180905214737/http://www.forwardartsfoundation.org/poetry/telemachus/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Notes ==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==References==
* Brann, Eva, ''Homeric Moments: Clues to Delight in Reading the Odyssey and the Iliad'', Paul Dry Books, 2002. {{ISBN|9781589882805}}.
* [[Homer]], ''The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes''. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].

==External links==
{{Commonscat-inline}}
* [http://www.maicar.com/GML/Telemachus.html Telemachus – Τηλέμαχος], Carlos Parada at the ''Greek Mythology Link''

{{Characters in the Odyssey}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Aftermath of war]]
[[Category:Characters in the Odyssey]]
[[Category:Children of Odysseus]]
[[Category:Princes in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Mythological people involved in incest]]
[[Category:Mythological Ithacans]]