Why particularly is it important to Athena and whatever her ultimate motivations are that Telemachus knows the story of Agamemnon’s lethal return and Orestes’ revenge?
Why particularly is it important to Athena and whatever her ultimate motivations are that Telemachus knows the story of Agamemnon’s lethal return and Orestes’ revenge?
September 4, 2020 Comments Off on Why particularly is it important to Athena and whatever her ultimate motivations are that Telemachus knows the story of Agamemnon’s lethal return and Orestes’ revenge? Uncategorized Assignment-helpIn Book I starting around line 378, Penelope hears the bard’s song about the Achaeans, also known as the Argives (this is the allied army that fought and defeated Troy that includes Odysseus, Agamemnon, and the other leaders Telemachus is about to meet), and it upsets her enough to tell him to stop or change songs. However, Telemachus shocks his mother by telling her that the bard can sing whatever he wants. Why does Telemachus do this? Look closely at the language in his answer and keep mind that The Odyssey opens with an invocation by a bard to a Muse. See that Penelope hears “an inspired strain” (ln. 378) when she hears the singing. Also consider that the bard is forced to sing by the suitors (I.179).What does it mean that the suitors have demanded the bard to sing and that what he sings about is the exploits of the people with whom Odysseus lead and with whom he fought side by side all while laying waste to Odysseus’ home. How are we to understand this?Although the Agamemnon story is referenced a number of times in the poem, in Book 3, page 214, the story of the Achaeans’ leader is explicitly paralleled to Telemachus and his father by Athena. We are told that Agamemnon returns triumphant from the Trojan war only to be butchered by his wife’s (Clytemnestra) lover Aegisthus then revenged, seven years later, by his son Orestes. Some of the parallels of these intertwining stories are obvious (Telemachus also needs to show Orestes-like bravery) but what else can we consider about the relationship between the two stories? Why particularly is it important to Athena and whatever her ultimate motivations are that Telemachus knows the story of Agamemnon’s lethal return and Orestes’ revenge?


