Book 15 - Telemachus Returns Flashcards
1
Q
Book 15
Athena travels to Sparta, where she finds …… & ……
A
- Telemachus
- Pisistratus, Nestor’s son
2
Q
Book 15
What does Athene instruct Telemachus to do
A
- She tells Telemachus he must hurry home to Ithaca before the suitors succeed in winning his mother’s hand
- She also warns him of the ambush that they have set and explains how to avoid it
- Finally, she instructs him to head first for the home of the swineherd Eumaeus, who will convey the news of his safe return to Penelope
3
Q
Book 15
What happens when Telemachus leaves Sparta
A
- The next day, Telemachus announces his departure and accepts gifts from Menelaus and Helen
- As Telemachus pulls away from the palace in his chariot, an eagle carrying a goose stolen from a pen swoops down beside him
- Helen interprets the incident as an omen that Odysseus is about to swoop down on his home and exact revenge on the suitors
4
Q
Book 15
What happens to Telemachus when he leaves Pylos
A
- The ship is about to set off when Theoclymenus, a famous prophet’s descendant who is fleeing prosecution for a crime of manslaughter that he committed in Argos,
- approaches Telemachus and asks to come aboard.
- Telemachus welcomes him and offers him hospitality when they get to Ithaca
5
Q
Book 15
In what way is Odysseus cunning when talking to Eumaeus
A
- In the hut of Eumaeus, Odysseus tests the limit of his hospitality by offering to leave in the morning, a false gesture that he hopes will prompt Eumaeus to offer to let him stay longer
- He urges the old man not to go out of his way and says that he will earn his keep working for the suitors, but Eumaeus will have none of it
- To get mixed up with those suitors, he warns, would be suicide
6
Q
Book 15
How did Eumaeus come to Ithaca
A
- Eumaeus explains how he first came to Ithaca: the son of a king, he was stolen from his house by Phoenician pirates with the help of a maid that his father employed
- The pirates took him all over the seas until Laertes, Odysseus’s father, bought him in Ithaca
- There, Laertes’ wife brought him up alongside her own daughter, the youngest born
- He is now a loyal slave
7
Q
Book 15
What happens when Telemachus returns to Ithaca
A
- The next morning, Telemachus reaches the shores of Ithaca
- He disembarks while the crew heads to the city by ship
- He entrusts Theoclymenus to a loyal crewman, Piraeus
- As they part, they see a hawk fly by carrying a dove in its talons, which Theoclymenus interprets as a favorable sign of the strength of Odysseus’s house and line
