# Telemachus

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For other uses, see [Telemachus (disambiguation)](/source/Telemachus_(disambiguation)).

**Telemachus** (/təˈlɛməkəs/ tə-LEM-ə-kəs; Ancient Greek: Τηλέμαχος, lit. 'far-fighter') is the son of [Odysseus](/source/Odysseus) and [Penelope](/source/Penelope) in [Greek mythology](/source/Greek_mythology), and a central character in [Homer](/source/Homer)'s *[Odyssey](/source/Odyssey)*. When Telemachus reached manhood, he visited [Pylos](/source/Pylos) and [Sparta](/source/Sparta) in search of his wandering father. On his return to [Ithaca](/source/Homer's_Ithaca), he found that Odysseus had reached home before him. Then father and son slayed the [suitors](/source/Suitors_of_Penelope) who had gathered around to woo Penelope. According to later tradition, Telemachus married [Nausicaa](/source/Nausicaa) 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](/source/Trojan_War), and are traditionally given the title *[Telemachy](/source/Telemachy)*.[1]

## Etymology

Telemachus's name in [Greek](/source/Greek_language) means "far from battle", or perhaps "fighting from afar", as a bowman does.[2]

## *Odyssey*

In Homer's *Odyssey*, Telemachus, under the instructions of [Athena](/source/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 [Ithaca](/source/Homer's_Ithaca) for twenty years due to the Trojan War and the intervention of [Poseidon](/source/Poseidon). During his absence, Odysseus's house has been occupied by hordes of suitors seeking the hand of Penelope.[3] Telemachus sets out and visits [Nestor](/source/Nestor_(mythology)), being well received by the old man who regales him with stories of his father's glory. Telemachus then departs with Nestor's son [Peisistratus](/source/Peisistratus_(Odyssey)),[4] who accompanies him to the halls of [Menelaus](/source/Menelaus) and his wife [Helen](/source/Helen_of_Troy). While 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](/source/Ogygia).[5]

Telemachus focuses on his father's [return to Ithaca](/source/Returns_from_Troy#The_Odyssey) in Book XV. He visits [Eumaeus](/source/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.[6]

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.[7]

## *Telegony*

The *[Telegony](/source/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](/source/Telegonus_(son_of_Odysseus)), his unknown son by the goddess [Circe](/source/Circe). After Odysseus's death, Telemachus returns to [Aeaea](/source/Aeaea) with Telegonus and Penelope, and there marries Circe.

Seemingly later tradition included the character of [Cassiphone](/source/Cassiphone)—the daughter of Odysseus and Circe, and therefore half-sister of Telemachus—in the narrative. In this account, Telemachus still marries Circe, but Odysseus is resurrected by Circe at some point.

## Later classical authors

From the *[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology](/source/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.[8]

In *[Contest of Homer and Hesiod](/source/Contest_of_Homer_and_Hesiod)*, it is alleged that the Roman Emperor [Hadrian](/source/Hadrian) asked the [Delphic Oracle](/source/Delphic_Oracle) about Homer's birthplace and parentage. The Oracle replied that Homer came from Ithaca and that Telemachus was his father by [Epicasta](/source/Epicasta), daughter of Nestor.[9][10]

According to [Aristotle](/source/Aristotle) and [Dictys of Crete](/source/Dictys_of_Crete), Telemachus married [Nausicaa](/source/Nausicaa), King Alcinous's daughter, and fathered a son named [Perseptolis](/source/Persepolis_(mythology)) or [Ptoliporthus](/source/Poliporthes).[11]

[Eustathius](/source/Eustathius_of_Thessalonica) says that the mother was [Polycaste](/source/Polycaste), the daughter of [Nestor](/source/Nestor_(mythology)).[12] Others relate that he became the father of [Latinus](/source/Latinus) by Circe.[13] He is also said to have had a daughter called Roma, who married [Aeneas](/source/Aeneas).[14]

Servius makes Telemachus the founder of the town of [Clusium](/source/Clusium) in Etruria.[15][16]

## Other appearances

Telemachus was the subject of numerous [operas](/source/Opera) throughout the eighteenth century, most based on Fénelon's version.[17] Among the most famous of these operas were [André Cardinal Destouches](/source/Andr%C3%A9_Cardinal_Destouches)'s *[Télémaque](/source/T%C3%A9l%C3%A9maque_(Destouches))* (1714), [Alessandro Scarlatti](/source/Alessandro_Scarlatti)'s *[Telemaco](/source/Telemaco_(Scarlatti))* (1718), Gluck's *[Telemaco, ossia L'isola di Circe](/source/Telemaco_(Gluck))* (1765), [Giuseppe Gazzaniga](/source/Giuseppe_Gazzaniga)'s *Gli errori di Telemaco* (1776), [Jean-François Le Sueur](/source/Jean-Fran%C3%A7ois_Le_Sueur)'s *Télémaque dans l'île de Calypso ou Le triomphe de la sagesse* (1796), [Simon Mayr](/source/Simon_Mayr)'s *[Telemaco nell'isola di Calipso](/source/Telemaco_(Mayr))* (1797), and Fernando Sor's *[Telemaco nell'isola di Calipso](/source/Telemaco_(Sor))* (1797).

[Les Aventures de Télémaque](/source/Les_Aventures_de_T%C3%A9l%C3%A9maque) is a novel by [François Fénelon](/source/Fran%C3%A7ois_F%C3%A9nelon).

Telemachus appears in Alfred, Lord Tennyson's 1833 poem "[Ulysses](/source/Ulysses_(poem))", 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](/source/Louise_Gl%C3%BCck).[18]

Telemachus is featured in a musical adaptation of the Odyssey entitled *[Epic: The Musical](/source/Epic:_The_Musical)* voiced by [Miguel Veloso](/source/MICO_(singer)).[19][20]

## Notes

1. *The Odyssey*. [George Herbert Palmer](/source/George_Herbert_Palmer), 1921, prose.

1. Brann, [p. 277](https://books.google.com/books?id=Tr0sHkgKBmUC&pg=PA277).

1. Homer, *Odyssey* Books I–II

1. Homer *Odyssey* Book III

1. Homer *Odyssey* Book IV

1. Homer, *Odyssey* Books XV–XVI

1. Homer, *Odyssey* Books XXI–XXII

1. [Hyginus](/source/Gaius_Julius_Hyginus), *[Fabulae](/source/Fabulae)* 95; [Servius](/source/Servius_the_Grammarian) on [Virgil](/source/Virgil)'s *[Aeneid](/source/Aeneid)*, 2.81; [Tzetzes](/source/Tzetzes) on [Lycophron](/source/Lycophron), 384; [Aelian](/source/Claudius_Aelianus), *Varia Historia* 8.12.

1. ["Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns, and Homerica"](http://mcllibrary.org/Hesiod/homrhes.html) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20191203182529/http://mcllibrary.org/Hesiod/homrhes.html) 2019-12-03 at the Wayback Machine (*[Contest of Homer and Hesiod](/source/Contest_of_Homer_and_Hesiod)*)

1. Parke, Herbert William (1967). *Greek Oracles*. pp. 136–137 citing the *[Certamen](/source/Contest_of_Homer_and_Hesiod)*, 12.

1. Allan, Arlene (2010). ["The Authority of Telemachus"](https://online.ucpress.edu/ca/article-abstract/33/1/31/25729/The-Authority-of-Telemachus). *Classical Antiquity*. **19** (1): 14–30. [doi:10.1525/CA.2014.33.1.31](https://doi.org/10.1525/CA.2014.33.1.31)

1. *Brill's New Pauly* [s.v. Perseptolis](https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/*-e915060) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20220429150156/https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/*-e915060) 2022-04-29 at the Wayback Machine.

1. [Hyginus](/source/Gaius_Julius_Hyginus), *[Fabulae](/source/Fabulae)* 127; cf. Telegonus.

1. *[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology](/source/Dictionary_of_Greek_and_Roman_Biography_and_Mythology)*; [Servius](/source/Servius_the_Grammarian) on [Virgil](/source/Virgil)'s *[Aeneid](/source/Aeneid)*, 1.273.

1. LS. ["Telemachus"](https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/ACL3129.0003.001/997?rgn=full+text;view=image;q1=Telemachus). Vol. III. p. 989.

1. [Servius](/source/Servius_the_Grammarian) on [Virgil](/source/Virgil)'s *[Aeneid](/source/Aeneid)*, 10.167.

1. Monson, Dale E. "Telemachus"

1. ["Louise Glück's Poetry and Prose"](http://www.baymoon.com/~ariadne/poets/louise.gluck.htm). *www.baymoon.com*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20220529082635/http://www.baymoon.com/~ariadne/poets/louise.gluck.htm) May 29, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved Feb 19, 2023.

1. ["Album Review: EPIC: The Musical's Wisdom Saga"](https://brignews.com/2024/08/30/album-review-epic-the-musicals-wisdom-saga-%E2%98%85%E2%98%85%E2%98%85%E2%98%85%E2%98%85/). Brig Newspaper. 2024-08-30. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20250723135423/https://brignews.com/2024/08/30/album-review-epic-the-musicals-wisdom-saga-%E2%98%85%E2%98%85%E2%98%85%E2%98%85%E2%98%85/) 2025-07-23 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-10-20.

1. ["Epic: The Musical – Cast"](https://www.allmusicals.com/lyrics/epicthemusical/cast.htm). *All Musicals*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20260211084547/https://www.allmusicals.com/lyrics/epicthemusical/cast.htm) 2026-02-11 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2026-04-07.

## References

- Brann, Eva, *Homeric Moments: Clues to Delight in Reading the Odyssey and the Iliad*, Paul Dry Books, 2002. ISBN 9781589882805.
- [Homer](/source/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. [Online version at the Perseus Digital Library](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1).

## External links

- [Telemachus – Τηλέμαχος](http://www.maicar.com/GML/Telemachus.html), Carlos Parada at the *Greek Mythology Link*

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Telemachus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telemachus) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telemachus?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.