The Odyssey

Narratives of returning (nostos in ancient Greek) are a recurring motif in the Odyssey that affirm the centrality of home and family in mortal identity. Odysseus’s homecoming is the central and most important return, but those of Telemachus, Nestor, Menelaus, and Agamemnon also feature, either complementing or contrasting with Odysseus’s.

Athena prompts Telemachus to visit Nestor and Menelaus to find news of his father, but the underlying purpose of his trip is to gain experience and confidence by undertaking a challenge and overcoming it. These are means of acquiring glory and becoming immortalized in poetic song. During his journey, Telemachus learns, with Athena’s guidance, to speak with more confidence and survive danger. The poem’s first four books have been called the Telemachy for this reason: Their subject is Telemachus’s maturation process, exemplified by his ability both to leave and successfully return to Ithaca, a mini “Odyssey.”

During his visits to Pylos and Sparta, Telemachus hears the return narratives of Nestor and Menelaus. Nestor’s return from Troy was the most trouble-free, perhaps representative of his function as wise elder, both in the Iliad and the Odyssey. Menelaus’s return more closely resembled Odysseus’s, though it is shorter and less fraught.