Book One
The gods have a meeting about Odysseus and his being held captive on the island of Pylos by Calypso. Calypso has offered Odysseus immortal life because she wants to make him her husband. It is decided that Odysseus should be released and allowed to make his way home to Ithica, to his son, Telemachus, and his wife, Penelope. Athena, disguised as one of Odysseus’ old friends, visits Telemachus in Ithica to advise him. She tells him he should get a ship and crew and sail away to other islands to seek word of his father, who she had heard is still alive. Telemachus decides he will consider going on this quest/journey, but first he wants to know how he can be rid of the many suitors courting his mother, Penelope, for her wealth and estate. He is sick and tired of their constant feasting, parties, and consumption of his goods. He no longer wants them around and neither does Penelope, although she leads all of the suitors on. She tells them she will decide who she will marry once she finishes weaving/sewing together a robe for Laertes. However, she doesn’t actually have any intention of marrying any of the suitors, and for the longest time she unstitching by night what she had sewed during the day so as to buy time for her Odysseus to return home. She is very hopeful that he will. Alas, her strategy is discovered and told to all. It is then said that if she does not soon choose a suitor, her father will choose one for her, and that man will then have access to all the wealth and estate that Penelope holds. Telemachus knows he must go on the search for his father, but first he must ask the Ithican elders what to do about the suitors swarming his home.
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