This stage is still being written and so is in an incomplete state. It will be completed soon.
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In this book Odysseus and Telemachus are reunited while the suitors make further plans.
After breakfast Telemachus appears at Eumaeus’ place. Odysseus realises the visitor is known to Eumaeus’ dogs because they do not bark or make a fuss. Telemachus appears in the doorway and Eumaeus greets him with great emotion, like a father who has not seen his son for some time. Eumaeus says he thought he would no longer see Telemachus, now that he spends his time in town. Telemachus says he has come to find out whether his mother has yet married. Eumaeus expresses faith in Penelope’s fidelity.
Odysseus offers Telemachus his seat but Telemachus fetches another for himself and they sit while Eumaeus provides them a meal. When they finish Telemachus asks Eumaeus who Odysseus is. Eumaeus outlines the bare bones of the story Odysseus has given him, and says Odysseus needs shelter. But Telemachus cannot promise shelter, given his situation with the suitors and his wavering doubts about his mother’s fidelity. He promises to clothe Odysseus, but doesn’t want him near the suitors whom he fears would mock him, and so asks Eumaeus if he can provide shelter, instead.
Odysseus interrupts to give his opinion about the suitor situation. He believes it wrong that the suitors act as they do, and questions why Telemachus has done nothing against them. He believes that Telemachus should do something, even though the odds are against him; even if by asserting his rights the suitors kill him. Telemachus replies, saying he has no brothers to help him and any support he might usually have expected from near neighbours is out because they, too, are suitors. Meanwhile, his mother cannot bring herself to resolve the situation, and the suitors continue to eat his livestock and abuse their hospitality.
Telemachus turns to Eumaeus and asks him to go to Penelope with a message that he is back in Ithaca, but to tell no one else. Eumaeus asks whether Laertes, Odysseus’ old father, should also be told. He is in bad health since he has not eaten since Telemachus left for Sparta. But Telemachus does not wish to risk others knowing he is back, so he says Laertes cannot be told. He asks that Penelope send one of her servants back to him. Eumaeus leaves to deliver the message.
As Eumaeus leaves Athena appears at the door, visible only to Odysseus. Odysseus goes outside to speak with her. She commands him to tell Telemachus the truth about who he is. She wants them to start making plans against the suitors and says she is eager to support them. She removes the disguise from Odysseus, transforming him from his appearance as an old man back to his usual self, with new clothes. When Odysseus goes back inside, Telemachus is wonderstruck by the transformation and assumes that Odysseus must be a god. Odysseus assures him he is not: that instead, he is Telemachus’ father. Telemachus cannot credit it, but Odysseus assures him he is, returned after twenty years, and explains that his transformation was affected by Athena. Telemachus finally accepts the truth and they have an emotional reunion. Telemachus then asks how Odysseus got back, and Odysseus briefly tells him of the help he received from the Phaeacians, and of the gifts they gave which are currently stowed in the cave.
Odysseus asks for an account of the suitors so as to determine a likely course of action against them. Telemachus cannot believe Odysseus is contemplating action against them, since by the list he gives Odysseus, they tally around 114 men, including servants. Telemachus thinks it a suicide mission without further help. Odysseus says they have Zeus and Athena on their side, but Telemachus does not count on the gods whom he believes will have no cause to support them. But Odysseus assures him they will.
Odysseus says he will head back home, again disguised as the beggar, and Telemachus must not acknowledge him, even if the suitors treat him badly. He says that upon Athena’s signal Telemachus must gather up any weapons available to the suitors and hide them, and that if questioned he must say he put them away to avoid any deadly quarrels while the suitors were drinking. But Telemachus must put aside two swords, spears and bucklers – a small shield – for their own use. Odysseus says no one is to be told of their plan, but Odysseus wants to test the attitudes of the servants to access their loyalty. Telemachus advises him to only test the women, since the duties of the male servants usually have them scattered further afield, on farms like Eumaeus, and it will take too long. That can be done after their victory.
Meanwhile, the ship in which Telemachus sailed home is just pulling into port. The ship’s crew send a messenger to tell Penelope that Telemachus has returned. Eumaeus meets this messenger on the road as he, too, makes his way to Odysseus’ house. When they reach the house the messenger from the ship announces loudly that Telemachus has returned, while Eumaeus whispers to Penelope all he has been told to say.
The suitors are disturbed by the news. They realise that their plan to ambush and kill Telemachus has failed. Just as they speak about it, they see the ship they had sent for the ambush arrive back in port. They head down to the water to meet it. Eupithes expresses their dismay and disbelief, that Telemachus could have slipped by them despite their assiduous watch, day and night. He is concerned because popular opinion is turning against the suitors and he fears a popular revolt against them if Telemachus isn’t killed soon. He insists that Telemachus must be killed and his estates shared between them. And there must be a final concerted effort to pressure Penelope into marrying one of them.
Amphinomus, the suitor who has most consistently wooed Penelope and who is considered most likely to succeed, says he does not wish to kill Telemachus, and would only do so if the gods supported doing it. Amphinomus wins over some support for this position.
Penelope has heard all the tutors have been saying – their plans to kill Telemachus – from her loyal servant, Medon, who has been forced to serve the suitors while they have occupied the house. She decides to confront the suitors, speaking directly to Antinous, one of the two main schemers against Telemachus in Book 4. She demands to know why he plots against her son, and she reminds him that his own father was once given refuge in their house when the people rose against him for helping pirates to attack Thesprotians, their allies; how Odysseus saved his father’s life. She demands he make the suitors end their campaign against her and her house.
Polybus responds on behalf of the suitors. He assures Penelope that no one wants to kill Telemachus; that he would kill any man who tried to harm her son. He recalls that Odysseus was kind to him as a child, and he feels great loyalty to him. Despite his words, Homer tells us that he is deceitful and fully intends to murder Telemachus.
Penelope returns to her room and weeps until she falls asleep.
Athena has transformed Odysseus back into an old man again, dressed in filthy rags, by the time Eumaeus returns. Odysseus asks him what he has seen. Eumaeus reports that he met up with the messenger from the ship who told Penelope the news of Telemachus’ return in front of everyone. He also tells Odysseus a ship loaded with armed men – the suitors who had set out to ambush Telemachus – has pulled into harbour. Eumaeus says he believes they might be the men they’re after. Telemachus gives Odysseus a knowing smile without explaining to Eumaeus the significance of what he said.
They eat and then fall asleep.
The reunion of Odysseus and Telemachus is an emotional scene. Telemachus finally accepts that Odysseus is not supernatural, but his father, returned home for the first time since he was an infant. It is also a pivotal point in The Odyssey because after this, Odysseus and his son are working together to oust the suitors. It also marks a crucial moment in Telemarchus’ maturation, since under Odysseus’ encouragement he will now undertake his masculine duties to his family and home, whereas before he merely felt helpless.
The three artworks below portray the moment when Odysseus and Telemarchus are reunited, inspired by the following lines from Homer:
The imagery of the birds of prey crying at the loss of their eggs is an attempt to capture the emotional intensity of the scene, although it is a strange comparison, since Odysseus and Telemarchus are reunited, not separated; the moment joyous, not tragic.
It seems a strange coincidence that the representations of this scene are so similar across the three paintings, and that all were produced in 1880. Athena features in two of the paintings, but the arrangement of the two men, Odysseus sitting, and Telemachus on his knees hugging him, is almost identical across the three paintings. Even the peasant cap worn by Odysseus is repeated in each picture. In Henri-Lucien Doucet and Lionel Royer’s paintings, Telemachus’ gender is ambiguous, suggesting romantic passion absent the context of the story.
However, the similarities between the paintings is not so mysterious. All three painters were salon painters committed to traditional art subjects and technical methods that were being challenged by artistic movements like Impressionism during this period. The salon academies had strict requirements and standards for admission, so the style and quality of each piece would therefore be similar.
In addition to this, each of these paintings was produced for the French Prix de Rome competition, 1880. Winning the competition meant an artist had greater security and opportunity. Henri-Lucien Doucet won the prize in 1880 with the first painting pictured, below. Winning gave him a sponsored scholarship to study at the Académie de France at the Villa Medici in Rome, to study classical, Renaissance, and academic art. Lionel Royer, who painted the second of the three paintings below, won the competition in 1882.
The reunion between Odysseus and Telemachus was an assigned subject in 1880. Artists were required to produce a painting of this exact moment in the hut of Eumaeus. Each artist was sequestered in a small studio for 72 days to complete their works, meaning they could not see what each other was doing, but clearly the circumstances of the competition produced some similar results.
This is the painting that won the French Prix de Rome competition, 1880. It is beautifully detailed and the arrangement of the two figures suggests their overwhelming feelings. The stone fireplace shows Eumaeus to have been a fine builder and living well as a servant of Odysseus. Athena stands in the background, her arm raised above the two men, her fingers spread as though she is manipulating them, like a puppet master in control of their fates. It is also a reminder about the part Athena has played in this reunion. She has transformed Odysseus back to his former self and instructed him to reveal the truth to his son.
Lionel Royer’s painting arranges the father and son almost exactly the same, except from a different angle. In this painting Telemachus’ face is also seen, but his gender remains ambiguous for a viewer unaware of the subject.
Athena also stands in the background of this painting, too, but her role here is different. Unlike Doucet’s Athena, who seems invested in the emotion of the reunion, Royer’s Athena stands back impassively, as though this moment has little interest for her, emotionally. Her interest lies with the spears and shield she holds. She seems to be waiting for all this to be over, so that the real work of fighting the suitors can be started, recalling her words to Odysseus just before this scene: “I’m blazing for battle!” (Book 16, line 193)
This third painting, attributed to Georges Trauffaut, represents a less classical, more bucolic rendition of the reunion between Odysseus and Telemachus. The dwelling is cruder in its construction, Eumaeus’ dogs appear in the scene and Athena is absent, while the remains of their food appear in the picture’s foreground. A niche in the top right corner of the painting contains the likeness of two gods, but the scene is otherwise removed from the wider context of the story. One of the gods in the niche may be Poseidon, given that he bears a trident.
The emotion between the two men feels less intense. Telemachus’ right arm is not flung about Odysseus. Rather, it seems to edge towards him while his eyes, looking up into his father’s face, seem searching, less certain.
There is a detail in this painting that has made me question the common attribution to Georges Trauffaut as the artist. On the ground, below the dogs, the painting is signed ‘A. Valenzuela P.’ It appears to refer to a Chilean painter, Alfredo Valenzuela Puelma. I have included the detail of the signature from the painting below:
Alfredo Valenzuela Puelma (1856–1909) was a renowned Chilean realist painter who trained in both Santiago and Paris. He was awarded a scholarship to study in Paris. As part of his training he is known to have copied masters from the Louvre, as many artists did. Either the painting is mis-attributed, a mistake that has been compounded across websites on the internet, or this may be a copy of the original which Puelma has signed.
Puelma is considered one of the great Chilean artists of this period.
I have no way to resolve the question of the picture’s artist.