Odysseus and Penelope's marriage endured twenty years of separation. Their son Telemachus grew up without his father and later aided Odysseus in slaying the suitors, while Poliporthes was born after the hero's return.
⚠ Homer's Odyssey names only Telemachus as their child. The Telegony adds Poliporthes as a son born after Odysseus's return, while Hesiod fr. 221 MW attributes Ptoliporthes to Telemachus instead.
After Odysseus fell to Telegonus's spear, Circe granted Telemachus immortality and took him as her consort on the island of Aeaea, a union sealed in the aftermath of the hero's death.
⚠ The Telegony is a lost cyclic poem known only through Proclus's summary. The marriage of Telemachus to Circe appears only in this tradition."
Athena guided Telemachus throughout the Odyssey, first appearing disguised as Mentes to rouse him from despair, then accompanying him as Mentor on his voyage to Pylos and Sparta to seek news of Odysseus.
Eumaeus, the loyal swineherd who raised Telemachus as a boy, sheltered the prince when he returned from his voyage and stood with him and Odysseus in the great hall when the suitors' blood ran.
Telemachus fought alongside Odysseus in the slaughter of the suitors, barring the armory doors, fetching weapons for his father, and standing his ground with spear in hand as the great hall of Ithaca ran with blood.
Antinous, the most brazen of the suitors consuming Odysseus's household, plotted to ambush and murder Telemachus at sea on his return from Sparta, and openly threatened the prince in his own hall.
Odysseus, revealed at last in his own hall, strung the great bow and began the slaughter of the Suitors of Penelope. Telemachus fought beside his father with spear and sword, and together they killed every suitor who had consumed the house of Odysseus.
After Telegonus accidentally killed Odysseus, Circe brought Penelope and Telemachus to her island of Aeaea and made them both immortal.
In Homer's Odyssey (21.124-129), Telemachus attempted to string the Bow of Eurytus three times and nearly succeeded on the fourth attempt before Odysseus signaled him to stop.
Helen and Menelaus received Telemachus at Sparta during his search for news of Odysseus. Helen recognized the young man's resemblance to his father and shared memories of Odysseus at Troy.
Telemachus fought alongside his grandfather Laertes in the final battle of the Odyssey, when the kin of the slain suitors attacked. Three generations of Odysseus's house stood together in defense of their home.
Menelaus and Helen received Telemachus at Sparta during his search for Odysseus. Menelaus confirmed that Odysseus still lived, trapped on Calypso's island, as the sea god Proteus had revealed to him.
Telemachus visited aged Nestor at Pylos seeking news of his father Odysseus. Nestor told him of the Greeks' troubled returns from Troy and sent his own son Peisistratos to accompany Telemachus to Sparta.
Telegonus, Odysseus's son by Circe, accidentally killed his father with a stingray-tipped spear on Ithaca. In the Telegony, Telegonus then married Penelope while Telemachus married Circe.
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