Athena Role In Odysseus In Homer's The Odyssey

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After ten long years which seemed like a lifetime, the Trojan War was finally over and the soldiers could at last return to their homeland. As some of the soldiers made their way back home to their families and property others were still not heard from or seen. Ten years might have seemed like a lifetime to some people, but for Odysseus who has been on what seems like a never ending journey back to Ithica, would have been a short period of time. The story takes off ten years after the Trojan War was over and leads to Odysseus being gone from his home for a total of twenty years. Twenty years since he first left his home, wife and son Telemachus, who was just a baby, to fight in the war. Telemachus, the son of Odysseus has grown up wondering if his father would ever return home. Athena, the goddess of wisdom, has a very important role throughout Homer’s The Odyssey. Her main purpose in the epic is to help guide and offer protection not only for Odysseus but Telemachus as well. The goddess becomes their protector, and is always around or close by throughout the epic. Throughout the story, Athena gives Telemachus the confidence and knowledge…show more content…
Now with the halls of the palace being overtaken with suitors, Telemachus has been left to fight them off of his mother’s hand in marriage by himself and to regain control over his home. This is when Athena makes her first appearance in the epic, she convinces Telemachus, a boy, to leave Ithaca in search of his father. Search for hope that Odysseus is still alive and can make it home to take back and claim what is his. She shapes into an old friend of Odysseus, Mentes, and tells Telemachus about a vision he has had. In this vision, Odysseus is still alive and will be returning home soon. If Athena had not disguised herself and told Telemachus this vision, Telemachus might have given up hope of his father’s

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