Carmen Brave Thunder

Ms. Henn
Honors English
3 November 2015
Odyssey Paper
In The Telemachy, the importance of showing hospitality, respect for the gods,
and the father-son relationship helps the reader discern the moral standard for each
character.
The Greek people are taught by their vast amounts of myths in which gods
visit people and some have been hospitable and they have been rewarded. In the
myth of Baucis and Philemon the elderly couple that sheltered Jupiter and Mercury
were spared, but those who were not hospitable and turned the two gods in disguise
away, were drowned. The myths make the Greek fear the wrath of the mighty gods
for disobeying and turning away a visitor. Nestor as well as Telemakhos are good
examples, Telemakhos was hospitable to Pallas Athena, Telemakhos saw Athena
and went straight to the forecourt, the heart within him scandalized that a guest
should still be standing at the doors. He stood beside her and took her by the right
hand, and relieved her of the bronze spear, and spoke to her and addressed her in
winged words: 'Greetings, stranger! Welcome to our feast. There will be time to tell
your errand later. Whilst the suitors trying to court Penelope eat greedily and
slaughter Odysseuss animals for feasts every night instead of being thankful, and
to return the hospitality given to them they then plan to kill Telemakhos.
In this time period of Greece, it was very important to honor their vast amount of
gods with prayer and sacrifices of animals to keep bringing good fortune. When the
people of Greece do not honor their gods then bad fortune will befall those who feel
they are greater than the gods. Arachne thought her weaving was better than that
of Athenas work, there was a weaving contest and she was turned into a spider for
her incompetence. A good example is Telemakhos and Nestor who make a lot of
sacrifices in the book as well as praying to them for guidance and Telemakhos is
clearly in the favor of the gods since Athena saves his life from the suitors and
numerous other perils. While Menelaus is a bad example by not giving the gods
sacrifices. Menelaus thought he was better than the gods and so he angered the
gods, so he got his just desserts but he learns his lesson and redeems himself.
The Greeks have a special bond between Father-Son, that if the father is killed the
son will avenge him and the father will do the same if the son is killed, examples in
the story of Father-Son relationship are Telemakhos and Odysseus, Poseidon and
Kyklopes, and Orestes and Agamemnon. Telemakhos in The Odyssey in the
beginning he wants to know what happened to Odysseus and if he is to be dead

give him a proper burial and burn his armor, O god of yesterday, guest in our
house, who told me to take a ship on the hazy sea for new of my father, listen to
me, be near me: the Akhaians only wait, or hope to hinder me, the damned insolent
suitors most of all. Poseidon deals with Odysseus for revenge for what Odysseus
did to his son, lord,blue girdler of the islands, if I am thine indeed, and thou art
father: grant me the truth that my father is dead.
These are the values that Greeks in that era followed dutifully. The Greeks
significance of hospitality, honoring the gods in great respect, and the special
father-son bond that is included in almost all of the myths of the Greek people.
These are all the main values of the Greek people of the Odysseus time period.