Student Question
What is the significance of Menelaus and Helen's farewell to Telemachus in the Odyssey?
Quick answer:
The farewell Menelaus and Helen bestow on Telemachus in the Odyssey is gracious, generous, and positive. The moment is significant because all the signs point now to a successful and triumphant homecoming for both Odysseus and Telemachus.
Menelaus and Helen both give Telemachus costly and precious gifts when Athena impresses on him that he must return to Ithaca immediately under her protection.
Helen brings a "garment" she has woven with her own hands out of storage:
the largest and most beautifully embroidered—
it lay below the others, shining like a star.
Helen gives this to Telemachus as a gift to his future wife, asking him to have Penelope store it for him until he weds.
Likewise, Menelaus gives Telemachus a costly and beloved item:
Of all the treasured gifts stored in my home,
I’ll give you the one with highest value
and the loveliest—I’ll present to you
this finely crafted mixing bowl
These gifts show the esteem in which Helen and Menelaus hold Telemachus and his parents. The high honor continues as Telemachus and Peisistratus are given water to wash their hands and are offered generous amounts of meat, bread, and wine as a meal, served to them by important people. Menelaus then lends them his ornate chariot to take them to their ship.
As they are standing outside, they see an eagle carrying a very large and tame white goose in its talons. When Telemachus asks what the omen means, Helen interprets it as indicating that like the eagle, Odysseus will get revenge on his enemies. She also prophecizes that after his many struggles, Odysseus is either almost home or there already.
All of this is significant because it shows that good fortune and honor are shining on Telemachus. All the signs are now positive for a successful journey home for both Telemachus and his father.
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