[Greek heroic] Telemachus was the son of Odysseus and Penelope. When he was an infant, his father pretended to be insane in order to avoid going to the Trojan War. Palamedes placed Telemachus in front of his father's plow, and Odysseus revealed his sanity by swerving to avoid injuring the child. As a young man, Telemachus was much favored by Athene. When Odysseus had been absent for twenty years, and Penelope was being urged to marry one of the insolent and unruly suitors who infested their home, Athene prompted the hesitant and diffident Telemachus to stand up to the suitors and order them to leave. His order did little good, but with Athene's help, he sailed to Pylos and then to Lacedaemon, to inquire after his father's fate; there he was royally entertained by Nestor and Menelaus respectively. On the journey back to Ithaca, Athene advised him to return by a different route, in order to avoid an ambush planned by the disgruntled suitors. By the time Telemachus got back to Ithaca, he was a muc...
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