Telemachus The Aeneid

The question of what it takes to become a man is one that has existed for millennia. Naturally the answer to that question changes, often significantly, depending on where one asks. Even in mythology, this is a popular subject, and shown very clearly in Homer’s epic The Odyssey and Virgil’s The Aeneid. While both tales focus on fathers, the stories of their sons also hold great importance, and each of the sons has a coming of age story within their father’s. But for the Greeks and soon-to-be Romans, becoming a man can mean slightly different things. Telemachus, the son of the great Odysseus, has to learn, for the most part, to become a man in the absence of his father. The son of Aeneas, Iulus, also grows up in the midst of trouble and war.
Athena is that push, something obvious even before reading the first line of the epic considering the title for Book 1 is “Athena Inspires the Prince”. Prior to meeting the goddess, Telemachus lacks much of what might make a man save for appearance, considering his age. He lacks oratory skills and command, and he must gather the necessary mental and character strength to prove himself a man to those around him. Athena spurs Telemachus to action, giving him advice to find his father, or news of him at the very least, then advises him to find a way to rid his house of the suitors plaguing it. As if to drive home the point that Telemachus must grow up, the goddess says “You must not cling to your boyhood any longer—it’s time you were a man” (1.341-342). From this point on, Telemachus starts to become more of a man, shown mainly through his words and actions, as well as how his relationship with his mother changes. He seems to immediately have more confidence in himself and his position as de facto ruler of his home. He tells his mother off and sends her to her room and asserts his dominance over the household, saying “So, mother, go back to your quarters. Tend to your own tasks…As for giving orders, men will see to that, but I most of all: I hold the reins of power in this house” (1.409-414). Far from stopping there, he reproaches the suitors and even issues a challenge to them in the form of an assembly of leaders; his speech has evidently changed with his meeting Athena, since the suitors are impressed by it, as “they all bit their lips, amazed the prince could speak with so much daring” (1.438-439). But oratory skills and splendor lavished by the gods do not a man make, something made clear during Telemachus’ speech to the gathered assembly during which he even describes himself as “a boy inept in battle” (2.66). And though he otherwise