Let's see. What happened? Athena tells Telemachus to return to Ithaka. After receiving many kingly gifts from Menelaos he and Nestor's son ride off to Nestor's palace. When they get close, Telemachos requests to be let off near his ship for he cannot afford to waste anymore time in Nestor's lavish and inevitable hospitality.
Once near his ship Telemachos is begged for passage by a fleeing prophet from Argos, Theoklymenos. He is fleeing for committing manslaughter back in Argos. Telemachus lets the prophet on his ship to travel to Ithaka. I don't think I would want a murderer on my ship. But I suppose Telemachos knows what he's doing.
Back on Ithaka Odysseus tests Eumaios' hospitality resulting in an extended visit for the long absent king. Eumaios then explains his origins and how he came to live in Ithaka.
This was the most interesting part of the chapter to me. He was originally the son of the king. One day Phoenician sailors came to his country. They made the acquaintance of a Phoenician women who had been stolen away from her country and had been sold to the Eumaios' father. The Phoenician sailors offered her passage back to her homeland in Sidon. She quickly accepted and offered to pay with whatever gold she could grab on her way out as well as the kings son, Eumaios, to whom she was the nurse.
A year passes and they call for the women. She grabs what she can in addition to Eumaios. He sails with the Phoenicians until they sell him to Laertes, Odysseus' father, who then raises him as his own along with his daughter. And for those who are wondering, the women who stole Eumaios died on the trip. Struck down by Artemis.
Now Telemachos returns home. He sends the prophet Theoklymenos to be in the care his faithful companion Peiraios. Theoklymenos also interprets a falcon flying overhead as a sign that Odysseus family shall remain rulers of Ithaka.
Pretty cool chapter. Wait for another one tonight. Bye.
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