Book XVII · Episode 2 of 6
News at the Feast
Theoclymenus predicts Odysseus’ return
Scenes
- Feast and a Question — Telemachus dines, Penelope asks for news
- Guests bathe, anoint with oil, dress
- Penelope sits nearby twirling her spindle
- Recalls her mourning marriage bed
- Mourns since Odysseus sailed for Troy
- Suitors crowd back into the hall
- Nestor and Menelaus — Telemachus reports Odysseus on Calypso’s isle
- Nestor welcomes him warmly at Pylos
- Nestor has no news, sends him on
- Menelaus recounts words of the Ancient
- Odysseus lacks ships and crew for home
- Gods grant him favoring winds home
- Theoclymenus’s Prophecy — Theoclymenus swears Odysseus is home
- Penelope is deeply moved by report
- Swears by Zeus and Odysseus’ hearth
- Watches suitors’ wrongdoing, plans vengeance
- Repeats sign he reads aboard ship
- Penelope prays his words come true