Editing Odyssey (section)

===Exposition (Books 1–4)===

[[File:Villa Romana de La Olmeda Mosaicos romanos 001 Ulises.jpg|thumb|A [[mosaic]] depicting [[Odysseus]], from the villa of [[La Olmeda]], [[Pedrosa de la Vega]], Spain, late 4th–5th centuries AD]]

The ''Odyssey'' begins [[in medias res]] after the end of the ten-year [[Trojan War]]. [[Odysseus]], the king of [[Homer's Ithaca|Ithaca]], has not returned home because he angered the sea god [[Poseidon]]. Odysseus's son, [[Telemachus]], is about 20 years old and shares his absent father's house on the island of Ithaca with his mother [[Penelope]]. With Odysseus presumed dead, the [[suitors of Penelope]]—a crowd of 108 boisterous young men—try to persuade Penelope for her hand in marriage while partying in the king's palace.

Odysseus's protectress [[Athena]] asks [[Zeus]] to finally allow Odysseus to return home when Poseidon is absent from [[Mount Olympus]]. Disguised as a chieftain named [[Mentes (King of the Taphians)|Mentes]], Athena visits Telemachus to urge him to search for news of his father and to stay out for a year if he hears that he is alive. He offers her hospitality as per [[Xenia (Greek)|Xenia]], and they observe the suitors dining rowdily while [[Phemius]], the [[bard]], performs a narrative poem for them.

That night, Athena, disguised as Telemachus, finds a ship and crew for the true prince. The next morning, Telemachus calls an assembly of citizens of Ithaca to discuss what should be done with the insolent suitors, who scoff at Telemachus. While this argument is happening, two eagles fly down and fight each other in front of the whole crowd. They take this as an omen from Zeus that Odysseus will not be far from home for too long. Accompanied by Athena (now disguised as [[Mentor (Odyssey)|Mentor]]), the son of Odysseus departs for the household of [[Nestor (mythology)|Nestor]] on the Greek mainland. Telemachus rides to [[Sparta]], accompanied by [[Peisistratus of Pylos|Nestor's son]]. There he finds a reconciled [[Menelaus]] and [[Helen of Troy|Helen]], who say they returned to Sparta after a long voyage by way of Egypt. There, on the island of [[Lighthouse of Alexandria|Pharos]], Menelaus encounters the old sea god [[Proteus]], who tells him that Odysseus was a captive of the nymph [[Calypso (mythology)|Calypso]]. Telemachus learns the fate of Menelaus's brother, [[Agamemnon]], king of [[Mycenae]] and leader of the Greeks at Troy: he was murdered on his return home by his wife [[Clytemnestra]] and her lover [[Aegisthus]]. The story briefly shifts to the suitors, who realise Telemachus is gone. Angry, they formulate a plan to ambush his ship and kill him as he sails home. Penelope overhears their plot and worries for her son's safety.