why was it good that athena from the book odyssey adviced telemachus search for his father in sparta?

Question

please help i have this assignment and it's really hard because i dont understand the book but this is the only question i need please help because i have to email this to my teacher since i didn't turn it in

Answer 1

From what I remember of "The Odyssey", Athena sent Telemachus to search for his father (even knowing he was nowhere near Sparta) to keep him out of Ithaca; there, he'd have been quick and easy prey for Penelope's suitors. Far better to exercise Penelope's delaying tactic of unraveling the part of the funeral shroud she'd woven during the day each night -- in the Greece of Odysseus' day, no one would argue against showing proper respect for the dead -- than have Telemachus, Odysseus' young son, engage the suitors in an all-out attack. Sparta in Odysseus' day (usually given as the 12th century B.C.) was the major power of Greece which could best help Telemachus find his father after the fall of Troy.