The Odyssey Athena Quotes

"Royal son of Laertes, Odysseus, old campaigner,
think how to lay your hands on all those brazen suitors,
lording it over your house now, three whole years,
courting your noble wife, offering gifts to win her.
But she, forever broken-hearted for your return,
builds up each man’s hopes –
dangling promises, dropping hints to each –
but all the while with something else in mind."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 13, lines 439-446. Athena tells Odysseus about the arrogant suitors who are plaguing his house and courting his wife. The goddess reveals that hearbroken Penelope stays loyal, keeping the suitors at bay, waiting for her husband’s return.

"Come, weave us a scheme so I can pay them back!
Stand beside me, Athena, fire me with daring, fierce
as the day we ripped Troy’s glittering crown of towers down.
Stand by me – furious now as then, my bright-eyed one –
and I would fight three hundred men, great goddess,
with you to brace me, comrade-in-arms in battle!"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 13, lines 442-447. Odysseus is ready to do battle with the suitors and asks Athena’s help to come up with a plan so that he can exact revenge on them.

"First I will transform you – no one must know you.
I will shrivel the supple skin on your lithe limbs,
strip the russet curls from your head and deck you out
in rags you’d hate to see some other mortal wear;
I’ll dim the fire in your eyes, so shining once –
until you seem appalling to all those suitors,
even your wife and son you left behind at home."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 13, lines 454-460. Athena prepares Odysseus for his return incognito to his palace at Ithaca. She transforms him into an old man. This is so that he will be safe entering his house, fool the suitors and not worry about them putting him to death.

Athena stroked Odysseus with her wand.
She shriveled the supple skin on his lithe limbs,
stripped the russet curls from his head, covered his body
top to toe with the wrinkled hide of an old man
and dimmed the fire in his eyes, so shining once.
She turned his shirt and cloak into squalid rags,
ripped and filthy, smeared with grime and soot.
She flung over this the long pelt of a bounding deer,
rubbed bare, and gave him a staff and beggar’s sack,
torn and tattered, slung from a fraying rope.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 13, lines 492-501. Athena disguises Odysseus to look like a wrinkled old beggar before he goes to meet the swineherd. There is an irony in the fact that the King of Ithaca returns to his kingdom as a poor and shriveled beggar.

"Quickly, press Menelaus, lord of the warcry,
to speed you home at once, if you want to find
your irreproachable mother still inside your house.
Even now her father and brothers urge Penelope
to marry Eurymachus, who excels all other suitors
at giving gifts and drives the bride-price higher."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 15, lines 16-21. Athena flies to Lacedaemon to urge Telemachus to return to Ithaca. She tells him that his mother Penelope is on the point of remarrying Eurymachus. She reveals that it is union supported by Penelope’s father and brothers, because Eurymachus gives the best gifts.

"Take it to heart, I tell you.
Picked men of the suitors lie in ambush, grim-set
in the straits between Ithaca and rocky Same,
poised to kill you before you can reach home,
but I have my doubts they will."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 15, lines 31-35. Goddess Athena warns Telemachus in Sparta that some of the suitors are planning to ambush his ship and kill him on his way home. But Athena, who is goddess of justice, says "I have my doubts they will." This suggests, and foreshadows, that she will do all in her power to help the young prince avoid the ambush and ensure that justice prevails.

"Just give the channel islands a wide berth,
push on in your trim ship, sail night and day,
and the deathless god who guards and pulls you through
will send you a fresh fair wind from hard astern.
At your first landfall, Ithaca’s outer banks,
speed ship and shipmates round to the city side."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 15, lines 38-43. Acting as Telemachus’ guide, Athena tells him what course to take home from Lacedaemon to avoid the suitors’ ambush. The gods will provide him the winds needed to sail to Ithaca, she says.

"But you – you make your way to the swineherd first,
in charge of your pigs, and true to you as always.
Sleep the night there, send him to town at once
to tell the news to your mother, wise Penelope –
you’ve made it back from Pylos safe and sound."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 15, lines 44-48. Athena advises Telemachus that when he arrives in Ithaca he must first visit the swineherd Eumaeus, sending him to town to inform his mother that he has made it home safely from Pylos. The goddess assures him that loyal Eumaeus can be trusted – "as true to you as always."

"Royal son of Laertes, Odysseus, old campaigner,
now is the time, now tell your son the truth.
Hold nothing back, so the two of you can plot
the suitors’ doom and then set out for town.
I myself won’t lag behind you long
I’m blazing for a battle!"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 16, lines 188-193. Athena signals Odysseus and tells him that it is time to reveals his identity to his son so that they can plot the suitors’ doom. The goddess indicates that she is ready to join the battle. We have an example of foreshadowing here of what will happen to the suitors.

"When Athena, Queen of Tactics, tells me it is time,
I’ll give you a nod, and when you catch that signal
round up all the deadly weapons kept in the hall,
stow them away upstairs in a storeroom’s deep recess –
all the arms and armor."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 16, lines 314-318. Odysseus speaks to Telemachus about how they should kill the suitors. He discusses hiding all of their weapons to wait for the signal from Athena, assuring his son that they have the gods on their side. Shortly before this passage Odysseus tells Telemachus, who is worried about fighting so many suitors: "Think: will Athena flanked by Father Zeus do for the two of us? Or shall I rack my brains for another champion?"

Spear in hand,
Telemachus strode on through the hall and out,
and a pair of sleek hounds went trotting at his heels.
And Athena lavished a marvelous splendor on the prince
so the people all gazed in wonder as he came forward.
The swaggering suitors clustered, milling round him,
welcome words on their lips, and murder in their hearts.
But he gave them a wide berth as they came crowding in
and there where Mentor sat, Antiphus, Halitherses too –
his father’s loyal friends from days gone by –
he took his seat as they pressed him with their questions.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 17, lines 63-73. Telemachus travels into the city with an air of confidence, helped by a makeover from Athena who makes him look more splendid. People gaze on him with wonder and the suitors greet him with words of welcome, but inwardly they plot his murder.

And now Athena came to the side of Laertes’ royal son
and urged him, "Go now, gather crusts from all the suitors,
test them, so we can tell the innocent from the guilty."
But not even so would Athena save one man from death.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 17, lines 396-399. Athena instructs Odysseus to beg for scraps of food from all the suitors, and test for their guilt or innocence. But the merciless Athena, who hates the way the suitors have plagued Penelope, intends death for the innocent as well as the evil ones. The gods have decreed that all must die.

Amphinomus made his way back through the hall,
his heart sick with anguish, shaking his head,
fraught with grave forebodings…
but not even so could he escape his fate.
Even then Athena had bound him fast to death
at the hands of Prince Telemachus and his spear.
Now back he went to the seat that he’d left empty.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 18, lines 174-180. Amphinomus is left shaken by Odysseus-the-beggar’s words that he should leave Odysseus’ house if he wants to save himself. However, he fails to heed the warning and goes back to his seat in the hall with a sense of foreboding. He has reason to worry, for we learn that Athena has fated him to die at the end of Telemachus’ spear.

She cleansed her cheeks,
her brow and fine eyes with ambrosia smooth as the oils
the goddess Love applies, donning her crown of flowers
whenever she joins the Graces’ captivating dances.
She made her taller, fuller in form to all men’s eyes,
her skin whiter than ivory freshly carved.
…The suitors’ knees went slack, their hearts dissolved in lust –
all of them lifted prayers to lie beside her, share her bed.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 18, lines 218-223, 241-242. Athena makes Penelope more beautiful for the suitors by cleansing her cheeks, brow and eyes with ambrosia, making her taller and giving her ivory skin. The suitors are stunned by her beauty, they all lust after her and each wants to win her as their wife.

But Athena had no mind to let the brazen suitors
hold back now from their heart-rending insults –
she meant to make the anguish cut still deeper
into the core of Laertes’ son Odysseus.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 18, lines 391-394. Athena wants to increase Odysseus’ anger against the suitors as much as possible, because she wants to get him ready to fight his enemies and kill them. After this passage she inspires Eurymachus to mock Odysseus yet another time. The lines in this passage are also repeated in Book 20.

"Stranger, how would you like to work for me
if I took you on – I’d give you decent wages –
picking the stones to lay a tight dry wall
or planting tall trees on the edge of my estate?
I’d give you rations to last you year-round,
clothes for your body, sandals for your feet.
Oh no! You’ve learned your lazy ways too well,
you’ve got no itch to stick to good hard work,
you’d rather go scrounging round the countryside,
begging for crusts to stuff your greedy gut!"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 18, lines 404-413. The suitor Eurymachus asks Odysseus to become a laborer on his farm, and to add insult to injury, accuses him of being lazy and afraid of hard work. He takes Odysseus to task for scrounging off people to fill his greedy stomach. The irony is that it is Eurymachus and his fellow suitors who are the greedy ones scrounging off Odysseus’ estate. Eurymachus’ insults are inspired by goddess Athena, who wants to make Odysseus even more angry at the suitors.

That left the great Odysseus waiting in his hall
as Athena helped him plot the slaughter of the suitors.
He turned at once to Telemachus, brisk with orders:
"Now we must stow the weapons out of reach, my boy,
all the arms and armor – and when the suitors miss them
and ask you questions, put them off with a winning story:
‘I stowed them away, clear of the smoke. A far cry
from the arms Odysseus left when he went to Troy,
fire-damaged equipment, black with reeking fumes.
And a god reminded me of something darker too.
When you’re in your cups a quarrel might break out,
you’d wound each other, shame your feasting here
and cast a pall on your courting.
Iron has powers to draw a man to ruin.’"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 19, lines 1-14. With some help from Athena, Odysseus draws up his battle plan to fight the suitors. He instructs Telemachus to hide the weapons so that they will be out of the suitors’ reach the next day. Should the suitors question this, his son will say he is worried about a fight breaking out during the guests’ drinking and feasting. In reality Odysseus and Telemachus are the ones who will be starting there fight. This is another example of dramatic irony. It also illustrates Odysseus’ cunning and skills in deception.

Athena the bright-eyed goddess flew
like a bird in soaring flight
but left his spirit filled with nerve and courage,
charged with his father’s memory more than ever now.
He felt his senses quicken, overwhelmed with wonder –
this was a god, he knew it well and made at once
for the suitors, a man like a god himself.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 1, lines 367-373. Having completed her mission to inspire confidence and courage in young Telemachus, we are told in a simile how Athena flies away like a bird. While Athena appears to Telemachus in human disguise, he knows that she is some kind of god. As he heads off towards the suitors, another simile likens Telemachus to a god. This is a reference to the courage Athena has instilled in him. Athena’s interaction with the prince is a good example of how the gods meddle in the affairs and fates of humans, a recurring theme in The Odyssey.

"Impossible man!"
Athena bantered, the goddess’ eyes ablaze.
"Others are quick to trust a weaker comrade,
some poor mortal, far less cunning than I.
But I am a goddess, look, the very one who
guards you in all your trials to the last.
I tell you this straight out:
even if fifty bands of mortal fighters
closed around us, hot to kill us off in battle,
still you could drive away their herds and sleek flocks!
So, surrender to sleep at last. What a misery,
keeping watch through the night, wide awake –
you’ll soon come up from under all your troubles."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 20, 46-58. Athena sweeps down from the sky to reassure Odysseus, worried about single-handedly taking on the army of suitors plaguing his wife and house. Athena has stuck with him throughout his quest to return home and eject the suitors. The goddess assures him of her loyal support, saying that even fifty bands of deadly fighters could not defeat them. She describes herself as the "one who guards you in all your trials to the last."

So he vowed
and Athena set off uncontrollable laughter in the suitors,
crazed them out of their minds – mad, hysterical laughter
seemed to break from the jaws of strangers, not their own,
and the meat they were eating oozed red with blood –
tears flooded their eyes, hearts possessed by grief.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 20, lines 384-389. When Telemachus refuses the suitors’ request that he persuade his mother to marry again, Athena makes the suitors laugh hysterically at the prince’s words. In doing so, Athena gives Odysseus further reason to seek revenge. The killing of the suitors is also foreshadowed here, as their meat oozes blood, their eyes flood with tears and their hearts fill with grief.

The goddess Athena with her blazing eyes
inspired Penelope, Icarius’ daughter, wary, poised,
to set the bow and the gleaming iron axes out
before her suitors waiting in Odysseus’ hall –
to test their skill and bring their slaughter on.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 21, lines 1-5. The contest of the bow and axes is an example of Penelope’s cunning nature and intelligence. She will be the wife of the person who wins. But she knows that only a man like Odysseus can string his own bow and pull off this feat. In this passage we learn that Athena inspires Penelope to set the bow and gleaming axes before the waiting suitors, another example of divine intervention.

And now as the ranks squared off, breathing fury –
four at the sill confronting a larger, stronger force
arrayed inside the hall – now Zeus’s daughter Athena,
taking the build and voice of Mentor, swept in
and Odysseus, thrilled to see her, cried out,
"Rescue us, Mentor, now it’s life or death!
Remember your old comrade – all the service
I offered you! We were boys together!"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 22, 212-219. Odysseus battles the suitors with his son Telemachus, swineherd Eumaeus and cowherd Philoetius, but they are heavily outnumbered. When Athena appears disguised as Mentor, a relieved and delighted Odysseus pleads for help and begs to be rescued.

"Where’s it gone, Odysseus – your power, your fighting heart?
The great soldier who fought for famous white-armed Helen,
battling Trojans nine long years – nonstop, no mercy,
mowing their armies down in grueling battle –
you who seized the broad streets of Troy
with your fine strategic stroke! How can you –
now you’ve returned to your own house, your own wealth –
bewail the loss of your combat strength in a war with suitors?"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 22, lines 236-243. Athena, who remains protector and guardian towards Odysseus’ family throughout The Odyssey, is often regarded as a symbol of female empowerment. Here she reacts angrily to Odysseus’ cry for help from Mentor (Athena disguised), as his morale suffers in the fight against the superior force of suitors. She both taunts and inspires Odysseus, so that he finds the courage that he had when he fought the Trojans all those years ago, and uses it now to defeat the suitors.

Rousing words –
but she gave no all-out turning of the tide, not yet,
she kept on testing Odysseus and his gallant son,
putting their force and fighting heart to proof.
For all the world like a swallow in their sight
she flew on high to perch
on the great hall’s central roofbeam black with smoke.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 22, lines 246-252. At a crucial moment during the slaughter of the suitors, Athena tests Odysseus and his son. Rather than directly fighting their battle and ensuring outright victory, she encourages them to summon up the strength and will to win themselves. At this point she wants them to fight with their own power and prove that their heart is in it. She flies up in the form of a swallow to perch on the central roofbeam of the hall.

At his command,
concentrating their shots, all six hurled as one
but Athena sent the whole salvo wide of the mark –
one of them hit the jamb of the great hall’s doors,
another the massive door itself, and the heavy bronze point
of a third ashen javelin crashed against the wall.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 22, lines 267-272. Fighting for their lives, the suitors led by Agelaus fire all their long spears at once at Odysseus and his comrades. Goddess Athena comes to the rescue and deflects their spears. Without her intervention, Odysseus and his men may very well have been killed.
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