Introduction
Telemachus was the only son of Odysseus and Penelope, an infant when his father left for Troy and a young man by the time of his return, twenty years later.
Family
Coming of Age
The early books of the Odyssey follow Telemachus's own journey — guided by Athena in the guise of a mentor — to seek news of his missing father from Nestor and Menelaus, a coming-of-age narrative that runs parallel to Odysseus's own return. Once his father does return, disguised as a beggar, Telemachus is the first to recognize him and fights at his side against the suitors who had been consuming the household's wealth and pressing his mother to remarry.
As with all figures of Greek heroic legend, sources diverge on many particulars; the account above follows the most widely transmitted classical tradition.