- Suitors have taken over Odysseus' home in hopes to marry his wife Penelope and take over the kingdom.
- Odysseus' family thinks that he is dead
- Athena goes to Ithaca to speak with Odysseus' son Telemachus. Athena appears to Telemachus as Odysseus’s old friend Mentes,
- Athena tells Telemachus that she thinks that Odysseus is still alive and that he will return home.
- Athena asks Telemachus to banish the suitors and take a journey to Sparta and Pylos for information regarding his father, Odysseus.