Suitors' Ambush Plot

The Suitors' Ambush Plot is the conspiracy by Antinous and the other suitors to murder Telemachus as he returns from his journey to Pylos and Sparta, an event that escalates the conflict in Ithaca and sets the stage for Odysseus's revenge. It reveals the suitors' willingness to commit murder to secure Penelope's hand and Telemachus's inheritance, and it directly provokes the divine and human forces that will destroy them.

Causes and Background

The plot arises directly from the suitors' discovery that Telemachus has evaded their surveillance and sailed to Pylos in search of news of his father. When Noemon son of Phronius asks Antinous for the return of his ship, revealing that Telemachus has taken it with a crew of the best young men in Ithaca, Antinous and Eurymachus are astounded and enraged. Antinous speaks in anger, his heart black with rage and his eyes flashing fire, declaring that Telemachus's voyage is a very serious matter and that the young fellow has gotten away in spite of them with a picked crew. He calls for a ship with a crew of twenty men to lie in wait for Telemachus in the straits between Ithaca and Samos, vowing that Telemachus will rue the day he set out to get news of his father. The other suitors applaud his saying and all go inside the buildings to lay their plans.

What Happens

Antinous chooses twenty men, and they go down to their ship and the seaside. They draw the vessel into the water, get her mast and sails inside her, bind the oars to the thole-pins with twisted thongs of leather in due course, and spread the white sails aloft, while their fine servants bring them their armour. They make the ship fast a little way out, come on shore again, get their suppers, and wait till night should fall. The suitors then sail their ways over the sea, intent on murdering Telemachus. They place themselves in ambush on the rocky islet Asteris, of no great size, in mid channel between Ithaca and Samos, which has a harbour on either side where a ship can lie.

Consequences and Aftermath

The plot is overheard by the servant Medon from outside the outer court, who goes to tell Penelope. Penelope's heart sinks within her, and for a long time she is speechless; her eyes fill with tears and she can find no utterance. She laments that her son has left her, asking what business he had to go sailing off in ships that make long voyages over the ocean like sea-horses, and whether he wants to die without leaving anyone behind him to keep up his name. Medon replies that he does not know whether some god set him on to it or whether he went on his own impulse to see if he could find out if his father was dead or alive and on his way home. Penelope flings herself on the floor of her own room and cries, and all the maids in the house gather round her and begin to cry too. She calls for old Dolius to be sent to tell everything to Laertes, who may be able to hit on some plan for enlisting public sympathy on their side. The nurse Euryclea then reveals that she knew all about Telemachus's departure and gave him everything he wanted in the way of bread and wine, but he made her take a solemn oath not to tell Penelope for some ten or twelve days. Euryclea urges Penelope to wash her face, change her dress, and go upstairs with her maids to offer prayers to Athena, who can save him even though he be in the jaws of death. Penelope does so, putting some bruised barley into a basket and praying to Athena, who hears her prayer. Meanwhile, the suitors remain unaware that their plot has been discovered and that divine protection has been invoked for Telemachus. The ambush ultimately fails when Athena intervenes to guide Telemachus safely home, and the suitors' murderous intent becomes a key justification for their later slaughter by Odysseus.