#telethena

[thatgayunoriginalbastard]

Telemachus is just as shippable as his dad, he's just not a manwhore about it

Let me prove it:

Telemachus X Antinous

Funny

Enemies to lovers OR Enemies and lovers

The time they get together changes things dramatically

Do they even want to be together? A solid 60% of the time Teleology sure doesn't!

Toxic yaoi is peak

Daddy issues Telenovela coming out in full swing

I mean come on, at least one of y'all did a double take at "I'll teach you all the lessons your daddy never could" like I did

If it's not part of the Nice!Suitors AU Penelope (and Odysseus) will have some thoughts

If their relationship is a secret then Antinous dies to Odysseus, you get so much tragedy from Telemarketing as his long lost father just killed his (probably first) love

Telemachus X Literally any other suitor

Somehow more funny than Sharpwolf

Gets all the same perks as Sharpwolf

Can frame it as more or less creepy than it would have been with Antinous depending on which suitor you go for

Optional jealous Antinous

Way less moral debates since the other suitors just sung along in "Hold Them Down" instead of actually leading things

Telemachus X Peisistratus

And they were boatmates (of my god they were boatmates)

Friends to lovers

Gay princes expect to marry women and have heirs and stuff fall in love with each other

When I say "Dad" you say "dy issues"!

Only child X Youngest of many children

Bonding over having their dads go off to war and spending at least 10 years without them

If written in a world where gay marriage would be fine between them, they could get together (or just have Telecommunications marry his sister Polycaste like he does in some tellings, but it's just for political reasons so he can be with Pepsi)

Telemachus X Neoptolemus

"I can fix him" x "I can make him worse"

Both of them have such unique flavors of childhood trauma

More daddy issues but this time both parties have them!

Can even make it worse by having Neo seen Odysseus as a father figure during the war then when he visits Ithaca, Ody doesn't act that way with Neo anymore because he's being an actual father to Teleprompter

Neo trying to help Telepathy understand how his dad changed because of the war since he literally grew up fighting in the war

They can relate on trying to meet the impossible standards their dads set

Possible drama from Odysseus not approving since he saw what Neo was like in war and doesn't think Neo would be a good/safe option for Telegram (like in "too busy being yours to fall for someone new" by Cassentia)

Telemachus X Poseidon

HEAR ME OUT

Grew up on an island without a dad, likely being pretty isolated X the literal god of the ocean

Telekenesis is the son of a ship captain and great-grandson of the god of travelers on his dad's side and the grandson of an water nymph on his mom's side

Poseidon has more lovers than Zeus so it could be possible for him to scoop up some random mortal from Ithaca while recovering from being stabbed, ravishes them for a night, then realizes he fucked up immediately after when he asks the young man he slept with what their name is

Alternatively, Poseidon seduces Television knowing that he's Ody's son to get back at him and then catches feelings (or goes to gouge out his eyes, changes his mind to seducing him, and then catches feelings)

Teletubbies would probably just be vibing and along for the ride because he gets a god lover and he gets to learn more about his dad

Odysseus would be absolutely pissed, which makes it funny

Possessive. Poseidon. Is. Hot.

Odysseus X Poseidon is great, so why not?

Telemachus X Athena

Again, hear me out

Demiromantic (or greyromantic) asexual Athena

Like with Poseidon, Teleconference would just be along for the ride

Instead of being pissed, Ody would likely just be confused

Athena realizing she's catching feelings would be so incredibly funny

Lots of fun god drama around Athena finally finding love...and it's with her current student who is also the son of her former student

Would probably be the most chill out of all the other options with Telecottage going to marry a woman, being the goddess of wisdom and understanding the the prince and only child of Ody and Penelope, he needs to get married and have heirs and stuff (maybe even using what she learned from Ody to help him out some while maybe internally hating everything she's doing, making it some tragic fluff)

Mentor X Mentee relationships can be cute if you find a way to handle any power dynamic issues

Optional: Teleportation mommy issues

In conclusion: Telencephalon got the manwhore genes from his dad but the girlboss genes from his mom, making him very shippable but also very respectful.

[hayhaysbigday]

A messy sketch I did of Telemachus and Athena. I would like to thank my friend @margaretkart for educating me about Telemachus and Athena’s relationship. I absolutely adore them and they just became my favorite mythological couple.

You can also support me on Ko-Fi and Pa treon (the links are in my bio)

COMMISSIONS: OPEN 🔓

[catsandclassics]

Do you have any headcanons about Telemachus x Athena?

Soooo many! I love sharing headcanons! Here are a few:

* They were attracted to each other right away. Not like “fairytale love at first sight” type stuff — that’s not them. But more like an instant connection and like “wow. It’s like I’ve known them forever and they truly know me” kind of thing. Plus, of course physical attraction. Telemachus was a bit “oh crap, of course I choose to be into the most unattainable Goddess , but ok, I’ll roll with it”. Athena, however, went into full existential melt down because apparently that whole “immune to Eros” thing was just classic bardic embellishment and she was 90% sure that she was about to destroy the very fabric of her father’s Kosmos by thinking a guy was hot. But of course, she just played it off like she was “fine”.

* Athena is extremely close with Apollo; he’s easily her favorite sibling and they share a very special bond, so she told him almost immediately. He was the first person to find out. The second was actually Orestes. Like, a minute after Apollo, since he was right near Apollo at the time. Neither were surprised that Athena & Telemachus were into each other.

* Apollo was stuck covering for Athena. Problem is, what is said about him “not being able to tell a lie” is true…as in, he’s TERRIBLE at lying. That’s why it’s very inconsistently stated that Athena was disguised as an old man.

*The wedding dress Helen gave to Telemachus wasn’t random. She had woven it for him to give to Athena, as Metis could not. (This is one of my favorites, as it fits in so well with both the peplos at Athena’s festival and also much of Euripides “Helen”. I adore when such things weave together so beautifully)

* Telemachus is taller than Athena. Sometimes he’ll rest his chin on the top of her head. This drives her nuts, but also she kinda likes it. But shhh.

* They’re very PDA around their peers (younger Olympians & kids of Trojan War heroes) —it’s a bit of a show of dominance/power play. Yet, they’re very into the scheming and strategizing that comes with sneaking around behind the backs of the elders and pulling one over on the Muses & Bards. IDK, they’re weirdos. Don’t kink shame 😂

*Telemachus is freaked out by Athena’s owl. It just keeps STARING at him.

*Zeus actually really likes Telemachus. He sees a lot of his younger self in him; who he was when he rose up against the Titans with the help of Metis… the part of himself that he has forgotten over the years. He’s totally unaware of the fact that Telemachus & Athena are hooking up, though…mostly due to being in denial about it.

….I have a ton more, but those are the ones at the top of my head right now. I’ll post more as they come to me.

[fluffygreenkoala]

Hiiiii

Just wanted to come out as an Athena x Telemachus shipper : 333

[danana-split]

them + the divine bitches they pulled by being mentally ill, featuring my alive Eury AU

have a love-hate relationship with this art. Telemachus turned out great but it all went downhill from there 🙁

[sunligth-scar]

Athena x Telemachus 😚

[catsandclassics]

One of the posts said you plan on writing a book about Telemachus and Athena. Would it be a novel?

Yes! I have been working on a novel for close to 8 years. Why that long? Because it requires an extreme amount of research, a piecing together fragments upon fragments of ancient text and weaving it together into something that creates an authentic story that honors the canon sources, history, and tradition in a way that is honest and accessible to to the audience while giving readers the “retelling” (I hate the term because that implies merely regurgitating the most basic version of the myth) that many popular books in this genre claim to give the readers, but have failed to. Honestly, all you guys deserve better. You deserve more. The fact that many of these types of books are written by Classicists— and teachers at that, yet they just do the same darn thing over and over again is pretty insulting to the readers, and comes off as more self indulgent and latching onto a trend than anything. This isn’t a jab at Madeline Miller. I actually spent quite a bit of time with Madeline on a writing retreat in Greece in 2019. She is an amazing woman and we had incredible discourse. But I am not Madeline, nor do I seek to style my work after her’s or piggyback off of her. This type of writing takes a long time.

That said, it is not merely just a “love story” about Telemachus/Athena. They are romantically involved and their relationship is a huge center of the story. But it is not a romance book.

It focuses about the Olympian children and the children of Trojan War heroes at the end of the Heroic Age, (so, when “The Oresteia” and “The Odyssey” take place), who were basically existed within the narrative to preserve their fathers’ glory. Namely Athena, Apollo, Telemachus, Orestes, and Neoptolemus. It deals with failed rites of passage, Mystery rites, the transition from Epic to Tragedy, and the end of the Heroic Age.

I’m just grazing the surface, it’s actually not that huge of a downer the whole time, as there’s a lot of great “found family” stuff, and honestly, the character relationships are a ton of fun.

It’s less “Circe” or “Song of Achilles” and more “The Secret History” meets “Spring Awakening”, but make it ‘The Nostoi’.

I’m thinking of making a side blog specifically dedicated to Telethena and also my book and my research, where I’ll go into way more detail.

[catsandclassics]

Hi! So, I've recently hopped aboard the Athena x Telemachus ship thanks to your blog ❤️, and I'm particularly fascinated by Athena's capacity for romantic love/attraction in general. I was wondering if you could tell us more about this largely unexplored aspect of her, or any headcanons you might have? I say largely unexplored because I, like many it seems, was firmly under the impression that she's a nonromantic/virgin goddess, and now that these possibilities have been presented, I'm drawn to them like a moth to a flame lol (I'm a sucker for romance and Athena might honestly be my favorite of the Olympians). Sorry if this is a dumb ask.

❤️❤️❤️ This makes me so happy, for real! It’s definitely not a dumb question! I look more at the historical aspect of the term “Parthenos”, which does not merely mean “maiden” in an “unmarried” way, (that was more a Biblical definition), but instead an age group of high-born adolescent girls on the brink of marriageable age who were often viewed as their fathers’ property in the myths/tragedies. Some examples of other “Parthenoi” are Iphigenia & Antigone…both of whom reference Athena several times in the context of their maidenhood. Athena’s “eternal maidenhood” is more a show of her eternal fidelity to her father, and also her separation from her mother.

So, unlike Artemis and Hestia, Athena didn’t actively make a choice in her “eternal maidenhood”, and, just as we see with the rituals and myths associated with Parthenoi (including Athena’s own at the Parthenon). We see signs of her approaching womanhood during the Trojan War (though she still comes off as rather young in “Cyperia” and “Iliad” era…I’ve spent way too long figuring out how Olympians age/grow. It seems like they just sorta grow at a slower rate than mortals? There’s a random headcanon, lol); such as when she goes for the Golden Apple and when she starts aligning with Hera and has her first ever disagreement with her father, causing him to lash out at her.

By the time “The Odyssey” happens, Athena is pretty done. Lol. It seems that she, Apollo, and Artemis are essentially “peers” with Orestes, Elektra, Telemachus, etc. At least in what they represent, but I tend to Occam’s Razor that whole thing and be like “oh, they seems like they were friends” (plus adds for great “found family”/“friend group” fun, which I’m a sucker for). “The Odyssey” opens with Zeus complaining about the whole Orestes situation and Athena just being like “Or we can just drop it and maybe look at Odysseus & his family”. She’s not fully listened to, so she sets out on her own. It’s kinda cool how her situation on Olympus mirrors that of Telemachus’ in Ithaca. So, she goes off to Ithaca and just straight up connects with Telemachus. The cool thing is, this is the end of the Heroic Age, and Athena is kinda picking what HER idea of a hero is, not her father’s. Telemachus is very philosophical and questions a lot of the Heroic Age ideals. He is a sort of “freedom” that Athena doesn’t realize she has, and through her he realizes his potential for heroic greatness, as he’s the hero she chose. There’s also the added bonus that ‘Metis’ is only ever mentioned in regards to Ithaca and the royal family, so while Athena is helping Telemachus reconnected with his father and grow into manhood; Telemachus is helping her reconnect with her mother and grow into womanhood.

I hope this helps answer your question, and I’m so happy you hopped aboard this ship!