This essay explores the death of Odysseus in the Telegony and the Odyssey through the diction of agnoēsis (nonrecognition) and anagnōrisis (recognition). Agnoēsis is a motif in the stories of both Telegonus and the death of Odysseus, allowing the Odyssey’s presentation of agnoēsis to reference the Telegony tradition. Moreover, the deadly consequences of agnoēsis are inimical to the Odyssey’s vision of Odysseus’s kleos, and Odysseus’s death in the Telegony results in an alternative vision of his immortality. Examination of these contrasts between traditions sheds light on how the Odyssey negotiated dissonant elements from the Telegony tradition to enhance its own meaning.

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Chapter 6 examines how Odysseus responds to Alkinoos’ request for theskela erga (“wondrous deeds”) that challenges the authority exhibited by Arete in the intermezzo. This chapter raises questions about Odysseus’ place in hero song and reveals Arete’s even deeper role in structuring the epic. Odysseus’ performance takes his skills as a poet to new levels as he leverages both Homeric and Hesiodic conceptions of heroism, ultimately casting the theskela erga as deeds of a bygone era that should never be revisited. After Odysseus recodes the theskela erga as deeds that are less Homeric but more associated with both Herakles and the end of the Age of Heroes, he uses song sequencing techniques to shift his tale back to the place where he began his tale to Arete—his departure from Ogygia and the notional beginning of the Odyssey itself.