Greek PantheonHero
Odysseus
Also known as Ulysses
King of Ithaca famed for cunning rather than brute strength. Deviser of the Trojan Horse and protagonist of Homer's Odyssey, his ten-year voyage home after the Trojan War.
About Odysseus
The Man of Many Ways
Homer's Odyssey opens by calling Odysseus "the man of many ways," polytropos, a word that captures both his resourcefulness and his tendency to shift identity and story to survive. He is a leading Greek commander at Troy, but his signature contribution is the wooden horse, the trick that finally brings down the city after nine years of open siege failed to.
The Long Way Home
The Odyssey follows his ten-year journey back to Ithaca, delayed by the sea-god Poseidon's anger after Odysseus blinds his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus. Along the way he survives the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, the sorceress Circe, the nymph Calypso's island, and a journey to consult the dead in the underworld. He loses every one of his men before reaching home alone.
Reclaiming Ithaca
On Ithaca, disguised as a beggar, Odysseus finds his household overrun by suitors pressuring his wife Penelope to remarry and his son Telemachus struggling to assert authority. He strings his own great bow, a feat none of the suitors can manage, and with Telemachus and two loyal servants slaughters the suitors, restoring his household and his marriage.
On parentage: A minor, disputed tradition outside Homer makes Sisyphus his true father; Homer treats him as Laertes's son.
Key deeds
- Devised the Trojan Horse that ended the ten-year siege of Troy
- Blinded the Cyclops Polyphemus, earning Poseidon's enduring anger
- Resisted the Sirens' song by having himself bound to the mast
- Descended to the underworld to consult the dead
- Strung his own bow and slaughtered Penelope's suitors
Fate
Restored to his throne and marriage on Ithaca. A separate, later tradition (the lost epic Telegony, known only through summaries) has him killed by Telegonus, a son he never knew he had by Circe.
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- Homer, Odyssey
- Apollodorus, Epitome
Appears in
Ancient and classical works featuring this figure.
strategist among the Greek leaders (Books 1-24)
protagonist (Books 1-24)
wins the contest for the arms of Achilles through forensic eloquence (Book 13)
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
Hero legends were retold for centuries, and the sources often disagree on parentage, deeds and death. This entry follows the best-known versions and notes the main alternatives.
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