Odysseus / Ulysses
Clever king of Ithaca, hero of the Odyssey
Odysseus is the cleverest hero in Greek myth — the man who thought of the Trojan Horse, outwitted a man-eating Cyclops, and took ten years to sail home from Troy. His journey is told in Homer's Odyssey, one of the oldest and greatest adventure stories ever written.
How they were born
Odysseus was born on Ithaca, a small rocky island off the west coast of Greece, the son of King Laertes and Queen Anticlea. His grandfather on his mother's side was Autolycus, the notorious thief and trickster, son of Hermes himself — and Odysseus inherited the family gift for cunning. According to legend, Autolycus named the baby Odysseus, from a Greek word meaning 'to be hated' or 'to cause pain', because Autolycus himself had been hated by many people in his life. As a boy Odysseus was once gored in the thigh by a wild boar while hunting with his grandfather, and the scar from that wound would later give him away when he finally returned home in disguise.
The greatest stories
The Trojan Horse
Odysseus fought for ten years in the Trojan War, and it was his idea that finally won it. The Greeks built a huge wooden horse, hid their best warriors inside it, and sailed away, leaving the horse on the beach as if it were an offering to the gods. The Trojans, believing the war was over, dragged the horse inside their city walls and celebrated through the night. After dark, Odysseus and his men climbed out of the horse, opened the city gates, and let the Greek army in. Troy burned that night. It was a victory won by brains, not strength — and it made Odysseus famous as the cleverest of all the Greek heroes.
The Cyclops Polyphemus
On his way home from Troy, Odysseus and his men landed on the island of the Cyclopes, one-eyed giants who lived in caves. They entered the cave of Polyphemus, who rolled a huge stone across the entrance and began eating Odysseus's men two at a time. Odysseus got the giant drunk on strong wine, and when Polyphemus asked his name, Odysseus answered, 'Nobody.' Once the Cyclops was asleep, Odysseus and his men heated a wooden stake in the fire and drove it into his single eye, blinding him. Roaring in pain, Polyphemus called to the other Cyclopes, who asked who had hurt him — and he could only answer, 'Nobody!' The next morning Odysseus and his men escaped by clinging to the bellies of the giant's sheep as he let them out to graze. But as they sailed away, Odysseus could not resist shouting his real name, and Polyphemus prayed to his father Poseidon to curse the hero's voyage home — which is why the journey took ten long years.
Circe the Sorceress
Odysseus's ships reached the island of Aeaea, home of the sorceress Circe, who welcomed his scouting party with food and wine — then waved her wand and turned the men into pigs. One man escaped to warn Odysseus, who set out alone to rescue them. On the path, Hermes appeared and gave him a magic herb called moly, telling him to eat it before drinking from Circe's cup. The herb protected him: when Circe waved her wand, nothing happened, and Odysseus drew his sword and made her swear to free his men and harm them no more. She kept her word, turned the pigs back into men, and Odysseus and his crew stayed on her island for a whole year. Before they left, Circe warned them of the dangers ahead — the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis — and told Odysseus he must visit the Underworld to consult the blind prophet Tiresias.
The Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis
Circe had warned Odysseus about the Sirens, whose beautiful singing lured sailors to their deaths on the rocks. Odysseus wanted to hear their song, so he ordered his men to plug their own ears with beeswax and tie him tightly to the ship's mast, with strict orders not to untie him no matter how he begged. As they sailed past, the Sirens sang so sweetly that Odysseus struggled against his ropes, but his crew rowed on. Next they had to pass between two monsters: Scylla, a six-headed beast that snatched sailors from the deck, and Charybdis, a whirlpool that swallowed whole ships. Odysseus chose to sail closer to Scylla and lost six men to her heads, but the ship itself survived — the only ship in the ancient world to pass between them and live.
The Return and the Suitors
Ten years after leaving Troy, Odysseus washed ashore on Ithaca alone — every one of his ships and men was gone. In his palace, more than a hundred suitors were feasting on his wealth and demanding that his wife Penelope choose a new husband. Penelope had held them off for years, weaving a burial shroud by day and unpicking it by night. With Athena's help, Odysseus disguised himself as a beggar and entered his own hall. His old dog Argos recognised him and died happy at his feet, and his nurse recognised the boar-hunt scar on his thigh. Penelope announced a contest: whoever could string Odysseus's great bow and shoot an arrow through twelve axe-heads would win her hand. One by one the suitors failed. The beggar took the bow, strung it with ease, and shot clean through all twelve axes. Then he threw off his rags, and with his son Telemachus beside him, he killed every suitor and took back his home and his kingdom.
Family & connections
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Fun facts
- Odysseus's name may come from a Greek word meaning 'to be hated' — his grandfather Autolycus named him that because he himself had been hated by many people.
- The scar on Odysseus's thigh, from a boar hunt when he was a boy, is what gives him away when he returns home in disguise: his old nurse recognises it while washing his feet.
- Odysseus is the great-grandson of Hermes, god of thieves and tricksters, through his grandfather Autolycus — which explains where his cunning comes from.
- The Odyssey is one of the oldest surviving works of Western literature, composed around 2,800 years ago, and the word 'odyssey' is still used today to mean any long, wandering journey.
- Penelope's trick of weaving a shroud by day and unpicking it by night kept the suitors waiting for three years before they discovered what she was doing.
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