We show you the story of Odysseus. A hero of Greek mythology with a great assortment of amazing and inspiring history and legends.
Odysseus, the Hero
Odysseus was one of the greatest heroes of Greek mythology. He plays one of the central roles in Homer’s Iliad, where the Greeks were, thanks to his ingenuity, able to defeat the Trojans and reclaim the city of Troy.
who was Odysseus?
Odysseus was a legendary hero, king of the island of Ithaca and the main protagonist of Homer’s epic, the “Odyssey”. He was the son of Laertes and Anticlea. This character was considered the most intelligent Greek hero, finding clean solutions to all problems. He was also a great warrior and a very charismatic leader who often inspired his men.
And on the other hand, he was a very faithful and loyal husband and father, as he refused immortality twice on his journey only to return home to his wife and son. No wonder he was admired and protected by Athena, the goddess of wisdom.
Appearance in works of art
In works of art, Odysseus is often depicted as a fully grown problem-solving man on one of his quests. Whether in the company of his men or alone, he is depicted on a journey from the Odyssey or in the war events of the Iliad. There is some art that depicts him returning to his wife Penelope.
History of Odysseus
Odysseus was well known among the Greeks as a very eloquent orator, a witty and cunning trickster. One of Helen’s suitors, Odysseus was forced to join the Trojan expedition, something he did not want, as he was more than happy with his wife, Penelope, and their newborn son, Telemachus, and he knew from a prophecy that if he went to Troy, it would take him a long time to return home.
So, he tried to feign madness, but Palamedes exposed him, and Odysseus had no choice but to leave. He played a crucial role during the Trojan War, both as strategist and warrior; and finally came up with the famous stratagem that decided the outcome of the bloody conflict, the Trojan Horse.
He then set sail for Ithaca, but after blinding his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus, he so enraged Poseidon that the god of the sea did all he could to obstruct Odysseus’ return voyage. After numerous memorable adventures, Circe, the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, the Laestrygonians, Calypso, Odysseus finally made it to Ithaca, ten years after leaving Troy and twenty after joining the Trojan expedition.
There he was reunited with Telemachus and Penelope after killing all his wife’s suitors, he claimed his throne. He died an old man, probably accidentally killed by Telegonus, a child he had fathered with Circe during one of his many adventures.
Family
Odysseus was the only son of Laertes of Ithaca, an ancient Argonaut, and Anticlea, the only daughter of Autolycus. Now this Autolycus, Odysseus’ grandfather, was the son of Hermes and was widely known as a thief so skilled that he could not be caught, being “able to change anything he stole into another form from white to black, or from black to white, from an animal without horns to one with horns, or from one without horns to one without horns.”
However, later authors did not seem too happy with a genealogy that made the wily Odysseus a relative of a thief only on his mother’s side, so they began to spread the rumor that his father was not Laertes, but none other than Sisyphus’ master trickster, who supposedly bargained one night with his father’s Anticlea after he finally caught Autolycus stealing his cattle.
The scar of Odysseus
Many years later, while visiting his grandfather, Odysseus joined his uncles on a wild boar hunting trip and, although he was still an inexperienced teenager, he managed to kill the boar himself, after confronting it. However, the boar hurt him, leaving a deep and recognizable scar on his leg, which will play an important role in the memorable drama of his later life.
A suitor of Helena
Odysseus was one of the suitors of Helen, stepdaughter of King Tyndareus of Sparta. However, he was undoubtedly the most reluctant among them, not only because he was reasonably certain that Menelaus would be the chosen bridegroom, but also because, as beautiful as Helen was, he was much more deeply in love with her cousin Penelope, the daughter of Tindar’s brother Icarus.
With or without Odysseus, the suitors were too many to please, and Tindarus justifiably feared an outbreak of violence, regardless of his final choice. Fortunately, Odysseus thought of an excellent solution.
In exchange for Tindarus’ help regarding Penelope’s hand, Odysseus advised him to make all the suitors swear that they would respect his final choice and support husband and wife in whatever ill fate they might both face in the future. And so, when Menelaus was chosen, all the other suitors peacefully left Sparta; except Odysseus, who remained there until Tindarus kept his part of the promise and convinced his brother to give Penelope’s hand to Odysseus in marriage.
The tactics of Palamedes
After marrying Penelope, Odysseus took her to Ithaca, where the couple lived a happy life, even more so after the birth of their only son, Telemachus. However, while the child was still a baby, Helen was kidnapped by Prince Paris of Troy. Invoking the oath of Helen’s suitors, Menelaus summoned all of them to aid him in his quest to bring her back.
Ironically since it had been he who had proposed the oath in the first place, Odysseus did not want to join the expedition; and he had a good reason for this; the seer Haliterses had informed him that if he participated, it would take him a long time to return home. So he decided to feign madness by taking advantage of a donkey and an ox to plow and sow salt in a field.
Palamedes who was the man sent to recruit Odysseus from Ithaca, did not believe the hero one bit; to test his sanity, he put Telemachus in front of the plow. Odysseus immediately changed course, thus exposing his plan. Odysseus never forgave Palamedes for this and spent many hours planning his revenge.
Myths of Odysseus during the Trojan War
It would be an understatement to say that the successful recruitment of Odysseus was a crucial event, one that would ultimately decide the outcome of the Trojan War perhaps more than any other, without Odysseus, the Greeks might never have sacked Troy.
Recruiting Achilles
In fact, his recruitment began to pay dividends even before the Greeks arrived in Troy. That is, fearing a prophecy that Achilles would either live a long and peaceful life or die gloriously as a mighty warrior, his mother Thetis decided to disguise him as a woman and hide him in the court of King Lycomedes, who ruled with the island of Scyros. Unfortunately, Odysseus learned from the prophet Calchas that the Greeks could only win the Trojan War if Achilles joined forces.
So, after learning of his whereabouts, he devised a plan to penetrate Achilles’ disguise as well. Masquerading as a peddler of women’s clothing, Odysseus placed a spear among his goods, and Achilles (then called Pyrrha) was the only one to show interest in the shiny object. Some are more inclined to tell a different story, according to which Odysseus feigned an attack on Scyros; in this case, all but Achilles fled at the sound of the battle horn.
Odysseus’ role in the Trojan War
From a discussion between Priam and Helen in Homer’s “Iliad, ” we learn that Odysseus was shorter in the head than Agamemnon, but broader in the chest and shoulders. Physically unimpressive, “you would have thought him a rude man and nothing but a fool,” says Priam.
“But when he uttered his great voice from his chest, and the words fell like snowflakes on a winter’s day, then no mortal man could compete with Odysseus; then we do not marvel so much when we contemplate Odysseus’ appearance.” “He knows all manner of craft and cunning,” agrees Helen, this illustrious “Odysseus of many wiles.”
As might be expected, Odysseus’ primary role during the Trojan War was that of a shrewd strategist and wise counselor. He was the one most capable of keeping the morale of the Greeks at a high level, and the one who managed to prevent the bulk of the Greek army from withdrawing from the war after Agamemnon’s plan to test their resolve by allowing them a furlough had backfired.
Odysseus was also the leader of the three-man expedition sent to appease Achilles who, enraged by what he had perceived as unfair treatment by Agamemnon, decided to leave the battlefield.
However, this does not mean that Odysseus did not prove his worth as a warrior as well. Together with Diomedes, he captured and killed the Trojan spy Dolon and slew the Thracian king Rhesus during a dangerous night attack on the Trojan camp.
He also captured the Trojan seer Helenus to learn from him some conditions on which the fulfillment of the fall of Troy depended. Among them, the recruitment of Achilles’ son Neoptoleus and the wounded archer Philoctetes (in whose possession were the bow and arrows of Herakles), and Odysseus played the central role in both.
The Trojan Horse
Odysseus’ main and most memorable contribution to the successful conclusion of the Trojan War was the creation of the stratagem by which, after a decade of war, the Greeks finally succeeded in entering Troy. It was the construction of the Trojan Horse, a huge wooden sculpture inside which was hidden the hollow belly of the greatest of the famous Greek heroes.
After leaving the Horse near the Gates of Troy, the Greeks pretended to sail away; initially confused, in time, the Trojans began to believe that the war was over and that the Horse had been a divine gift; so they carried the sculpture inside the gates of their city. They spent the entire day joyfully celebrating their victory and dancing around the Horse.
However, as night fell, the Greek warriors jumped off the sculpture and opened the gates for the rest of the Greeks, who, under the disguise of night, had managed to sail back to shore. In short order, the Greeks stormed the unsuspecting, drunken and virtually defenseless Trojans, killing many of them and ultimately winning a famous and conclusive victory.
The cruelty of Odysseus
Odysseus was at times unreasonably cruel to his enemies, which is why, as much as he was adored by the Greeks, he was reviled by the Romans (who knew him as Odysseus and considered themselves descendants of Trojans).
Certainly, Odysseus’ most vicious act occurred just after the fall of Troy: fearing some sort of future retribution, he urged the death of Astyanax, Hector’s infant son. Some even say that it was Odysseus himself who killed Astyanax, possibly by throwing the boy off the walls of Troy.
Moreover, Odysseus never forgot his grudge against Palamedes. According to some authors, he forged a letter from Priam and falsely exposed him as a traitor, after which he and Diomedes stoned Palamedes to death.
Others say that the two comrades tricked Palamedes into descending into a well on the premise that there was treasure hidden inside; once Palamedes climbed down the well, Odysseus and Palamedes began throwing stones at him and finally buried him at the bottom.
Beginning of the odyssey: Journey Home
After the Trojan War, Odysseus set out on a ten-year journey to reach his home, Ithaca; his adventures are recounted, mostly in flashbacks, in Homer’s monumental epic “Odyssey”. Chronologically, this is the order in which they happen.
The Cicones
Odysseus left Troy with twelve ships – as many as he had sailed a decade earlier. Soon after, a strong wind blows the ships off course and they end up on the southern coast of Thrace, among the Cicones, Trojan allies. In the ensuing battle, Odysseus and his crew kill every man there except a priest of Apollo named Maron.
In gratitude, the priest gives Odysseus twelve jugs of strong wine. Drunk with victory, the Greeks stay a little too long in Thrace, giving the Cicones enough time to summon the necessary reinforcements and finally prevail, overpowering Odysseus’ crew and killing six men from each of the twelve ships in the process.
The Lotus Eaters
They then landed on the island of the lotus eaters. Ulysses sent three men to explore the island before deciding what to do next. After a while, when they did not return, he followed them and discovered that they had been drugged. They had been eating lotus fruits with the natives which were narcotic and caused the men to refrain from their goal of getting home. Odysseus dragged them back to the ship against their will and tied them to the rowing benches to prevent them from escaping to the island.
One-eyed Polyphemus
Next, Odysseus’ ships reach the island of the Cyclops, a race of one-eyed giant shepherds famous for their rude and violent ways. Lured by some resources, Odysseus and twelve of his men end up trapped in the cave of the Cyclops Polyphemus, who, after blocking the cave entrance with a giant rock, begins to eat them, two by two.
The monster manages to devour six of Odysseus’ men before the hero devises a life-saving trick. After introducing himself as Outis – that is, “Nobody” – he gives Polyphemus some of Maron’s wine and gets him so drunk that he can pierce his eye with a stake. “Nobody is killing me by fraud,” cries Polyphemus, “Nobody is killing me by force!” While not exactly the sharpest tools in the shed, no one can blame the other Cyclops this time for not coming to Polyphemus’ aid.
The next morning, Odysseus and his six surviving men escape Polyphemus’ cave by hiding under the bellies of their sheep, while the Cyclops let them out to graze unsuspectingly. Before leaving the island, however, Odysseus makes the mistake of revealing his true identity to Polyphemus, who asks his father, the sea god Poseidon, to avenge him; this will have a great impact on the hero’s journey, as it will be Poseidon’s wrath that will keep Odysseus away from his beloved Ithaca for the next ten years.
Winds of Aeolus
The ships then arrive at the island of the god of winds, Aeolus, who welcomes them warmly and shelters them for a month. At the end of it, to help Odysseus on his journey, Aeolus puts all his winds except the West Wind in a leather bag and gives the bag to Odysseus.
For the next nine days, the West Wind gently steers the ships to Ithaca. However, on the tenth day, just before reaching shore, Odysseus falls asleep. Thinking it contains gold, his men steal the leather bag and open it, thus releasing all the other winds at once. The ships are violently driven back to Aeolus’ island, where, realizing that Odysseus must be cursed, the god of the winds refuses to help him again.
The Laestrygonians
Seven days later, Odysseus arrives on the island of the Laestrygonians, a tribe of bloodthirsty, carnivorous giants. Throwing huge boulders at them and spearing the drowning man like a fish, the Laestrygonians sink eleven of Odysseus’ ships and eat most of his sailors; in fact, Odysseus’ ship is the only one that manages to escape, the members of his crew being the only survivors of this gruesome adventure.
The sorceress Circe
Odysseus’ ship arrives at Eea, an island ruled by the sorceress Circe. She turns some of Odysseus’ men into pigs, but Odysseus, aided by Hermes who gives him a magic herb called moly, resists Circe’s sorcery and attacks her with his sword. Overwhelmed by Odysseus’ courage and determination, Circe falls in love with him and agrees to transform the pigs into men. After this, they remain on the island for a year, during which Odysseus becomes Circe’s lover.
Expedition to the Underworld
At the end of the year, Circe advises Odysseus to descend into Hades and seek the advice of the seer Teiresias before continuing his journey. Odysseus does so and, in the process, not only learns of some of the difficulties ahead, but also encounters many famous dead (Agamemnon, Achilles, Herakles), including the spirit of his mother, who tells him to hurry home, as his wife Penelope is surrounded by potential suitors. Back in Aea, Circe reaffirms some of these prophecies and warns Odysseus of many other dangers that await him.
The Sirens
First, Odysseus passes by the island of the Sirens who, as Circe tells him, enchant all who approach them through the seductive sound of their song. However, Odysseus orders his crew to fill their ears with beeswax and wedge themselves tightly against the mast, so that they can not only escape unharmed, but also hear the beautiful song of the sirens.
Scylla and Charybdis
Then Odysseus’ ship must pass through a strait; a strait situated between the whirlpool of Charybdis and the six-headed monster Scylla. Yes, but not before Scylla manages to devour six of Odysseus’ men.
The cattle of Helios
They then reach the island of Trinacia, where Odysseus, remembering the warnings of Circe and Teiresias, warns his companions that they must not eat the sacred cattle of the sun god Helios. In his absence, however, they do so, and Helios, enraged, demands that Zeus punish them, or else he would take the sun with him to the Underworld. Zeus obliges and sends a violent storm during which all Odysseus’ companions, except him, die.
The captive of Calypso
The sea takes Odysseus to the island of Ogygia, where the witch Calypso falls in love with him and keeps him captive for the next seven years. Meanwhile, Odysseus dreams of his beloved Ithaca and even the promise of immortality fails to change his mind. Finally, through the intervention of Zeus and Hermes, at the end of the seven years, Odysseus is freed.
The Phaeacians
Then he arrives at Scheria, the island of the Phaeacians (today’s island of Corfu). There, during a feast, Odysseus tells his impressive story. Happy to have had the honor of receiving such an honored guest, the Phaeacians provide Odysseus with a ship and a couple of sailors, who pilot the exhausted hero to Ithaca. After twenty years of war and wandering, Odysseus has finally returned home.
Back to Ithaca
Odysseus arrives in Ithaca late at night, sound asleep. Not wanting to disturb his sleep, the Phaeacian sailors lay him down on the shore and leave. Odysseus wakes up confused, but Athena appears to him and, after revealing to him what had happened, disguises him as an old beggar, both for his safety and so that he can better learn what had happened during his absence.
Eumaeus
Pretending to be a Cretan returning from Troy with news of Odysseus, the disguised hero finds his way to the hut of one of his most faithful servants, the swineherd Eumaeus. Eumaeus gives him a warm welcome, while speaking in superlatives for his former master.
Telemachus
Meanwhile, Telemachus has sailed from Sparta and, after evading an ambush by Penelope’s suitors, lands on the coast and heads straight for the hut of Eumaeus. Odysseus makes himself known, and father and son are finally reunited, twenty years after being separated by the Trojan War and the stratagem of Palamedes.
Penelope and the suitors
Accompanied by Eumaeus, he goes to his own house. There he is ridiculed by the suitors, especially by Antinous, one of their two most prominent leaders, who even hurts him with a footstool and incites him to fight Irus, another beggar present in the palace.
Suddenly, Penelope appears and, prompted by Athena, announces that she is finally ready to remarry. Happy to hear this – since it implies that Penelope has been faithful to him all this time – Odysseus (still in disguise) has a chat with his unsuspecting wife, during which Penelope is moved to tears upon hearing some (false) news of Odysseus’ visit to Crete.
Euriclea and the secret of Odysseus
Appreciating this stranger, Penelope calls Euriclea, Odysseus’ only wet nurse, and asks her to wash the beggar’s feet. In doing so, Euriclea notices a scar on his leg and realizes the stranger’s identity. She tries to tell Penelope, but Odysseus and Athena intervene, and the secret is kept safe.
Odysseus and the test to win over Penelope
Urged on by the beggar, Penelope announces the next morning that she would marry the suitor capable of stringing her husband’s bow and then shooting an arrow through twelve shafts. None of the suitors succeeds; Odysseus, still in disguise, completes the challenge and then reveals himself; aided by his son Telemachus and Athena, he kills all the suitors and hangs twelve of the maids identified by Eurycleia as traitors.
The reunion of Odysseus and Penelope
Eurycleia notifies Penelope of the unexpected outcome of the contest, cheerfully notifying her that the stranger had been none other than Odysseus all along. Penelope does not believe her and refuses to acknowledge Odysseus’ identity even after coming down and seeing him bathed and dressed in royal attire, anything but a god among humans.
Understandably wary, Penelope asks Odysseus to move his marriage bed to another room. This hero replies that such a thing is impossible, since he had made the bed himself and knows that one of its legs is an olive tree still alive and deeply rooted in the ground. Penelope needs no further proof. she runs into her husband’s embrace and they both begin to weep for joy.
Joyful, Athena orders Eos to postpone the dawn for a few hours, so that the two spouses can fully enjoy an extended night of embraces, tears and stories, of love and pleasure.
The death of Odysseus
Not much is known about Odysseus’ later years; or, to be more precise, too many contradictory stories are told by different authors. The more romantic the state that he and Penelope lived happily ever after, the more skeptical it is that, after finding proof of his infidelity, This hero left or even killed Penelope and set out on another journey to the kingdom of Thesprotia, where he eventually married Callidice.
The most famous story of Odysseus’ death, however, concerns Telegono, the son he fathered with Circe while in Aeaea. Once Telegonus reached adulthood, he went to Ithaca to meet his father. Landing on the shore, he killed some sheep to satisfy his hunger.
Odysseus was not pleased with this act and went out to confront him. In the ensuing fight, Odysseus was mortally wounded by Telegonus’ spear with lightning poison. After discovering the identity of his victim, Telegonus took Penelope and Telemachus to Aea, where Circe made all three of them immortal. Afterwards, the two sons married each other’s mother.
