Odysseus

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Odysseus

Nationality/Culture

Greek

Pronunciation

oh-DIS-ee-uhs

Alternate Names

Ulysses (Roman)

Appears In

Homer's Iliad, Homer's Odyssey

Lineage

Son of Laertes and Anticlea

Character Overview

In Greek mythology , Odysseus was a celebrated hero, best known for his role in the Trojan War and for his ten-year journey home after the war. Odysseus (known as Ulysses to the Romans) appears as the central character in the Odyssey, an epic poem by the ancient Greek poet Homer, and he also plays a role in the Iliad, Homer's other major epic.

Early Life Odysseus was generally said to be the son of Anticlea (pronounced an-tuh-KLEE-uh) and of King Laertes (pronounced lay-UR-teez) of Ithaca (pronounced ITH-uh-kuh). However, some stories maintain that his father was Sisyphus (pronounced SIZ-ee-fuhs), founder of the city of Corinth and a cunning man who outwitted the god Hades (pronounced HAY-deez). This version says that Sisyphus seduced Anticlea before her marriage to Laertes and that Odysseus inherited his cleverness from Sisyphus.

Educated by the centaur Chiron—a half-human, half-horse creature— Odysseus began to display great strength and courage at an early age. While out hunting with his uncles and his grandfather, the young hero saved the adults by killing a wild boar. Before the creature died, however, it wounded Odysseus on the leg with its sharp tusk, leaving a permanent scar.

When Odysseus reached manhood, King Laertes stepped aside and let his son rule Ithaca. Around the same time, Odysseus began thinking of marriage. Like other young rulers and heroes in Greece, he desired Helen , the beautiful daughter of King Tyndareus (pronounced tin-DAIR-ee-uhs) of Sparta. But Ithaca was a poor kingdom, and Odysseus had little hope of winning her. Nevertheless, he went to Sparta as a suitor.

While in Sparta, Odysseus displayed some of the cunning for which he became famous. Crowds of men had come to Sparta to seek the hand of Helen, and King Tyndareus feared what might happen when he chose one of them to marry his daughter. Odysseus advised the king to make all the suitors swear an oath to protect Helen and the man she married. The suitors agreed and thus accepted Menelaus (pronounced men-uh-LAY-uhs) when he was chosen to be Helen's husband. To show his gratitude, Tyndareus helped Odysseus win the hand of his niece Penelope (pronounced puh-NEL-uh-pee), with whom the young hero had fallen in love. The couple returned to Ithaca, and Penelope bore Odysseus a son named Telemachus (pronounced tuh-LEM-uh-kuhs).

The Trojan War When the Trojan War began, Odysseus tried to avoid participating. An oracle, or person through whom the gods communicated with humans, had told him that if he went to war, he would be away for twenty years and would return a beggar. So Odysseus pretended to be mad and sowed his fields with salt instead of seeds. When officials came to fetch him, they suspected a trick so they placed the infant Telemachus in the field. Odysseus stopped the plow to avoid killing the child, something a madman would not have done.

According to the Iliad, Odysseus's role in the Trojan War was mainly as an advisor and speaker rather than as a warrior. He helped discover the whereabouts of Achilles (pronounced uh-KILL-eez) and he convinced the great hero to join the war. He tricked Clytemnestra (pronounced klye-tem-NES-truh), wife of Agamemnon (pronounced ag-uh-MEM-non), into sending her daughter Iphigenia (pronounced if-uh-juh-NEYE-uh) to be sacrificed to the goddess Artemis (pronounced AHR-tuh-miss) so that the Greek ships would have good winds for their voyage to Troy. When a go-between was needed to settle quarrels between Agamemnon and Achilles, Odysseus stepped in. He also spied on the Trojans and discovered their plans.

Renowned for his eloquent and persuasive speaking, Odysseus was called upon many times to give advice. Although he fought bravely, he preferred strategy to heroics. When the Greeks captured the Trojan prophet Helenus, who could see the future, and asked what they must do to capture Troy, it was Odysseus who accomplished the three tasks that were set. He persuaded Neoptolemus (pronounced nee-op-TOL-uh-muhs), the son of Achilles, to join the Greeks in battle. He used trickery to get Philoctetes (pronounced fil-uhk-TEE-teez), keeper of the bow and arrows of Heracles (pronounced HAIR-uh-kleez), to join the fighting. He also used cunning to sneak into Troy and steal the Palladium (pronounced puh-LAY-dee-um), a statue of Athena (pronounced uh-THEE-nuh) believed to protect the city and bring it good fortune. Finally, Odysseus came up with the idea of pretending to sail away from Troy, leaving behind an enormous wooden horse as a gift to the Trojans— inside of which Greek soldiers were hidden. This trick enabled the Greeks to enter Troy at night and defeat the Trojans.

The Journey Home After the fall of Troy, Odysseus set sail for Ithaca, but his voyage took ten long years because he angered the sea god Poseidon (pronounced poh-SYE-dun). His journey and adventures, described fully in the Odyssey, took the hero to many wondrous and dangerous places. Along the way, he lost all his companions and the treasure he had taken from Troy. Arriving home at last after an absence of twenty years, Odysseus had to defeat rivals trying to take possession of his wife and his kingdom. Then he had to prove his identity to his wife, Penelope.

There are several different accounts of Odysseus's final years. Some stories say that he was accidentally killed by Telegonus (pronounced tuh-LEG-uh-nus), his son by the enchantress Circe (pronounced SUR-see). Other tales say he married Callidice (pronounced kuh-LID-uh-see), the queen of Thesprotia (pronounced thes-PROH-shuh), and ruled there for a time while Penelope was still alive. Still other versions of the story report that Odysseus was forced into exile by relatives of the rivals he killed upon his return to Ithaca.

Odysseus in Context

One notable aspect of Odysseus in his adventures is that he has romantic relationships with many women throughout his journey. At the same time, the whole purpose of his journey is to return home to his wife, Penelope. While Odysseus enjoys the company of numerous women, Penelope is busy fending off the many suitors who wish to marry her and take over the kingdom of Ithaca. This reflects a double standard common in ancient Greek culture and myth: male characters are often shown being unfaithful to their wives, but the wives are expected to remain true. In many cases, Odysseus appears to fall victim to magical powers of attraction or seduction, which suggests that he is not to blame for his affairs.

Another important aspect of Odysseus is how the character was treated differently by Greek and Roman writers. In the works of the ancient Greek poet Homer, he was a hero who helped defeat the Trojans through his cunning. To the Romans, who claimed that they were descended from the noble Trojans, Odysseus was deceitful and cowardly, choosing to resort to trickery instead of facing a fair fight. This reflects the Greek celebration of ingenuity, while also showing the Roman tendency to solve matters through physical might.

Key Themes and Symbols

Odysseus has stood as an enduring symbol of cleverness and mental power over the physical: although he is shown to be strong, he very often escapes trouble through his shrewdness rather than through brute force. Two important examples of his cleverness include his invention of the Trojan horse, which ended a bloody ten-year war in a single night, and his escape from the blinded Polyphemus, where he and his men hide underneath the giant's sheep as they are put out to pasture.

Another important theme in the tales of Odysseus is endurance: although his journey takes ten years—after spending another ten years fighting against Troy—he does not lose sight of his goal to return home to his wife and kingdom. Penelope also shows endurance, fending off men who seek her hand in marriage for twenty years while her husband is away. Equally important as a theme is the danger of temptation. Odysseus is tempted by the lotus-eaters and by Circe; many of his men fall victim to both, in the latter case being turned into animals. Odysseus resists Circe's charms and saves his crew; he later resists temptation again when she asks him to remain with her, choosing instead to continue the difficult journey home. Odysseus also recognizes the dangerous temptation of the Sirens , and acts to protect his men from their songs—though he himself succumbs to temptation and listens to the Sirens while tied to the mast of his ship.

Odysseus in Art, Literature, and Everyday Life

The tale of Odysseus is best known from the epic poems the Iliad and, more importantly, the Odyssey, both by Homer. Another ancient Greek epic, the Telegony, was said to chronicle the later years of Odysseus's life, but this work appears to have been lost. The Odyssey has been adapted coundess times over the centuries, inspiring novels, poems, symphonies, and songs. A partial retelling of Odysseus's adventures even occurs in Virgil's Aeneid, a Roman work modeled after Homer's epics. Odysseus also appears in Dante's Inferno as one of the damned souls in hell, and has been the subject of many sequels to the original tale, including Alfred, Lord Tennyson's Ulysses (1842), and The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel (1938) by Nikos Kazantzakis. The tale of Odysseus has also loosely inspired many other works, including James Joyce's landmark novel Ulysses (1922), and the 2000 Coen brothers' film O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Read, Write, Think, Discuss

Odysseus in the Serpent Maze by Jane Yolen and Robert J. Harris (2002) is an adventure tale that takes place long before the Iliad or the Odyssey. In this novel, Odysseus is a thirteen-year-old prince who becomes shipwrecked far from home along with his friend, Mentor. The two meet up with Helen of Troy and Odysseus's future wife Penelope. Before they can return home, they must face off against bloodthirsty pirates and a monstrous serpent with one hundred heads. Yolen and Harris base their tale on existing fragments of the early life of Odysseus, as well as an in-depth knowledge of ancient Greek culture.