   #copyright

Odysseus

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Ancient History,
Classical History and Mythology

   Head of Odysseus from a Greek 2nd century BC marble group representing
   Odysseus blinding Polyphemus, found at the villa of Tiberius at
   Sperlonga
   Head of Odysseus from a Greek 2nd century BC marble group representing
   Odysseus blinding Polyphemus, found at the villa of Tiberius at
   Sperlonga
      Topics in Greek mythology

   Gods

     * Primordial gods and Titans
     * Zeus and the Olympians
     * Pan and the nymphs
     * Apollo and Dionysus
     * Sea-gods and Earth-gods

   Heroes

     * Heracles and his Labors
     * Achilles and the Trojan War
     * Odysseus and the Odyssey
     * Jason and the Argonauts
     * Perseus and the Gorgon
     * Oedipus and Thebes
     * Theseus and the Minotaur
     * Triptolemus and the
       Eleusinian Mysteries

   Related

     * Satyrs, centaurs and dragons
     * Ancient Greek religion

   Odysseus or Ulysses ( Greek Ὀδυσσεύς Odysseys; Latin: Ulixes or, less
   commonly, Ulysses), pronounced /oʊˈdɪs.i.əs/, is the main hero in
   Homer's epic poem, the Odyssey, and plays a key role in Homer's Iliad.
   King of Ithaca, husband of Penelope, father of Telemachus, and son of
   Laërtes and Anticlea (the tragedy Iphigenia at Aulis names Sysiphus as
   his father), Odysseus is renowned for his guile and resourcefulness,
   and is most famous for the ten years it took him to return home after
   the Trojan War.

   Relatively little is known of Odysseus' background except that his
   grandfather (or step-grandfather) is Arcesius, son of Cephalus and
   grandson of Aeolus. Ithaca, an island along the Ionian coastline of
   Greece, is one of several islands that would have comprised the realm
   of Odysseus' family, but the true extent of the Cephallenian realm and
   the actual identities of the islands named in Homer's works are
   unknown.

Etymology

   The name has several variants: Olysseus (Ὀλυσσεύς), Oulixeus
   (Οὐλιξεύς), Oulixes (Οὐλίξης) and he was known as Ulysses in Latin or
   Ulixes in Roman mythology.

   The verb odussōmai (οδύσσωμαι), meaning "to be wrathful against, hate",
   suggests that the name could be rendered as "the one who is wrathful,
   at the same time, is hated". This interpretation is reinforced by
   Odysseus' and Poseidon's mutual wrath for one another. One may also
   read the name as "pain", or "the one inflicting and suffering pain" —
   not surprisingly, Odysseus frequently suffers pain (mental and/or
   physical) if he inflicts pain on someone else. Yet another origin is
   the Greek οδηγός: odēgós, "a guide; the one showing the way". The name
   means "son of pain", according to Homer.

   Odysseus sometimes receives the epithet "Laertiades (Greek:
   Λαερτιάδης') 'son of Laërtes'.

   His name and stories were copied into Etruscan religion under the name
   Uthuze.

   In the Odyssey, Book XIX (405-411) we learn that Odysseus' name means
   'son of pain' and his father named him that because his grandfather
   suggested it.

Before the Trojan War

   According to Homer, Odysseus was one of many powerful and influential
   suitors for Tyndareus' daughter Helen, considered the most beautiful
   woman in the world. Tyndareus feared the wrath of whomever he did not
   choose as Helen's husband, so Odysseus promised to solve the dilemma in
   return for Tyndareus' support for Odysseus suit for Penelope, daughter
   of Icarius and second cousin to Helen. Odysseus proposed that Tyndareus
   require all the suitors to swear an oath to defend whomever Helen chose
   as husband from among the oath-takers. The suitors, including Odysseus,
   swore, and Helen chose Menelaus.

   When Helen was abducted by Paris of Troy, Menelaus called upon the
   other suitors to honour their oaths and help him retrieve her, thus
   bringing about the Trojan War. Odysseus, however, tried to avoid the
   war by feigning madness, as an oracle had prophesied a long-delayed
   return home for him were he to go. He did this by hooking a donkey and
   an ox to his plow (as they have different stride lengths, hindering the
   efficiency of the plow) and sowing his fields with salt. Palamedes, at
   the behest of Menelaus' brother Agamemnon, sought to disprove Odysseus'
   madness, and placed Telemachus, Odysseus' infant son, in front of the
   plough. Odysseus veered the plough away from his son, thus destroying
   his ruse. Odysseus held a grudge against Palamedes during the war for
   dragging him away from his home.

   Odysseus and other envoys of Agamemnon travelled to Scyros to recruit
   Achilles because of a prophecy that Troy could not be taken without
   him. In most accounts, Thetis, Achilles' mother, disguised the youth as
   a woman to hide him from the recruiters because an oracle had predicted
   that Achilles would either live a long, uneventful life or achieve
   everlasting glory while dying young. Odysseus cleverly discovered which
   of the women before him was Achilles when the youth stepped forward to
   examine an array of weapons (some accounts say that Odysseus arranged
   for the sounding of a battle horn, which prompted Achilles to clutch a
   weapon).

   In Euripides' tragedy Iphigenia at Aulis, Odysseus convinces Agamemnon
   to consent to the sacrifice of his daughter, Iphigenia, to appease the
   goddess Artemis. Odysseus then facilitates the sacrifice by telling her
   mother, Clytemnestra, that the girl is to be wed to Achilles.

   Just before the war began, Odysseus accompanied Menelaus and Palamedes
   in an attempt to negotiate Helen's peaceful return. Menelaus made
   unpersuasive emotional arguments, but Odysseus' arguments very nearly
   persuaded the Trojan court to hand Helen over.

During the Trojan War

   Odysseus was one of the main Achaean characters in the Trojan War. The
   others were "godlike" Achilles, Agamemnon "lord of men", Menelaus,
   Nestor, Telamonian Ajax and Ajax the Lesser, Diomedes and Teucer the
   master archer.

   When the Achaean ships reached the shores of Troy, no one would jump
   ashore, since there was an oracle that the first Achaean to jump on
   Trojan soil would die. Odysseus tossed his shield on the shore and
   jumped on his shield. He was followed by Protesilaus, who jumped on
   Trojan soil and later became the first to die.

   Odysseus never forgave Palamedes for unmasking his madness ruse,
   leading him to frame Palamedes as a traitor. At one point, Odysseus
   convinced a Trojan captive to write a letter that looked as if it was
   sent by Palamedes, in which a sum of gold was mentioned to have been
   sent as a reward for Palamedes' treachery. Odysseus then killed the
   prisoner and hid the gold in Palamedes tent. He caused the letter to be
   found and received by Agamemnon and also gave hints as to direct the
   Argives to the gold. This was evidence enough for the Greeks and they
   had Palamedes stoned to death. Other sources say Odysseus and Diomedes
   goaded Palamedes to descend a wall with the prospect of treasure being
   at the bottom. When Palamedes reached the bottom the two then proceeded
   to bury Palamedes with stones, killing him.

   Odysseus was one of the most influential Greek champions during the
   Trojan War. Along with Nestor and Idomeneus he was one of the most
   trusted advisers and counsellors. He always championed the Achaean
   cause and was unwavering in his cause to continue on with the war and
   always supportive of Agamemnon when the king was in question, such as
   in one instance when Thersites spoke against him. When Agamemnon (to
   test the morale of the Achaeans) announced his intention to depart
   Troy, Odysseus restored order to the Greek camp. Later on in the Iliad,
   after many of the heroes had left the battlefield due to injuries
   (including Odysseus and Agamemnon), Odysseus once again persuaded
   Agamemnon not to withdraw. Odysseus, along with two other envoys, was
   chosen in the failed embassy to try to persuade Achilles to return to
   combat.

   When Hector proposed a single combat duel, Odysseus was one of the
   Danaans who volunteered to battle him (Telamonian Ajax was the
   volunteer who did fight Hector, though). Odysseus aided Diomedes during
   the successful night operations in order to kill Rhesus, because it had
   been foretold that if his horses drank from the Scamander river Troy
   could not be taken.

   After Patroclus had been slain, it was Odysseus who counselled Achilles
   to let the Achaean men eat and rest, for Achilles, driven by rage,
   wanted to go back on the offensive - and kill Trojans - immediately.
   Eventually, Achilles reluctantly consents. During the Funeral Games for
   Patroclus, Odysseus becomes involved in a wrestling match with
   Telamonian Ajax, as well as a foot race. With the help of Athena, who
   favors him, and despite Apollo helping another of the competitors, he
   wins the race and manages to draw the wrestling match, to the surprise
   of all.

   When Achilles was slain in battle, it was Odysseus and Telamonian Ajax
   who successfully retrieved the fallen warriors' body and armour in the
   thick of heavy fighting. During the funeral games for Achilles, once
   again Odysseus competed with Telamonian Ajax in funeral games. Thetis
   said that the arms of Achilles would go to the bravest of the Greeks,
   only these two warriors dared to lay claim to that title. The two
   Argives then got in a heavy dispute about each other's merits to
   receive the reward. The Greeks feared to decide a winner, for they did
   not want one of the heroes insulted and abandoning the war effort, so
   Nestor suggested that they allow the captive Trojans decide the winner.
   Some accounts say a secret vote was held by the Greeks to decide the
   winner. In either case, Odysseus was the winner and Ajax was defeated.
   Enraged and humiliated, Ajax killed himself by the sword Hector had
   given him after being driven mad by Athena to protect Odysseus from his
   vengeance.

   Together with Diomedes, Odysseus went to fetch Achilles' son, Pyrrhus,
   to come to the aid of the Achaeans, because an oracle stated that Troy
   could not be taken without him. Pyrrhus was a great warrior and was
   named Neoptolemus (Greek: "new hero"). Upon the success of the mission
   Odysseus gave Neoptolemus the armaments of his father.

   Later on, it was learned that the war could not be won without the
   poison arrows of Heracles, which were owned by the abandoned
   Philoctetes. Odysseus and Diomedes (or, according to some accounts,
   Odysseus and Neoptolemus) went out to retrieve them. In any event, upon
   their arrival Philoctetes (still suffering from the wound) was still
   very angry with the Danaans, especially Odysseus, for abandoning him.
   While his first instinct was to shoot Odysseus when they arrived to
   retrieve him, Philoctetes anger was eventually diffused due to
   Odysseus' persuasive powers and the influence of the gods. Odysseus
   returned with Philoctetes and his arrows to the Argive camp.

   Later on in the war, Odysseus captured Priam's son Helenus the prophet.
   Helenus told the Greeks that Troy could not be taken without the
   capture of the Palladium, located in the city of Troy. Once again
   Odysseus and Diomedes went on a mission together to fulfill a prophecy.
   Some say that Diomedes crawled on Odysseus' shoulders to enter the city
   and would not let Odysseus up and into the city. When Diomedes returned
   from stealing the Palladium and met back up with Odysseus, who was
   infuriated at Diomedes for not letting him up, he thought to kill
   Diomedes and take credit for himself and stepped behind Diomedes in
   order to stab him with his sword. Diomedes caught the glint of the
   sword in the moonlight and spun around and disarmed the Ithacan king,
   and proceeded to drive Odysseus back to the Argive camp with the flat
   of his sword. Another account of the stealing of the Palladium states
   that both Odysseus and Diomedes entered the city together.

   Some myths state that Odysseus in the guise of a beggar covered in rags
   and blood entered the Trojan city secretly and alone. He was recognized
   by no one except for Helen and Hecuba, questioned by them, and allowed
   to return to the Greek camp unharmed.

   The Trojan Horse, the famous stratagem, was devised by Odysseus. It was
   built by Epeius and filled with Greek warriors led by Odysseus. Before
   hand, Odysseus made Menelaus swear to give him whatever he asked after
   they had taken Troy. Menelaus agreed. When the Horse was brought inside
   Troy, Odysseus and Menelaus descended from it and went directly to
   Prince Deiphobos' house, where they engaged in a most ferocious battle
   (although some accounts say it was Odysseus who fought him and Menelaus
   came to find the dead body). Ultimately, Deiphobos, who was then the
   leading son of Priam and Helen's third husband, was killed. Menelaus
   was also about to kill Helen for leaving him but Odysseus took
   advantage of the promise earlier and made Menelaus swear not to kill
   her. Then Menelaus got Helen back. For his crimes, including slaying
   the Theban warriors in their sleep, Odysseus was compelled by the gods
   to endure 10 years of hardship before he achieved a nostos, a
   homecoming. However, other Greeks committed great evils in Troy, such
   as the execution of King Priam. The most significant crime was the rape
   of Cassandra, carried out by Ajax the Lesser. This angered Apollo, as
   Cassandra was a priestess of the god. It was Odysseus who advised the
   Greeks to stone Ajax to death for his crime. However, the Greeks
   declined the life-saving advice. Apollo was intensely infuriated, and
   as a result he sent a storm that destroyed much of the returning Greek
   fleet.

   In Euripedes' "The Trojan Women", it is Odysseus who convinces the
   other Argives to kill Hector's young son, so he has no chance to avenge
   his city.

Journey home to Ithaca

The Ciconians

   After Odysseus and his men depart from Troy, they are greeted by
   friendly and calm waters, the ship nears land and Eurylochus,
   convincing Odysseus that the gods were on their side, told him to go
   ashore and loot the nearby city. The crew had landed in Ismara. The
   city was not at all protected, and all of the inhabitants fled without
   a fight into the nearby mountains. Odysseus and his men looted the city
   and robbed it of all its goods. Odysseus wisely told the men to board
   the ships quickly, but they refused, ate dinner and fell asleep on the
   beach. The next morning, the Ciconians (also known as the Cicones),
   allies of Troy and great warriors, returned with their fierce kinsmen
   from the mountains. Odysseus and his men fled to the ships as fast as
   they could, but "six benches were left empty in every ship" (The
   Odyssey. Book IX. line 64). Odysseus, however, had spared Maron, a
   priest of Apollo, who gives him twelve jars of wine which would be
   later used against the cyclops.

The Lotus-Eaters

   When Odysseus and his men landed on the island of the Lotus-Eaters,
   Odysseus sent out a scouting party of three or so men who ate the lotus
   with the natives. This caused them to fall asleep and stop caring about
   ever going home. Odysseus went after the scouting party, and dragged
   them back to the ship against their will. Odysseus set sail, with the
   drugged soldiers tied to the rudder benches to prevent them from
   swimming back to the island.

Polyphemus

   Odysseus offering wine to the Cyclops
   Odysseus offering wine to the Cyclops

   A scouting party led by Odysseus (his friend, Misenus), lands in the
   territory of the Cyclops and ventures upon a large cave. They enter the
   cave and proceed to feast on food they find there. Unknown to them, the
   cave is the dwelling of Polyphemus, a one-eyed giant who soon returns.
   Polyphemus refuses hospitality to his uninvited guests and traps them
   in the cave by blocking the entrance with a boulder that could not be
   moved by mortal men. He then proceeds to eat a pair of the men each
   day, but Odysseus devises a cunning plan for escape.

   To make Polyphemus unwary, Odysseus gives him a bowl of strong,
   unwatered wine that was given to them by Maron, the priest of Apollo.
   When Polyphemus asks for his name, Odysseus tells him that it is Οὖτις
   (Outis, "Nobody" or "No man", which is also a short form of his own
   name. It is probable that Odysseus does this to exploit a loophole in
   the laws of hospitality, which Polyphemus openly violates). In
   appreciation for the wine, Polyphemus offers to return the favour by
   eating him last. Once the giant falls asleep, Odysseus and his men turn
   a pine into a giant spear, which they had previously prepared while
   Polyphemus was out of the cave shepherding his flocks, and blind
   Polyphemus. Hearing Polyphemus' cries, other Cyclopes come to his cave
   and ask what is wrong, what man has put out his eye? Polyphemus replies
   that "No one is killing me!" The other Cyclopes leave him alone,
   thinking that his outbursts must be madness or the gods' doing.

   In the morning, Polyphemus rolls back the boulder to let the sheep out
   to graze. Now blind, Polyphemus cannot see the men, but feels the tops
   of his sheep to make sure the men are not riding them, and spreads his
   arm at the entrance of the cave. Odysseus and his men escape, having
   tied themselves to the undersides of three sheep. Once Odysseus and his
   men are out, they load the sheep on board their ship and set sail.

   As Odysseus and his men are sailing away, he reveals his true identity
   to Polyphemus. Enraged, Polyphemus tries to hit the ship with boulders,
   but because he is blind, he misses (although the rocks get close to the
   ship). When the ship appears to be getting away at last, Polyphemus
   raises his arms to his father, Poseidon, and asks him to not allow
   Odysseus to go back home to Ithaca, and if he does, he must arrive back
   alone, his crew dead and in a stranger's ship.

   This event is the setting for the only surviving complete satyr play,
   Cyclops by Euripides. This version contains a more humorous version of
   the story by including the cowardly satyrs.

   According to Virgil's Aeneid, Achaemenides was one of Odysseus' crew
   who stayed on Sicily with Polyphemus until Aeneas arrived and took him
   with him. Here, Virgil is probably trying to interweave his tale as
   much as possible with Homer's already ancient, great work, especially
   as Achaemenides has nothing to do with the story at all and is in fact
   never mentioned again.

Aeolus

   Odysseus stopped at Aiolia, home of Aeolus, the favoured mortal of the
   gods who received the power of controlling the winds. Aeolus gave
   Odysseus and his crew hospitality for a month in return for Odysseus
   telling interesting stories. Aeolus also provided a bag filled with the
   all the winds but the one to lead him home. Odysseus' crew members
   suspected that treasure was in the bag (due to Odysseus guarding the
   bag for the entire voyage home without a wink of sleep). A couple of
   the men decided to open it as soon as Odysseus fell asleep - just
   before their home was reached. They were blown by a violent storm back
   to Aiolia by Poseidon, where Aeolus refused to provide any more help
   because he thought Odysseus was cursed by the gods. Odysseus had to
   start his journey from Aiolia to Ithaca over again; he was heartbroken,
   but hid his feelings from his crew.

The Laestrygonians

   They came to Telepylos, the stronghold of Lamos, king of the
   Laestrygonians. Odysseus's ships entered a harbour surrounded by steep
   cliffs, with a single entrance between two headlands. The captains took
   their ships inside and made them fast close to one another, where it
   was dead calm. Odysseus kept his own ship outside the harbour, moored
   to a rock. He climbed a high rock to reconnoiter, but could see nothing
   but some smoke rising from the ground. He sent two of his company with
   an attendant to investigate the inhabitants.

   The men followed a road and eventually met a young woman, who said she
   was a daughter of Antiphates, the king, and directed them to his house.
   However when they got there they found a gigantic woman, the wife of
   Antiphates who promptly called her husband, who immediately left the
   assembly of the people and upon arrival snatched up one of the men and
   started to eat him. The other two men ran away, but Antiphates raised a
   hue-and-cry, so that they were pursued by thousands of Laestrygonians,
   giants, not men. They threw vast rocks from the cliffs, smashing the
   ships, and speared the men like fish.

   Odysseus made his escape with his single ship due to the fact that it
   was not trapped in the harbour; the rest of his company was lost. The
   surviving crew went next to the island of Circe.

Circe

   The next stop was the island of Circe the enchantress ( Aeaea), where
   Odysseus sent a scouting party ahead of the rest of the group. She
   invited the scouting party to a feast, the food laced with one of her
   magical potions, and she then changed all the men into pigs with a wand
   after they ate the food. Only Eurylochus, suspecting treachery from the
   outset, escaped by hiding, to warn Odysseus and the others who had
   stayed behind at the ships. Odysseus set out to rescue his men, but was
   intercepted and told by Hermes to procure some of the herb moly to
   protect him from the same fate. When her magic failed she fell in love
   with Odysseus and she bore him a son after he left called Telegonus,
   who eventually brought about his death. He was able to convince her to
   return his men to human form by making her swear the Oath of the
   Immortals. Odysseus and his men were treated well in her abode. Quite
   reluctantly, but with the urging of his crew, Odysseus parted with
   Circe but not before she could give him advice for the quest home. Also
   play maplestory and add gads3. I can tell more on this topic.

   On Circe's island, Elpenor, the youngest of Odysseus' crew, got drunk
   and fell off Circe's roof. The impact killed him.

Journey to the Underworld

   Odysseus wanted to talk with Tiresias, so he and his men journeyed to
   the River Acheron in Hades, where they performed sacrifices which
   allowed them to speak to the dead. Odysseus sacrificed a ram and the
   dead spirits were attracted to the blood. Odysseus held them at bay and
   demanded to speak with Tiresias, who told him how to pass by Helios's
   cattle and the whirlpool Charybdis. Tiresias also tells Odysseus that
   after he returns to Ithaca, he must take a well-made oar and walk
   inland with it to parts where no one mixes sea salt with their food,
   until someone asks him why he carries a winnowing fan. At that place,
   he was to fix the oar in the ground and make a sacrifice to appease
   Poseidon. He also told Odysseus that, after all that was done, that he
   would die an old man, "full of years and peace of mind", that his death
   would come from the sea and that his life would ebb away very gently.
   (Some read this as meaning that his death would come away from the
   sea.)

   He also meets Achilles, who tells Odysseus that he would rather be a
   slave on earth than the king of the dead, Agammemnon, and his mother.
   The soul of Ajax, still resentful of Odysseus over the matter of
   Achilles's armor, refuses to speak, despite the latter's pleas of
   regret.

   Odysseus also meets his comrade, Elpenor, who tells him of the manner
   of his death and begs him to give him an honorable burial.

The Sirens

   Circe warned Odysseus of the dangers of these singing creatures who
   pulled men to their death. She advised him to avoid hearing the song
   but that if he really felt he had to hear then he should be tied to the
   mast. His men should have their ears stopped with beeswax and be
   ordered not to heed his screams. Odysseus, moved by curiosity, twisted
   the words and told the men that Circe had told him that he had to
   listen to the song. He obeyed her instructions and listened to the song
   while he was tied to the mast. This episode shows Odysseus's curious
   nature and also that he was prepared to risk the lives of others to
   satisfy it.

Scylla and Charybdis

   Odysseus was told by Tiresias that he would have a choice of two paths
   home. One was the Symplegades, where either all make it through or all
   die and which has been passed only by Jason with the help of Zeus, but
   he chooses the second path. On one side was a whirlpool, called
   Charybdis, which would sink the ship. However, on the other side of the
   strait was a monster called Scylla, daughter of Crataeis with six heads
   who would seize and eat six men.

   The advice was to sail close to Scylla and lose six men but not to
   fight, lest he lose more men. However, he did not dare tell his crew of
   the sacrifice, or they would have cowered below and not rowed and
   everyone would have ended up in Charybdis. Six men died, and Odysseus
   announced that the desperate cries of the wretched betrayed men were
   the worst thing he had ever known. Undoubtedly, this affected morale
   and left the survivors feeling mutinous.

The Cattle of Thrinacia

   Finally, Odysseus and his surviving crew approached an island,
   Thrinacia, sacred to Helios, where he kept sacred cattle. Odysseus had
   been warned by Tiresias and Circe not to touch these cattle. Odysseus
   told his men that they would not be landing on the island. Eurylochus
   then threatened mutiny and Odysseus unwisely gave in. The men were
   trapped by adverse winds on the island and began to get hungry.
   Odysseus went inland to pray for help and fell asleep. In his absence
   Eurylochus incited the men to kill and eat the cattle. The guardians of
   the island, Helios' daughters, Lampetia and Phaethusa, told their
   father. Helios complained to Zeus and said that he would take the sun
   down to Hades if justice was not done. Zeus destroyed the ship with a
   thunderbolt and all the men died except for Odysseus. Odysseus was
   swept past Scylla and Charybdis whom he luckily escaped and was washed
   up on Calypso's island.
   Odysseus and Nausicaä by Charles Gleyre.
   Odysseus and Nausicaä by Charles Gleyre.

Calypso and the Phaecians

   Odysseus was washed ashore on Ogygia, where the nymph Calypso, daughter
   of Atlas lived. She made him her lover for seven years and would not
   let him leave, promising him immortality if he stayed. As a result,
   Odysseus was strongly attracted to her by night yet wept by the shore
   for his home and family by day. On behalf of Athena, Zeus intervened
   and sent Hermes to tell Calypso to let Odysseus go. Odysseus left on a
   small raft furnished with provisions of water, wine and food by
   Calypso, only to be hit by a storm launched by his old enemy Poseidon
   and washed up on the island of Scheria and found by Nausicaa, daughter
   of King Alcinous and Queen Arete of the Phaeacians, who entertained him
   well and escorted him to Ithaca. While upon Scheria, the bard sings a
   song of the Trojan war. As Odysseus was at Troy and longed to return to
   his home, he wept at the song. Alcinous, realizing this decided to
   press Odysseus for his true identity.

   It is here that we get the actual story of Odysseus' trip from Troy to
   Scheria taking up books nine to twelve of the epic. After the recital,
   the Phaecians offer Odysseus passage home, with all of the hoardings he
   obtained on the way and the gifts the Phaecians themselves had bestowed
   upon him (showing xenia, the idea of guest friendship). King Alcinous
   provided one fast Phæacian, ship that soon carried Odysseus home to
   Ithaca. However, Poseidon, upon seeing Odysseus return home, was
   furious and intended to cast a ring of mountains around Scheria so they
   could never sail again. This naturally would have been damaging to the
   Phaecians, as they were seafarers. Zeus, however, managed to persuade
   Poseidon not to do this. Instead, he turned the ship which carried
   Odysseus home to rock. From that day on the Phaecians resolved to be
   less trusting of guests.

Odysseus reaches Ithaca

   In Ithaca, Penelope was having difficulties. Her husband had been gone
   for twenty years, and she did not know for sure whether he was alive or
   dead. She was beset with numerous men who thought that a (fairly) young
   widow and queen of a small but tidy kingdom was a great prize: they
   pestered her to declare Odysseus dead and choose a new husband from
   among them. Meanwhile, these suitors hung around the palace, ate her
   food, drank her wine, and froliced with her servants. Penelope was
   despondent by her husband's long absence and especially the mystery
   about his fate. He could come home at any time — or never. Temporizing,
   she fended them off for years, using stalling tactics that were wearing
   thin. Meanwhile, Odysseus' mother, Anticlea, had died of grief; and his
   father, Laërtes, was nearly so.

   Odysseus arrived alone. Upon landing, he was disguised as an old man or
   a beggar by Athena; he took the name Eperitus. Odysseus was welcomed by
   his old swineherd, Eumaeus, who did not recognize him in disguise but
   still treated him well. Odysseus' faithful dog Argos was the first to
   recognize him in his rags. He had waited twenty years to see his
   master. Aged and decrepit, he did his best to wag his tail, but
   Odysseus did not want to be found out, and had to maintain his cover,
   so the disconsolate dog died. The first human to recognize him was his
   old wet nurse, Euryclea, who knew him well enough to see through the
   rags, recognizing him by an old scar; his son Telemachus didn't see
   through the disguise, but Odysseus revealed his identity to him.

   Odysseus learned that Penelope had remained faithful to him. She
   pretended to weave a burial shroud for Odysseus' father, Laërtes, and
   claimed she would choose one suitor when she finished. Every day she
   wove a length of shroud, and every night she unwove the same length of
   shroud, until one day, a maid of hers betrayed this secret to the
   suitors; and they demanded that she finally choose one of them to be
   her new husband. This occurred just before Odysseus' return, who was
   then able to watch the suitors drink and take advantage of his family's
   hospitality.

   Still in his disguise, Odysseus went to Penelope and told her that he
   had met Odysseus and that he had said that whoever could string
   Odysseus' bow and shoot an arrow through twelve axe-heads in a row
   would be able to marry Penelope. This was to Odysseus' advantage, as
   only he could string his own bow. (It is believed that Odysseus' bow
   was a composite bow, requiring great skill and leverage to string,
   rather than mere brute strength.) Penelope then announced what Odysseus
   had said. The suitors each tried to string the bow, but in vain.
   Odysseus then took the bow, strung it, lined up twelve axe-heads, and
   shot an arrow through all twelve. Athena then took off his disguise
   and, with the help of his son Telemachus, Athena, and Eumaeus, the
   swineherd, killed all of them except Medôn, who had been polite to
   Penelope, and Phemius, a local singer who had only been forced to help
   the suitors against Penelope. At first, he shot as many as he could
   with his bow, but when out of arrows he reached for spears. The suitors
   were caught at their surprise, unarmed and an easy prey, but later on
   during the conflict they started arming themselves. This however did
   not save their lives. Odysseus' son, Telemachus, later on killed all of
   the female servants who were availing themselves to the suitors.

   Penelope, still not quite sure that the stranger was indeed her
   husband, tested him. She ordered her maid to make up Odysseus' bed and
   move it from their bedchamber into the main hall of the house. Odysseus
   was astonished because the bed was made from a living olive tree, and
   thus it could not be moved; he told her this, and since only Odysseus
   and Penelope knew this, Penelope accepted that he was her husband. She
   came running to him, hoping that he would forgive her. He forgave her,
   because he could understand why she had tested him and because he had
   passed the test.

   One of the suitors' ( Antinous) fathers, Eupeithes, tried to overthrow
   Odysseus after the death of Antinous. Laërtes killed him, and Athena
   thereafter required the suitors' families and Odysseus to make peace;
   this ends the story of the Odyssey.

   Odysseus had been told (by the shade of Tiresias) that he had one more
   journey to make after he had re-established his rule in Ithaca and also
   that his death would come from the sea and would be peaceful and
   pleasant.

Other stories

   Odysseus is one of the most recurrent characters in Western literature.
   He has been used by innumerable writers, who often interpret his
   character and actions in very different ways.

Classical

   According to some late sources, most of them purely genealogical,
   Odysseus had many other children besides Telemachus, the most famous
   being:
     * with Penelope: Poliporthes (born after Odysseus' return from Troy)
     * with Circe: Telegonus, Ardeas
     * with Calypso: Nausinous
     * with Callidice: Polypoetes

   Most such genealogies aimed to link Odysseus with the foundation of
   many Italic cities in remote antiquity.

   He figures in the end of the story of King Telephus of Mysia.

   The supposed last poem in the Epic Cycle is called the Telegony, and is
   thought to tell the story of Odysseus's last voyage, and of his death
   at the hands of Telegonus, his son with Circe. The poem, like the
   others of the cycle, is "lost" in that no authentic version has been
   discovered.

   In 5th century BC Athens, tales of the Trojan War were popular subjects
   for tragedies, and Odysseus figures centrally or indirectly in a number
   of the extant plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, ( Ajax, Philoctetes) and
   Euripides, ( Hecuba, Rhesus) and figured in still more that have not
   survived.

   As Ulysses, he is mentioned regularly in Virgil's Aeneid, and the
   poem's hero, Aeneas, rescues one of Ulysses' crew members who was left
   behind on the island of the Cyclops. He in turn offers a first-person
   account of some of the same events Homer relates, in which Ulysses
   appears directly. Virgil's Ulysses typifies his view of the Greeks: he
   is cunning but impious, and ultimately malicious and hedonistic.

   Ovid retells parts of Ulysses' journeys, focusing on his romantic
   involvements with Circe and Calypso, and recasts him as, in Harold
   Bloom's phrase, "one of the great wandering womanizers." Ovid also
   gives a detailed account of the contest between Ulysses and Ajax for
   the armor of Achilles.

   Greek legend tells of Ulysses as the founder of Lisbon, Portugal,
   calling it Ulisipo or Ulisseya, during his twenty-year errand on the
   Mediterranean and Atlantic seas. Olisipo was Lisbon's name in the Roman
   Empire. Basing in this folk etymology, the belief that Ulysses founded
   Lisbon is recounted by Strabo based on Asclepiades of Myrleia's words,
   by Pomponius Mela, by Gaius Julius Solinus (3rd Century A.D.), and
   finally by Camões in his epic poem Lusiads (source: ).

Middle Ages and Renaissance

   Dante, in Canto Twenty-Six of the Inferno of his Divine Comedy,
   encounters Odysseus ("Ulisse" in the original Italian) near the very
   bottom of Hell: with Diomedes, he walks wrapped in flame in the eighth
   ring (Counselors of Fraud) of the Eighth circle (Sins of Malice), as
   punishment for his schemes and conspiracies that won the Trojan War. In
   a famous passage, Dante has Odysseus relate a different version of his
   final voyage and death from the one foreshadowed by Homer. He tells how
   he set out with his men for one final journey of exploration to sail
   beyond the Pillars of Hercules and into the western sea to find what
   adventures awaited them. After travelling west and south for five
   months, they saw in the distance a great mountain rising from the sea
   (this is Purgatory, in Dante's cosmology), before a storm sank them.
   Dante did not have access to the original Greek texts of the Homeric
   epics, so his knowledge of their subject-matter was based only on
   information from later sources, chiefly Virgil's Aeneid but also Ovid;
   hence the discrepancy between Dante and Homer.

   He appears in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida, set during the Trojan
   War.

Modern

   The bay of Palaiokastritsa in Corfu as seen from Bella vista of
   Lakones. Corfu is considered to be the mythical island of the
   Phaeacians. The bay of Palaiokastritsa is considered to be the place
   where Odysseus disembarked and met Nausicaa for the first time. The
   rock in the sea visible near the horizon at the top centre-left of the
   picture is considered by the locals to be the mythical petrified ship
   of Odysseus. The side of the rock toward the mainland is curved in such
   a way as to resemble the extended sail of a trireme
   The bay of Palaiokastritsa in Corfu as seen from Bella vista of
   Lakones. Corfu is considered to be the mythical island of the
   Phaeacians. The bay of Palaiokastritsa is considered to be the place
   where Odysseus disembarked and met Nausicaa for the first time. The
   rock in the sea visible near the horizon at the top centre-left of the
   picture is considered by the locals to be the mythical petrified ship
   of Odysseus. The side of the rock toward the mainland is curved in such
   a way as to resemble the extended sail of a trireme

   Alfred, Lord Tennyson's Ulysses presents an aging king who has seen too
   much of the world to be happy sitting on a throne idling his days away.
   Leaving the task of civilizing his people to his son, he gathers
   together a band of old comrades "to sail beyond the sunset".

   James Joyce's novel Ulysses uses modern literary devices to narrate a
   single day in the life of a Dublin businessman named Leopold Bloom;
   which turns out to bear many elaborate parallels to Odysseus' twenty
   years of wandering.

   Cream's song " Tales of Brave Ulysses" speaks somewhat of the travels
   of Odysseus including his encounter with the sirens.

   Frederick Rolfe's The Weird of the Wanderer has the hero Nicholas
   Crabbe (based on the author) travelling back in time, discovering that
   he is the reincarnation of Odysseus, marrying Helen, being deified and
   ending up as one of the three Magi.

   In Dan Simmons' novels Ilium and Olympos, Odysseus is encountered both
   at Troy and on a futuristic Earth.

   Nikos Kazantzakis' The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel, a 33,333 line epic
   poem, begins with Odysseus cleansing his body of the blood of
   Penelope's suitors. Odysseus soon leaves Ithaca in search of new
   adventures. Before his death he abducts Helen, incites revolutions in
   Crete and Egypt, communes with God, and meets representatives of
   various historical figures such as Vladimir Lenin and literary figures
   like Jesus, and Don Quixote.

   Ulysses 31 is a Japanese-French anime series (1981) which updates the
   Greek and Roman mythologies of Ulysses (or Odysseus) to the
   thirty-first century. In the series, the gods are angered when Ulysses,
   commander of the giant spaceship Odyssey, kills the giant Cyclops to
   rescue a group of enslaved children including Telemachus. Zeus
   sentences Ulysses to travel the universe with his crew frozen until he
   finds the Kingdom of Hades, at which point his crew will be revived and
   he will be able to return to Earth. In one episode, he travels back in
   time and meets the Odysseus of the Greek myth.

   The Coen Brothers' film O Brother Where Art Thou? (2000) is loosely
   based on the Odyssey. However, they also admit to never having read the
   epic. George Clooney plays Ulysses Everett McGill, leading a group of
   escapees from a chain gang through an adventure in search of the
   proceeds of an armoured truck heist. On their voyage, the gang
   encounter—amongst other characters—a trio of sirens and a one eyed
   bible salesman.

   In S.M. Stirling's Island in the Sea of Time Trilogy, Odikweos
   (Mycenean spelling) is a 'historical' figure who is every bit as
   cunning as his legendary self and is one of the few Bronze Age
   inhabitants who discerns the time-traveller's real background. Odikweos
   first aids William Walker's rise to power in Achaea, and later helps
   bring Walker down after seeing his homeland turn into a police state.

   Between 1978 and 1979, German director Tony Munzlinger made a
   documentary series called Unterwegs mit Odysseus (roughly translated:
   "Journeying with Odysseus"), in which a film team sails across the
   Aegian Sea trying to find traces of Odysseus in the modern-day settings
   of the Odyssey. In between the film crew's exploits hand-drawn
   scissor-cut cartoons are inserted which relate the hero's story, with
   actor Hans Clarin providing the vocals.

   Odysseus appears as a playable character in the video game Age of
   Mythology (2002). In addition, one of the levels in the game involves
   the player's rescue of Odysseus and his men from Circe.

   The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood retells the story from the point of
   view of Penelope.

   Lindsay Clarke's "The War at Troy" features Odysseus, and its sequel,
   "The Return from Troy" retells the voyage of Odysseus in a manner which
   combines myth with modern psychological insight.

   Odysseus may be part of the basis for the character of Desmond Hume on
   the television series Lost. He is attempting to finish a "race around
   the world" and return to his girlfriend Penelope when he is stranded on
   the island.

   Progressive Metal band Symphony X have a song referring to Odysseus'
   journey called 'The Odyssey' on the album going by the same name. It
   comes in at 24 minutes 7 seconds long, and has a 6 part orchestra
   playing in it, each part comprising of 60 people or so.

   Eilean Ni Chuilleanain, an Irish poet, wrote a poem called 'The Second
   Voyage' in which she makes use of the story of Odysseus.

   The Simpsons re-enacted a version of the Odyssey in their 13th season,
   fourteenth episode named ' Tales from the Public Domain ' There were
   three main stories in the episode, the first bearing the title 'D'oh,
   Brother Where Art Thou?' which starred Homer Simpson as Odysseus.

   A cartoon show named Class of the Titans has a character named 'Odie'
   who is a direct desendant of Odysseus. One of the Episodes, named 'The
   Odie-sey' on the show re-enacted the story of The Odyssey, with
   characters like Calypso, Scylla, and Aeolus, and also modern twists and
   such.

   Actor Sean Bean portrayed Odysseus in the epic movie Troy.

   Comic book characters Batman and Superman are said to be somewhat
   inspired by Odysseus and Hercules.

   One plotline in the comic series 52 featuring characters Adam Strange,
   Animal Man, and Starfire lost in space is reportedly paralleling the
   Odyssey.

Other cultures

     * Nala and Rama. A similar story exists in Indian mythology with Nala
       and Damayanti where Nala separates from Damayanti and reunites with
       her. The story of stringing a bow is similar to the description in
       Ramayana of Rama stringing the bow to win Sita's hand in marriage.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odysseus"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
