Parents: The son of Laertes, King of Ithaca, and Anticlea. Through his mother’s line, Odysseus was the great-grandson of the god Hermes and the grandson of the master trickster and thief Autolycus from whom he inherited his cunning nature. According to some alternative myths, his true father was Sisyphus.

Family: Odysseus married the faithful Penelope, a cousin of Helen of Troy. They had one son, Telemachus.

Prophecy: It was prophesied that if Odysseus joined the Trojan War, he would not return home for 20 years, and that he would lose all his companions along the way. To avoid being conscripted, he feigned madness (plowing a field and sowing it with salt), but his ruse was exposed by the hero Palamedes.

The Trojan War (10 years)

Odysseus set sail for the war leading a fleet of 12 ships. He proved himself to be a brilliant diplomat and strategist:

It was he who persuaded Achilles and Philoctetes to join the expedition.

Together with Diomedes, he stole the Palladium a sacred statue of Athena from the besieged city of Troy.

Greatest Feat: When the Greeks despaired of taking the city by force, Odysseus conceived the idea of ​​the Trojan Horse. Greek warriors hid inside the wooden statue, which the Trojans themselves brought into the city, ultimately leading to the fall of Troy.

The Journey Home and Wanderings (10 years)

Following the destruction of Troy, Odysseus’s return to Ithaca was delayed for an entire decade due to the wrath of Poseidon, the god of the sea. The hero endured many deadly trials:

Polyphemus the Cyclops: Odysseus blinded this man-eating son of Poseidon, thereby bringing the god’s curse upon himself.

Circe the Sorceress: She turned his crew into swine, but with the help of Hermes, Odysseus overcame her magic and spent a year with her.

Scylla and Charybdis: Odysseus managed to navigate his ship between these two terrifying monsters.

The Sirens: He had himself tied to the mast so he could hear their lethal song and survive.

Calypso the Nymph: The enamored nymph kept the hero on her island, Ogygia, for seven years, offering him immortality yet he longed only for his homeland.

Return to Ithaca and the Finale

Upon returning to Ithaca disguised as a beggar, Odysseus discovered that his home was being plundered by over a hundred brazen suitors vying for Penelope’s hand.

Penelope declared that she would marry whichever man could bend Odysseus’s heavy bow. Only the king himself still in disguise was able to do so.

Together with his son Telemachus, Odysseus slew all the suitors and reclaimed his throne.