Odysseus

For other meanings, see Odysseus crater, 1143 Odysseus, or Ulysses

Head of Odysseus from a Greek 2nd century B.C.E. 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 Medusa/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 Odysseus; Latin: Ulixes or, more commonly, Ulysses), pronounced /oʊˈdɪs.i.əs/, was the Greek king of Ithaca and the main hero in Homer's epic poem, the Odyssey. Odysseus plays a key role in Homer's Iliad. King of Ithaca, husband of Penelope, father of Telemachus, and son of Laërtes and Anticlea (although there was a tradition that Sisyphus was his true father), Odysseus is renowned for his guile and resourcefulness (known by the epithet Odysseus the Cunning, and said to be third to only Zeus and Athena in wisdom; see mētis, or "cunning intelligence"), and is most famous for the ten eventful years it took him to return home after the Trojan War.

Relatively little is known of Odysseus' background except that his paternal grandfather (or step-grandfather) is Arcesius, son of Cephalus and grandson of Aeolus, whilst his maternal grandfather is Autolycus, son of Hermes and Chione. According to some late sources, most of them purely genealogical, Odysseus had many children, including, with Penelope, Telemachus and Poliporthes (born after Odysseus' return from Troy). With Circe, there was Telegonus, Ardeas, and Latinus. With Calypso, there was Nausinous and with Callidice, came Polypoetes.

Most such genealogies aim to link Odysseus with the foundation of many Italic cities of remote antiquity. 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 odussomai (ὀδύσσομαι), meaning "Hate", suggests that the name could be rendered as "the one who is wrathful/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/suffering pain"—not surprisingly, Odysseus frequently suffers pain (mental and/or physical) if he inflicts pain on someone else.

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' (alternative interpretations/translations are 'child of anger' or 'man of suffering') and his father named him that because his grandfather Autolycus suggested it.

Helen of Troy

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.

In a last ditch attempt to avert war, Odysseus accompanied Menelaus and Palamedes to Troy in an effort to negotiate Helen's peaceful return. Menelaus made unpersuasive emotional arguments, but Odysseus' arguments very nearly persuaded the Trojan court to hand Helen over.

The Trojan War

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

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 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 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.

The Trojan Horse, the famous stratagem, was devised by Odysseus. It was built by Epeius and filled with Greek warriors led by Odysseus. Finally, after nine-years, the Trojan War ends.

The Journey to Ithaca

It takes Odysseus eleven years to reach Ithaca. The Odyssey contains that epic story. After Odysseus and his men depart from Troy, greeted by friendly and calm waters, their ships near land and Eurylochus, convincing Odysseus that the gods are on their side, tells him to go ashore and loot the nearby city. The crew had landed in Ismara. The city is not at all protected, and all of the inhabitants flee without a fight into the nearby mountains. Odysseus and his men loot the city and rob it of all its goods. Odysseus then wisely orders the men to board the ships quickly. They refuse, eat dinner and fall asleep on the beach. The next morning, the Ciconians (also known as the Cicones), allies of Troy and great warriors, return with their fierce kinsmen from the mountains. Odysseus and his men flee to the ships as fast as they can, 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; later used against the cyclops.

Odysseus and his men then land upon the island of the Lotus-Eaters. Odysseus sends out a small scouting party who eat the lotus with the natives. This causes them to fall asleep, awakening somewhat later, euphoric and intoxicated. Odysseus pursues the scouting party, drags them back to their ships against their will where they set sail again; the drugged men tied to the rudder benches to prevent them from swimming back to the island.

File:Odysseus Chiaramonti Inv1901.jpg

Odysseus offering wine to the Cyclops

Later, a scouting party led by Odysseus and his friend Misenus, lands in the territory of the Cyclops venturing upon a large cave. They enter the cave and proceed to feast on the livestock they find there. Unknown to them, the cave is the dwelling of Polyphemus, a one-eyed giant (or cyclops) who soon returns. Polyphemus refuses hospitality to his uninvited guests and traps them in his cave, blocking the entrance with a boulder immovable by mortal men. He then proceeds to eat a pair of the men each day. 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 Οὔτις (Outis, "Nobody," 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 favor by eating him last. Once the giant falls asleep, Odysseus and his men turn a pine into a giant spear, which they had previously crafted while Polyphemus was out shepherding his flocks, and blind Polyphemus. Hearing Polyphemus' cries, other Cyclopes come to his cave, instinctively. Polyphemus replies "Οὖτίς με κτείνει δόλῳ οὐδὲ βίηφιν." ("Nobody is killing me either by treachery or brute violence!"). 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 that 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 the sheep. Once Odysseus and his men are out, they load the sheep on board their ships 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, god of the sea. He asks him not to allow Odysseus to get back home to Ithaca, and if he does, he must arrive 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.

Odysseus next stops at Aeolia, home of Aeolus, the favoured mortal of the gods who received the power of controlling the winds. Aeolus gives Odysseus and his crew hospitality for a month in return for Odysseus telling interesting stories. Aeolus also provides a bag filled with all the winds except for the one that will lead him home. Odysseus' crew members suspect that treasure is in the bag (due to Odysseus guarding the bag for the entire voyage home without a wink of sleep). A couple of the men decide to open it as soon as Odysseus falls asleep - just before their home is reached. Subsequently, they are blown away by a violent storm back to Aeolia by Poseidon, where Aeolus refuses to provide any more help fearing that Odysseus is indeed, cursed by the gods. Once again, Odysseus has to start his journey from Aeolia to Ithaca.

Arriving at Telepylos, the stronghold of Lamos, king of the Laestrygonians. Odysseus's ships enter a harbor surrounded by steep cliffs, a single entrance between two headlands. The captains take their ships inside and make them fast close to one another, the waters, dead calm. Odysseus keeps his own ship outside the harbor, moored to a rock. He sends two of his company with an attendant to investigate the inhabitants.

The men follow a road and eventually meet a young woman, identifying herself as a daughter of Antiphates, the king, and directing them to his home. However, when they arrive there they find a gigantic woman, the wife of Antiphates who promptly calls her husband. He immediately snatches up one of the men and starts to eat him. Two other men run away, but Antiphates raises such a commotion that they are pursued by thousands of Laestrygonians; giants, not men. They throw vast rocks from the cliffs, smashing the ships, and spear the men like fish.

Odysseus makes his escape with his single ship not trapped in the harbor. The rest of his company is lost. He and his surviving crew venture next to the island of Circe.

Upon arrival on the shore of the island of Circe the enchantress (Aeaea), Odysseus again sends a scouting party ahead of the rest of the group. Circe invites the scouting party to a feast. However, the food is laced with one of her magical potions to make them sleep, and she then proceeds to change all the men into pigs with a wave of her magical wand. Only Eurylochus, suspecting treachery from the outset, escapes by hiding. He warns Odysseus and the others who had stayed behind at the ships. Odysseus sets out to rescue his men, but is intercepted by Hermes who tells him to procure some of the herb molu first so as to protect him from the same fate. When her magic fails somehow she falls in love with Odysseus. Her offer to share her bed with Odysseus, at first, goes unheard. Odysseus declares that he'll accept her offer only after she has turned his men back into their human form. Circe obliges and they share her bed. Much later, after Odysseus and his men have gone, Circe bears him a son, Telegonus. It will be Telegonuswho eventually brings about the death of Odysseus.

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

Odysseus desires to talk with Tiresias, so he and his men journey to the River Acheron in Hades, where they perform sacrifices which allow them to speak to the dead. Odysseus sacrifices a ram and the dead spirits are attracted to the blood. Odysseus holds them at bay and demands to speak with Tiresias, who tells him how to pass by Helios' 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 tells Odysseus that, after all that is done, he will die an old man, "full of years and peace of mind," that his death will come from the sea, ebbing 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.

Odysseus and the Sirens by John William Waterhouse

Circe had warned Odysseus of the dangers of these The Sirens, singing creatures of the sea who pulled men to their death. She had advised him to avoid hearing the song, but that if he really felt he had to hear it, 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 tells the men that Circe had told him that he had to listen to the song. He obeys her instructions and listens to the song while he is 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.

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

The advice is to sail close to Scylla and to lose the six men but not to fight, lest he lose more men. However, he does not dare tell his crew of the terrible sacrifice, for fear of ending up in the whirlpool of Charybdis. Six men die, and Odysseus declares that the desperate cries of his wretched betrayed men as the worst thing he has ever known. Undoubtedly, this affected morale and left the survivors feeling mutinous.

Finally, Odysseus and his surviving crew approach the island, Thrinacia, sacred to Helios, where he keeps sacred cattle. Odysseus had been warned by Tiresias and Circe not to touch these cattle. Odysseus tells his men that they will not be landing on the island. Eurylochus then threatens mutiny and Odysseus unwisely gives in. The men are trapped by adverse winds on the island and begin to get hungry. Odysseus ventures inland to pray for help, but falls asleep. In his absence Eurylochus incites the men to kill and eat the cattle. The guardians of the island, Helios' daughters, Lampetia and Phaethusa, of course, tell their father. Helios complains to Zeus threatening to take the sun down to Hades if justice is not done. Zeus destroys the ship with a thunderbolt and all the men die except for Odysseus. Odysseus is hence swept past both Scylla and Charybdis, washing up finally, on Calypso's island.

File:Odysseus And Nausicaä - Project Gutenberg eText 13725.jpg

Odysseus and Nausicaä by Charles Gleyre.

Odysseus is washed ashore on Ogygia, where the nymph Calypso, daughter of Atlas lives. She makes him her lover for seven years, not allowing him to leave, promising immortality if he stays. Odysseus, conflicted, remains strongly attracted to her by night, yet weeps for home and his family by day. On behalf of Athena, Zeus at last intervenes and sends Hermes to order Calypso to let Odysseus go. Odysseus leaves on a small raft furnished with provisions, only to be hit by a storm launched by his old enemy Poseidon. He washes up on the island of Scheria and is found by Nausicaa, daughter of King Alcinous and Queen Arete of the Phaeacians, who entertain him well and escort him to Ithaca. While upon Scheria, the bard sings a song of the Trojan war. As Odysseus was at Troy and longs to return to his home, he weeps at the song. Alcinous, realizing this decides 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 had obtained on the way and the gifts the Phaecians themselves had bestowed upon him (showing xenia, the idea of guest friendship). King Alcinous provides one fast Phæacian, ship that soon carried Odysseus home to Ithaca. However, Poseidon, upon seeing Odysseus return home, is furious and intends to cast a ring of mountains around Scheria so they can never sail again. This naturally would have been very damaging to the Phaecians, as they were seafarers. Zeus, however, manages to persuade Poseidon not to do this. Instead, he turns the ship which carries Odysseus home to stone.

Home to Penelope

In Ithaca, Penelope is having difficulties. Her husband has been gone for twenty years, and she does not know for sure whether he is alive or dead. She is beset with numerous men who think that a (fairly) young widow and queen of a small but tidy kingdom is a great prize. They want her to declare Odysseus dead and to choose a new husband from among them. Meanwhile, these suitors hang around the palace, eat her food, drink her wine, and consort with several of her maidservants. Temporizing, she fends them off for years, utilizing stalling tactics that are gradually wearing thin. For quite some time, Penelope pretends to weave a burial shroud for Laërtes, Odysseus' father, who lies gravely ill, (Odysseus' mother, Anticlea, has already died of grief) claiming that she will choose one suitor when the job is finished. Every day she weaves a length of shroud, and every night she unweaves the same length of shroud. Finally, one day, a maid of hers betrays this secret to the suitors and they demand that she finally choose one of them to be her new husband.

Odysseus arrives alone. Upon landing, he is disguised as an old man in rags by Athena. Odysseus is welcomed by his old swineherd, Eumaeus, who does not recognize him, but still treats him well. His faithful dog, Argos, is the first to recognize him. Aged and decrepit, the dog does its best to wag its tail, but Odysseus, not wanting to be found out, pays him no attention. The disconsolate dog dies. The first human to recognize him is his old wet nurse, Euryclea, who knows him well enough to see through the rags, recognizing him by an old scar on his leg received when hunting boar with Iphitus. His son, Telemachus, does not see through the disguise, but Odysseus reveals his identity to him.

Still in his disguise, Odysseus approaches Penelope and tells her that he has met Odysseus and that he has said that whoever can string Odysseus' bow and shoot an arrow through twelve axe-heads in a row will be able to marry Penelope. This is to Odysseus' advantage, as only he can 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 announces what Odysseus has said. The suitors each try to string the bow, but in vain. Odysseus then takes the bow, strings it, lines up twelve axe-heads, and shoots an arrow through all twelve. Athena then takes off his disguise and, with the help of his son Telemachus, Athena, and Eumaeus, the swineherd, kills all of them except Medôn, the herald, who had served the suitors due only to coercion, and Phemius, a bard or minstrel who too had been pressured by the suitors to entertain them. At first, he shoots as many as he could with his bow, but when out of arrows he reaches for spears. Odysseus' son, Telemachus, later on kills all of the female servants who were availing themselves to the suitors.

Penelope, still not quite sure that the stranger is indeed her husband, tests him. She orders her maid to make up Odysseus' bed and move it from their bedchamber into the main hall of the house. Odysseus is initially furious when he hears this because one of the bed posts is made from a living olive tree - he himself had designed it this way, and thus it could not be moved. He tells her this and since only Odysseus and Penelope know that for a fact, Penelope at last, embraces her husband, begging for forgiveness.

One of the suitors' (Antinous) fathers, Eupeithes, tries to overthrow Odysseus after the death of Antinous. Laërtes kills him, and Athena thereafter requires the suitors' families and Odysseus to make peace. This is where the story of the Odyssey ends.

Classical Writings

Odysseus is one of the most recurrent characters in Western culture from classic to modern times.

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 B.C.E. 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 and is constantly referred to as "Cruel Odysseus."

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 C.E.), and finally by Camões in his epic poem Lusiads (source: [1]).

Middle Ages and Renaissance Literature

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 Literature

File:Bay of Palaiokastritsa from Bellavista.JPG

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 center-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.

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.

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 famous historical and literary figures, such as Vladimir Lenin, Jesus and Don Quixote.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Vasil S. Tole, Odyssey and Sirens: A Temptation towards the Mystery of the Iso-polyphonic Regions of Epirus, A Homeric theme with variations, Tirana, Albania, 2005, ISBN 99943-31-63-9
• Claybourne, Anna and Khanduri, Kamini. Greek Myths: Ulysses and the Trojan War (Greek Myths: Ulysses & the Trojan War). Usborne Books (October 2003). ISBN 978-0794505356
• Bittlestone, Robert with Diggle, James and Underhill, John. Odysseus Unbound: The Search for Homer’s Ithaca. Cambridge University Press (2005) . ISBN 978-0521853576

See also

• Homer's Ithaca
• Odysseus Unbound

External links

• Archaeological Discovery in Greece may be the tomb of Odysseus [2]

• Odysseus
• In the animated television series Class of the Titans, the character Odie is descended from Odysseus.

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