Homer called him polytropos — the man of many turns. But who exactly was Odysseus, and what did the ancient Greeks actually believe about him?
Odysseus (Ulysses in Latin) was the king of the island of Ithaca, son of Laertes and Anticlea. Homer's Iliad portrays him as the cleverest of the Greek heroes — a master strategist whose cunning often exceeded raw strength. His ten-year journey home after the Trojan War is the subject of Homer's Odyssey.
Odysseus is most famous for devising the Trojan Horse, a wooden structure hiding Greek soldiers that allowed them to breach Troy's walls. He is also known for his dangerous voyage home — encountering the Cyclops Polyphemus, the sorceress Circe, the Sirens, and the land of the dead — before reuniting with his wife Penelope after twenty years.
There is no archaeological evidence for an individual king of Ithaca named Odysseus. However, the Bronze Age Mycenaean civilization that Homer describes is historically real — Linear B tablets confirm palace economies, warlords, and sea trade routes consistent with the epic setting. Whether Odysseus is based on a real person, a composite, or a purely mythological figure remains unresolved.
Homer's Odyssey does not describe Odysseus's death. Later sources, including the lost epic Telegony, say he was killed accidentally by Telegonus — his own son by the sorceress Circe — who did not recognize his father when he landed on Ithaca. This version is attested by Hesiod's Theogony and several ancient summaries.