Ancient Romans like Virgil and Cicero hated Odysseus because they were reading Homer's actual text more honestly than most modern readers do—and they had no problem calling him a war criminal for it.
The oldest source here is Homer himself, writing around the 8th century BCE in the Odyssey. But the Romans caught something we often miss: Homer wasn't hiding Odysseus's darkness. He was showing it. Virgil, writing his Aeneid roughly 750 years after Homer, portrays Odysseus as basically a murderer and schemer. Cicero went further in De Officiis (44 BCE), calling him outright a liar and coward.
They weren't being harsh or reading between the lines. They were just paying attention to what Homer actually wrote.
We tend to think of Odysseus as a clever hero who outsmarted his enemies and reclaimed his home. That's true. But we gloss over the part where Homer describes him standing over a hundred dead men, grinning "like a lion over its prey"—not with satisfaction, but with savage joy. The Greek word gethosyne doesn't mean justice. It means exultation.
Penelope doesn't even recognize him afterward. She's not being coy about the bed test—she's genuinely afraid. She's watched this man slaughter people in her house. The Romans saw that fear and asked the question we avoid: what if Odysseus didn't come home changed? What if he came home exactly the same person he'd always been?
Homer, Odyssey Book 22 (c. 750 BCE) — The suitor massacre and Odysseus's reaction
Virgil, Aeneid — Odysseus portrayed as schemer and deceiver
Cicero, De Officiis — Direct critique of Odysseus's character
The Romans weren't smarter than us. They just read the poem without modern softening.
Watch the full episode on Krios YouTube.
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