Odysseus

Family: mythological · Role: Greek hero · First appears: Book 1 · Chapter 22

In Book 1, Odysseus took the Palladium from Ilium, and Nausicaa’s encounter with him at the river was represented by Polygnotus. In Book 3, he won Icarius’s race for Penelope’s suitors, after which he installed Athene’s statue as Celeuthea; Icarius then gave Penelope in marriage to Odysseus, and allowed her to leave for Ithaca with him. Odysseus was also described speaking about what he had seen in Hades and wishing to see Theseus and Pirithous.

In Book 5, Odysseus appeared with Circe in a painted scene and was set opposite Helenus as one of the most remarkable wise men of the Greek and barbarian armies. He was among the Greek warriors chosen by lot for single combat with Hector, though Nero later carried his statue to Rome. In Book 8, Penelope was represented as bearing their son Ptoliporthes after Odysseus’s return from Troy, while another Mantinean tradition said that Odysseus sent her away after discovering that she had encouraged the suitors. He established sacred places connected with Artemis and Poseidon, and on his return from Ilium built a temple to Poseidon and Athene.

In Book 9, Odysseus slew the suitors. Book 10 places him hunting with Autolycus’s sons, where a boar wounded him in the knee; recognizing the wounded Helicaon in battle, he rescued him alive, and killed Leocritus. He descended to Hades to consult Tiresias about returning home, while his stories included an account to Alcinous of the journey and the souls he saw there. He was associated with Eumæus, Sinon, Perimedes, and Eurylochus, with Anticlea as his mother, and with Eurybates as his herald; he urged the Greeks to stone Ajax the son of Oileus for the rape of Cassandra, and tradition also said that Diomede and Odysseus drowned Palamedes while he was fishing. Actæon, Salaminian Ajax, Palamedes, and Thersites were gathered among his enemies, while Homer described the Læstrygones who attacked his ships as giant-like.