Odysseus

Quick Facts

Odysseus or Ulysses was the Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem, the Odyssey.

According to the Odyssey, his father is Laertes and his mother is Anticleia.

Odysseus is renowned for his guile and resourcefulness.

Odysseus or Ulysses was the Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of 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, 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 the Odyssey, his father is Laertes and his mother is Anticleia. 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.