ODYSSEY MYTHOLOGY
Who Is Odysseus?
The king of Ithaca, known as much for his stubbornness as for his wit — and for a homecoming that took twenty years
Odysseus is king of Ithaca, a small and rocky island in the Ionian Sea. He is the son of Laertes and Anticleia, husband of Penelope, father of Telemachus. The epic introduces him not by strength but by mind: his most frequent epithet is “polymetis”, the man of many devices. The wooden horse that ended a ten-year war was his idea.
When the war ends he sails with twelve ships, but the way home takes longer than the war did. The raid on the Cicones, the land of the lotus-eaters, the cave of the Cyclops Polyphemus, the wind-bag of Aeolus, the Laestrygonian giants, the island of Circe, the descent to the land of the dead, the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, the cattle of the Sun and the island of Calypso — every stop costs him something.
When he blinds the Cyclops and then shouts his own name across the water, he draws down the anger of Poseidon; that single moment of pride delays his return by years. By the end of the voyage he has neither ship nor companions: he is set ashore on Ithaca asleep, from a stranger’s ship.
He does not announce himself when he arrives. He enters his own hall dressed as a beggar, takes the measure of the suitors, proves himself the only man who can string his own bow — and only then reveals himself to Penelope, who tests him in turn with a secret: the secret of their marriage bed.
Role in the epic
The Odyssey is named after him, and throughout the poem the measure of things is his mind: where force loses, cunning, patience or speech win. But while the epic praises that intelligence it also counts its cost — a voyage that began with six hundred men ends with one.
How you meet them in the game
In the game, you are Odysseus. Your Cunning, Rhetoric, Courage and Seafaring are added to a 2d6 roll at every encounter, and you manage ships, crew, supplies, morale and hull. Athena’s favour adds to your dice; Poseidon’s wrath raises your storm risk. Three endings are possible: reach home, take immortality, or stay at sea forever.
Quick facts
- Role
- King of Ithaca, hero of the epic
- Origin
- Ithaca (Ionian Sea)
- Family
- Father Laertes, mother Anticleia, wife Penelope, son Telemachus
- Epithet
- “Polymetis” — of many devices
Related locations
- Troy — The shore where a ten-year war ended and the homecoming began
- Land of the Cyclopes — “My name is Nobody” — the most famous trick in the epic
- Ithaca — The last trial of a man coming home after twenty years
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Penelope · Polyphemus · Circe · Calypso
Odyssey gods and monsters · Odyssey map: the 14 stops · The Odyssey story