Odysseus | |
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![]() Head of Odysseus from a Roman period Hellenistic marble group representing Odysseus blinding Polyphemus, found at the villa of Tiberius at Sperlonga, Italy | |
In-universe information | |
Title | King of Ithaca |
Spouse | Penelope |
Children | Telemachus, Telegonus, Cassiphone, Agrius, Anteias, Ardas, Rhomos, Poliporthes, Latinus, Nausinous, Nausithous, Euryalus |
Relatives | Laertes (father) Anticlea (mother) Ctimene (sister) |
Nationality | Greek |
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Greek mythology |
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Deities |
Heroes and heroism |
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In Greek and Roman mythology, Odysseus (/əˈdɪsiəs/ ə-DISS-ee-əs;[1] Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς, Ὀδυσεύς, translit. Odysseús, Odyseús, IPA: [o.dy(s).sěu̯s]), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses (/juːˈlɪsiːz/ yoo-LISS-eez, UK also /ˈjuːlɪsiːz/ YOO-liss-eez; Latin: Ulysses, Ulixes), is a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in that same epic cycle.[2]
As the son of Laërtes and Anticlea, husband of Penelope, and father of Telemachus, Acusilaus, and Telegonus,[3] Odysseus is renowned for his intellectual brilliance, guile, and versatility (polytropos), and he is thus known by the epithet Odysseus the Cunning (Greek: μῆτις, translit. mêtis, lit. "cunning intelligence"[4]). He is most famous for his nostos, or "homecoming", which took him ten eventful years after the decade-long Trojan War.[5]