If you just love Greek mythology, then you probably already know a thing or two about one of the most epic myths of all time – the Odyssey! It’s the story of Greek king Odysseus as he travels home after the Trojan War, and it’s an absolute whirlwind of mishaps, magic and monsters! These fun facts will tell you all about Odysseus, the hero of the story – and you might be surprised by some of them! If you’re left hungry for more mythological mayhem, we’ve got it! Learn all about Medusa, or Hercules, or see how well you know Greek mythology!

1. He was written by Homer

Homer was an Ancient Greek poet most famous for two epic poems: The Iliad and The Odyssey. They’re both two of the most important works in Greek literary history, and Homer is generally considered one of the most influential writers of all time. Odysseus is the hero of The Odyssey, which is a sequel to The Iliad, the story of the Trojan War. The Odyssey was probably written in the 8th century BC, though we’re not sure of the exact date. Just like The Iliad, The Odyssey is a long poem divided into 24 books, and it’s an epic. That’s epic in the classical sense, not like how the fajitas you just had for lunch were totally epic! In literary terms, an epic is a very long poem about the extraordinary adventures of extraordinary characters. The Odyssey was first published in English in 1614.

2. He’s descended from a god

Odysseus was the great-grandson of Hermes, the messenger of the Greek Gods!  He’s related on his mother’s side, as his maternal grandfather was the thief Autoloycus, Hermes’ son. Hermes appears in The Odyssey three times – to plead with Calypso to send Odysseus home, to warn Odysseus about Circe and give him the info he will need to defeat her, and at the very end to take the spirits of the suitors to the Underworld.

3. He’s also known as Ulysses

In Latin, Odysseus is known as Ulysses. The Romans renamed a lot of Greek gods and heroes in their own traditions. There were various reasons for this, but it’s always been quite common for other languages to rename characters in their translations of other cultures’ stories. Ulysses probably came from Etruscan, which was an older language that influenced Latin.

4. He was inside the Trojan horse!

You probably know about the famous scene at the end of Trojan War where the Greek army win by sneaking into Troy by hiding inside a giant wooden horse! Here’s a fun fact – that never actually happens in The Iliad! It’s described in The Aeneid, a later epic by Roman poet Virgil about the end of the Trojan War. Homer describes the incident briefly in The Odyssey, and Virgil later wrote a whole book of The Aeneid about the horse and the subsequent sacking of Troy. Odysseus (called Ulysses in The Aeneid of course), comes up with the cunning plan to sneak into the city. According to later poems, Odysseus joined the thirty warriors inside the horse.

5. He had a thing for Helen of Troy

The Trojan war kicked off in the first place because Helen, the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus, ran away with Paris (the prince of Troy). It’s debated whether she was kidnapped or whether she went willingly, but either way Menelaus wasn’t happy! Helen was renowned for being the most beautiful woman in the world, so she had a LOT of suitors before she married Menelaus. Odysseus was one of them, but he didn’t even bring a gift because he didn’t think he would win! Helen’s father was scared to pick a suitor, because he was afraid of offending everyone else. Odysseus had his eye on Helen’s cousin, so he proposed a sensible solution to the suitor problem in exchange for the cousin’s hand in marriage. All the suitors had to solemnly vow to protect whoever Helen chose. Helen chose Menelaus, and that meant that when Helen was taken, all the suitors had to join in on Menelaus’s side.

6. He was married to Penelope

The woman that Odysseus married was named Penelope. She was the daughter of a Spartan king, and when she married Odysseus she became the queen of Ithaca. Odysseus met Penelope when he was courting Helen, and fell in love with her because she was just as clever as him! They had a son together, who was named Telemachus. Penelope is best remembered for her unwavering loyalty to Odysseus in the twenty years he was away. She is pressured by 108 suitors to remarry, and she refuses to choose any of them. She tells them she will choose one of them when she has finished weaving a funeral shroud for Odysseus – but each night she creeps to the loom and unravels her work. She was eventually discovered, but fortunately Odysseus returned before she had to choose a suitor. When Odysseus got back, he found that the suitors had trashed his house and he wasn’t happy – in fact, he ordered them all killed.

7. It took him ten years to get home

Ever found yourself dying of boredom on a long journey? Well, it could be worse – you could be Odysseus and spend ten long years trying to get back his home island, Ithaca! Locations in The Odyssey can be a bit hard to figure out, but according to American sailor Hal Roth there are only about 565 nautical miles between the two. Roth and his wife Margaret sailed the rough journey that Odysseus and his crew took, and their most direct route was 2,650 miles. A long distance for sure, but it’s less than the distance between London and New York, which a modern airplane can cover in about eight hours! To be fair to Odysseus, he did have a lot to deal with on his journey – more on that later!

8. He was gored by a boar

Even as a kid, Odysseus was a pretty awesome fighter! When he was a child he was very athletic, and very good at archery. According to legend, a young Odysseus was injured during a boar hunt with his uncles when he misjudged a boar’s speed and was gored through the leg. Through quick thinking, he managed to spear the boar in the flank, saving himself and his uncles.

9. He was very smart

You might have noticed from his wooden horse strategy and his plan to appease Helen’s suitors, but Odysseus was best known for his wit and strategic skills!  He was also a very skilled speaker, and good at convincing others that his ideas were the best way forward. He had the help of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, on his journeys. Throughout the Odyssey, Athena helps Odysseus by influencing other characters and helping him disguise himself.

10. The Romans didn’t like him very much

The Romans loved Greek myths, but they didn’t think Odysseus was very heroic at all! This is because they thought of themselves as the descendants of Prince Aeneas of Troy, which would make Odysseus the villain of the story. Virgil calls him “cruel Odysseus” and “deceitful Odysseus”. The Romans had a strong sense of honour and duty, and believed that Odysseus’s cunning and trickery made him unsympathetic.

11. He had many amazing adventures

This is something you definitely already know, but if you haven’t read the full poem, you might not know just how many crazy adventures Odysseus went on! He’s captured by a cyclops, meets a race of people who live in a paradise brought on by eating magic lotuses, meets the master of the winds who gives them a magic bag of wind, gets blown off course by said bag of wind, meets a wicked sorceress who turns his men into pigs, escapes the Sirens, meets the monsters Scylla and Charybdis, offends the sun god, and ends up having a seven-year relationship with a nymph – and that’s not even all of it! No wonder it took ten years!

12. He’s a hero archetype

An archetype is a common example of a certain idea – so, if your dad loves football and bad jokes, you could say he’s an archetype of a dad! Odysseus is quite a complex character because he doesn’t always do things that we might think are heroic (the Romans certainly didn’t), but his story is an archetype of the hero’s journey. The hero’s journey is a common plot that shows up over and over again in storytelling. Think about some of the most popular films and books of recent years, and then think about the adventures their characters go on. Harry Potter, Frodo Baggins and Luke Skywalker all have a journey that takes them from ordinary life through trials and tribulations that end up changing them forever. Odysseus is an early example of this kind of hero!

13. He’s inspired a lot of new literature

Speaking of inspiration, Odysseus and his story have been very influential on art and literature, and still are today! He appears as a character in Italian poet Dante’s 14^th century epic The Divine Comedy, and also in Shakespeare’s 1602 play Troilus and Cressida. He was also a major figure in later literature, where he his story is used as a metaphor for the characters’ problems, most famously in Ulysses by James Joyce. On the feminist side, Margaret Atwood wrote The Penelopiad, which tells Penelope’s side of the story!

14. He loved his dog

One heroic thing about Odysseus is that he really loved his dog! The dog, Argos, used to go on hunting trips with Odysseus – and when he returned to Ithaca, Argos recognised him immediately even though he was in disguise!

15. He wasn’t real

There’s so much written about Odysseus that you can’t help but wonder – was there a chance he was based on a real person? The answer is no – we know for a fact that he was entirely fictional. Still, that doesn’t make the story any less interesting!