Odysseus, with his masterfully cunning mind was the king of Ithaca. According to the myth he was favored by the goddess Athena. He was the most tactiful hero of the Trojan war and this is his remarkable story of survival.

Odysseus was born to Laertes and Anticlea, he was the husband of Penelope and the father of Telemachus. He is most famously known for his voyage back home from Troy, which took him ten years.

When the Greeks set off to war with the Trojans Odysseus did not want to go, this was due to a prophecy stating that if he went he would have a long delayed return home. He tried to claim lunacy but unfortunately that backfired when Palamedes put Telemachus in front of a plough. In order not to kill his son he veered the plough away from Telemachus, therefore losing his hold to lunacy. For everyone knows that a sane person would not intentionally kill their own son.

His voyage back home was not an easy one, he came across many islands before returning home. The first island that he came across was Cicones. Odysseus and his men stormed the beach, the people of Cicones rallied up and made an attack on Odysseus and his men. Unfortunately he lost the battle along with many of his men, the rest fled the island.

The next island that he came across was Lotus-Eaters. When he got to the island he sent out three of his men to scout the island, the men started eating the lotus with the natives. They were drugged by the lotus, all they cared about was eating lotus and not about going back home. When they didn’t come back Odysseus went looking for them, he dragged them back to the ships and tied them to the rudder benches to prevent them fro swimming back to the island.

Odysseus then arrived in the territory of the Cyclops. He led a scouting party with his friend Misenus and came across a very large cave. When they entered the cave they found livestock and began feasting upon it, little did they know the cave was the dwelling place of Polyphemus, who was a one-eyed giant. When Polyphemus got back to his cave he found Odysseus and his men there, he trapped them in the cave by putting a boulder in the entrance. Polyphemus started eating them in pairs everyday. Odysseus using that cunning mind of his devised a plan, he gave the giant a bowl of wine that was given to him by Maron(the priest of Apollo). In appreciation the giant asked Odysseus for his name, in which he replied “Noman” the giant then offered to eat him last. The giant then fell asleep, Odysseus and his men turned an olive branch into a giant spear, they then jabbed the spear into the giants eye. The other Cyclops heard his cries and went to the cave to ask what was wrong, the giant replied “Noman is killing me either by treachery or brute violence” thinking that his outburst were either madness or the will of the gods, the other Cyclops let him be.

The next morning the Cyclops removed the boulder to let the sheep out to graze, since the Cyclops was now blind he touched the sheep’s as they went out of the cave, to make sure no one was trying to escape on the backs of the sheep. Odysseus had a plan, he and his men tied themselves to the belly of the sheep’s and escaped. When they were not to far away, he told the giant his real name. The giant then prayed to his father Poseidon and asked him not to let Odysseus to get back home, if he did then he must be alone and on a stranger’s ship.

He stopped along many other islands. He went to the underworld, he stop at the Island of Calypso(daughter of Atlas), he also lost his crew. He did finally arrive back in Ithaca. There were many men who were competing for the prize of Penelope. Odysseus had been gone for twenty years and no one knew if he was alive or not. The suitors that arrived in Ithica were pressuring Penelope to declare that Odysseus was dead and to choose a new husband. She managed to hold them of for years using tactics, she said that she would choose a husband as soon as she finished weaving a burial shroud for her husband. She would weave some of the shroud by day and at night undo her work.

When Odysseus arrived at Ithaca he was disguised as an old man by Athena. The first person that he saw was his old friend Eumaeus, who did not recognize him but still treated him well. Telemachus returned to Ithaca after a year of searching for information about his father. When he got there, Athena showed him the true identity of the old man, which turned out to be his father.

Telemachus took him to his house where he sat in a corner observing the suitors. He then saw Penelope and told her that he met Odysseus, he told her a tale about his bravery in battle, since Penelope didn’t recognize him she began to cry. She went and told the suitors that whoever could string Odysseus’s bow and shoot an arrow through 12 axe-handles could marry her.

This was great because Odysseus was the only one that could string his bow. The suitor each had a turn trying to string the bow, but each one failed. Odysseus still disguised as an old man, took the bow and strung it, he then lined up the 12 axe-handles and shot an arrow through all of them. The suitors were surprised, for right then Athena took off Odysseus’s disguise, with the help of his son, they killed every suitor that was there.

Penelope was not sure that the old man was her husband, so she tested him. She told the maid to make up Odysseus’s bed and move it from their bed chamber and put it outside of the room. When Odysseus heard this he was upset because he designed one of the bed post from a living olive tree, so the bed could not be moved. He told his wife that the bed could not be moved, when she heard this she was so happy to know that indeed Odysseus was back, for only he knew and she knew that the bed could not be moved.

Odysseus suffered a lot of grief for going to the war at Troy, it took ten years for the war to end and another ten years just to get back home. His mother had died of grief, but his wife never betrayed him, their love lasted forever. In the end he was back home and he had his family with him.