How long was Odysseus away from home?

Twenty years in all. He spent ten years fighting at Troy and about ten more years trying to sail home, seven of them on Calypso’s island.

Why does Odysseus take so long to get home?

Storms, monsters and his own crew’s mistakes keep blowing him off course. Poseidon, the sea god, is also angry with him for blinding his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus.

Is Odysseus the same as Ulysses?

Yes. Ulysses is the Latin form of his Greek name, Odysseus. Some English translations, including Samuel Butler’s, use the Latin names.

From The Odyssey

Odysseus

King of Ithaca • Clever and brave

A brave, clever king who has spent long years at war and at sea and wants only to sail home to his family.

Who is Odysseus?

Odysseus is the clever King of Ithaca, a small rocky island in Greece. After ten years at war he spends ten more years trying to sail home, outwitting a one-eyed giant, an enchantress and the singing Sirens along the way. He is brave and strong, but his real gift is his quick mind, and he never stops longing for his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus.

Odysseus is a character in The Odyssey, the ancient Greek poem by Homer, retold for ages 6–9 by Sean Lee.

What is Odysseus like?

clever
determined
loving

Odysseus’s story

When the poem begins, Odysseus has been away from Ithaca for almost twenty years: ten fighting in the Trojan War and nearly ten more lost at sea. He has spent seven of those years on the island of the nymph Calypso, gazing out to sea and longing for home. The gods at last order Calypso to let him go, and he builds a raft and sails away, only to be wrecked by a storm sent by Poseidon, god of the sea.

Washed up in the land of the Phaeacians, he tells King Alcinous the story of his wanderings: the Lotus-Eaters, the Cyclops Polyphemus, the bag of winds, Circe’s island, a visit to the land of the dead, the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, and the cattle of the Sun. One by one he loses his ships and his men, and he alone survives.

The Phaeacians carry him home while he sleeps. Athena disguises him as an old beggar so he can test who is loyal. With the help of his son Telemachus and the faithful swineherd Eumaeus, he wins the contest of the great bow and fights the suitors who have taken over his palace. Penelope tests him with the secret of their bed, and after twenty years the family is together again.

“I am Ulysses son of Laertes, renowned among mankind for all manner of subtlety, so that my fame ascends to heaven.”

Odysseus, telling the Phaeacians who he is, in Samuel Butler’s translation, which calls him by his Latin name, Ulysses. From the original ancient Greek poem by Homer.

A moment to remember

Trapped in the Cyclops’s cave, Odysseus tells the giant his name is “Nobody,” so when the giant shouts for help, his neighbors think nobody is hurting him.

Penelope: wife
Telemachus: son
Athena: goddess who protects him
Eumaeus: faithful swineherd
Polyphemus: giant he outwits
Circe: enchantress who becomes his host
Antinous: leader of the suitors in his palace

Talk about it

Odysseus solved his biggest problems by thinking, not fighting. What is a problem you solved with a clever idea?

Questions about Odysseus

How long was Odysseus away from home?: Twenty years in all. He spent ten years fighting at Troy and about ten more years trying to sail home, seven of them on Calypso’s island.
Why does Odysseus take so long to get home?: Storms, monsters and his own crew’s mistakes keep blowing him off course. Poseidon, the sea god, is also angry with him for blinding his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus.
Is Odysseus the same as Ulysses?: Yes. Ulysses is the Latin form of his Greek name, Odysseus. Some English translations, including Samuel Butler’s, use the Latin names.