Odysseus

Odysseus was a short powerfully built man. Best known not for his strength, but for his cleverness in Greek mythology. He was the son of Anticleia and his name meant "the angry one," because of his red hair.

Odysseus later married Penelope, and moved to Argos. When the Trojan War began,

Odysseus was told that if he went to Troy, then it would be twenty years before he would return home. In addition he would also be alone and poor. So of course he did not wish to leave. He feigned insanity instead. Agamemnon endangered Telemachus' life, forcing Odysseus to drop his act.

During the Trojan War, Odysseus made a name for himself not as a fighter, but as a clever, intelligent Greek. He claimed to have dreamed up the idea of the Trojan Horse, which allowed the Greeks to sneak into the impregnable walls of Troy. When the war ended and Odysseus tried to return home, an entire new epic was born. These events are described in detail by Homer in the Odyssey.

Odysseus does arrive home twenty years later; alone and poor. Yet he triumphs in the end.