Trojan War

Shortly before the outbreak of the war, Odysseus married the beautiful Penelope, who gave him a son, Telemachus. It was for the sake of his wife and his son that Odysseus did not want to go to war, so he tried to feign madness. But Palamedes discovered this and Odysseus had to make his way to Troy.

In the Greek army, Odysseus was one of the leading figures, despite the fact that he only brought 12 ships with him. His main strengths were his wit and wisdom, which, combined with his heroism, established his role throughout the army, where he was given the title of 'destroyer of cities'.

And he showed his wit in the landing. For there was a prophecy hovering over the warriors that the first to set foot on Trojan soil would be killed. The Greeks hesitated, so Odysseus threw a shield on the ground and jumped on it. Young Prótesiláos saw this and landed immediately afterwards. Then Hector pierced him with his spear. This triggered a great opening battle.

Subsequently, Odysseus persuaded Achilles to take part in the fighting, because the oracle claimed that Troy would never fall unless Achilles fought. This succeeded, although the death of Achilles' friend Patroclus played a large part.

Odysseus also managed to sneak into the Trojan camp on a reconnaissance mission and brought back valuable news. It was also at his instigation that the giant wooden horse was created. It hid many Greek soldiers and was the cause of the very fall of Troy. The Trojans accepted it as a gift and dragged it into the city. At night, Greek warriors dismounted, opened the gates, and Troy fell.

The whole story is described in Homer's epic, the Iliad.

Odysseus' journey

On his return from the war, Poseidon, the god of the seas, was angry with Odysseus and tried to prevent him from returning home by various hardships and obstacles. Odysseus thus battles the fierce sleigh Skylla. He also falls into the clutches of a water vortex created by the sea monster Charybdis. He must outwit the sorceress Kirke and even visit the underworld.

Finally, thanks to the goddess Athena, he returns home to Ithaca after 10 years of wandering. Here, however, he finds his home besieged by the suitors of his wife Penelope, who has remained faithful to him despite the long separation. Odysseus lets himself be recognized by her in a test the queen devises to discourage the intrusive men. Only he could draw his old bow and shoot it through the ears of twelve axes in succession. Together with his son Telemachus and his friend Eumaian, he kills the suitors. The next test was the recognition of his own bed, which only he and Penelope knew. He successfully passed this test as well and was able to regain the reigns.

The whole story is described in Homer's epic The Odyssey.