Elysses, Or Odysseus (Gr. 'Odvaoevg), one of the Greek leaders at the siege of Troy. According to the Homeric account, he was the son of Laertes and Anticlea, and married Penelope, the daughter of Icarius, by whom he had a son named Telemachus. He ruled in Ithaca, and only with great difficulty could be induced to join the expedition against Troy. According to one form of the legend, he simulated insanity to avoid taking part, and ploughed the sand on the beach.; Palamedes exposed the deception by placing his infant son Telemachus in the furrow, at which Ulysses turned the plough aside. The falsity of his madness being thus disclosed, he joined the Grecian fleet at Aulis with 12 ships, and when the expedition had reached Tenedos was sent with Menelaus to Troy to demand Helen and the stolen property. The mission was unsuccessful. In the ten years' war he was distinguished for his prowess as a warrior, but far more for his eloquence, sagacity, and inexhaustible resources under difficulties. After the death of Achilles his armor was offered as a prize to the greatest warrior in the Greek army, and Ulysses and Ajax became rivals for the honor, the former proving successful.

By his contrivance the Palladium was carried away from Troy by stealth, and he was one of the heroes concealed in the wooden horse which the, Trojans to their ruin introduced into the city. His ten years' wanderings after the close of the siege form the subject of the Odyssey. After various adventures he was thrown upon the coasts of the Lotophagi, where his companions, having eaten of the lotus, wished to remain. But he induced them to depart, sailed to the island of the Cyclops, and with 12 of his followers entered the cave of Polyphemus, who devoured six of his companions. Ulysses made the giant drunk with wine, put out his one eye with a burning pole, and then tying himself and his companions under the bodies of the sheep, escaped when these were let out of the cave. Polyphemus implored his father Neptune to visit Ulysses with his vengeance, and the remainder of his voyage was constantly disturbed. Reaching the island of Aeolus, Ulysses was presented by that deity on his departure with a bag containing the winds that were to bring him home; but his followers opened the bag without his knowledge, the winds escaped, and the vessels were driven back to the island. After six days he reached the country of the cannibal Laestrygones, from which he escaped with only one ship.

Thence he sailed to Aesea, inhabited by the sorceress Circe, who changed part of his followers into swine. Through the aid of Mercury he overcame her spells, and his companions resumed their human shape. Circe now treated them kindly, and by her advice Ulysses descended into Hades to consult the seer Tiresias. The prophet assured him that everything would turn out right if the herds of Helios in Trinacria should be left unharmed. Returning to Aeaea, he was carried to the island of the sirens, but by filling the ears of his companions with wax and tying himself to the mast he passed them in safety. His ship then came between Scylla and Charybdis, and the monster Scylla carried off and devoured six of his companions. Coming to Trinacria, he was compelled by his companions to land. There they were detained by storms, and while he was sleeping some of the finest of the cattle of Helios, which they had sworn not to touch, were killed and eaten by his followers. As soon as they were again on the open sea, another storm arose, and the vessel was destroyed by lightning, all on board being drowned except Ulysses. He was carried to the island of Ogygia, inhabited by the nymph Calypso, who promised him immortality and eternal youth if he would marry and remain with her.

But after a stay of seven years he embarked on a raft, and reached Scheria, from which place he was sent to Ithaca in a ship, having been absent 20 years. He found his wife beset by suitors (see Penelope), all of whom he slew with the aid of Minerva and his son Telemachus. Of his later life and of his death there are different accounts. In one, his son Telegonus by Circe, being sent to look for his father, and being shipwrecked on Ithaca and beginning to plunder for the sake of obtaining food, was attacked by Ulysses and Telemachus, and in the contest that followed Telegonus slew his own father.