Odysseus is the central character of Rosemary Sutcliff’s novel. He is the king of the small island of Ithaca in western Greece, where he lives with his wife, Penelope, and son, Telemachus. As one of the most important military leaders of the Greeks during the Trojan War, Odysseus helped achieve their victory by devising the scheme of the “Wooden Horse.” Known by the epithet “the Resourceful,” Odysseus’s defining characteristics are his intelligence and cunning, which allow him to devise complex plans for success that contribute to his fame and lore or, more practically, that allow him to escape from difficult situations (for example, imprisonment in the cave of the Cyclops). Odysseus also exhibits a resilience and determination closely associated with ancient Greek heroes. Odysseus’s unwavering desire to return to his home and family drives the plot of Sutcliff’s novel. To reach his goal, Odysseus willingly faces many obstacles on land and sea, and even combats temptation when Calypso offers to make him immortal if he stays with her instead of returning home.

Like any mythological hero, Odysseus has a tragic flaw: hubris. Odysseus’s arrogance and pride often lead him into perilous situations. On the island of the Cyclops, for instance, Odysseus cannot resist the urge to boast that it was he who blinded Polyphemus, leading Polyphemus to ask his father Poseidon to punish Odysseus.