1000 Classical Characters Briefly Described

Who was Iphigenia? What did Cincinnatus do? A thousand gods, heroes and tyrants of the classical world, each explained in the time it takes to read a text message.

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Ulysses

Known to the Greeks as Odysseus.

The famous king of Ithaca, son of Anticlea and Laertes (or, according to some, of Sisyphus). He married Penelope, daughter of Icarius, on which his father resigned to him the crown. He went to the Trojan war, where he was esteemed for his sagacity. On the conclusion of the war he embarked for Greece, but was exposed to numerous misfortunes on his journey. In his wanderings, he, with some of his companions, was seized by the Cyclops Polyphemus, from whom he made his escape. Afterward he was thrown on the island of Aeea, where he was exposed to the wiles of the enchantress Circe. Eventually he was restored to his own country, after an absence of twenty years. The adventures of Ulysses on his return from the Trojan war form the subject of Homer's Odyssey.

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