what is the straight-line distance from the city of troy to odysseuss home in ithaca
Accept the Long Way Domicile: Odysseus
Returning home to Greece from the Trojan War was no pleasure cruise. Indeed, very few of the Greek warriors fabricated it home at all. Most of the returning ships were destroyed at sea. Even among those that remained intact, about arrived home only after being blown considerably off course, suffering delays that lasted upwardly to several years (see All's Not Fair in Dear and State of war: The Fall of Troy).
Just of all the returning Greek heroes of the Trojan War, none took a more tortuous road than Odysseus. Afterwards 10 years of war, the rex of Ithaca wandered the Mediterranean and its coastal lands for another 10 years before finally arriving home. When he got there, Odysseus didn't like what he found: a house full of ?noble? men, each hoping to win his wife Penelope?and his fortune?for himself.
Is This the Stuff Heroes Are Made Of?
Odysseus came from a long line of thieves, tricksters, and scoundrels. His mother was Anticleia, daughter of the notorious cattle thief Autolycus. Odysseus's father in name was King Laertes of Ithaca. Withal a rumor spread that Anticleia was already significant when she married Laertes. Odysseus's real begetter may have been the infamous rogue Sisyphus, who seduced Anticleia to punish her father for stealing his cattle (come across What the Hell? Adventures in the Underworld).
Odysseus's grandfather Autolycus had a keen influence on the young male child. Asked by his girl to name her kid, Autolycus chosen the male child ?Odysseus,? meaning ?giver and receiver of pain??in retention of all the misery Autolycus had caused and suffered in his roguish days. When he reached manhood, Odysseus began his travels with a trip to his grandfather. While hunting with the sons of Autolycus, a boar gored him in the thigh with its tusk, giving Odysseus a scar that he would bear for the rest of his life.
As a young man, Odysseus became friends with Iphitus, a son of Eurytus, the famed archer who had taught immature Heracles how to draw a bow. Iphitus honored Odysseus with the gift of his father'south bow, which Odysseus prized so highly that he refused to utilize it to chase or to fight?with one notable exception some 30 years afterwards.
Choosing Wisely
Mythed by a Mile
Some storytellers insist that Odysseus won the right to marry Penelope through an athletic contest (a pes race). Icarius, they say, offered Penelope's hand in matrimony as the prize.
When the time came for Helen to choose a husband, Odysseus was the only i of her many suitors not to bring gifts. Strongly suspecting that Helen would choose the wealth of Menelaus over the assets of all other men, Odysseus instead turned his attention to her cousin Penelope. So when Helen's father Tyndareus worried that the rejected suitors would do harm to the called one, Odysseus suggested that all the suitors accept an oath to protect the interests of whomever she chose. In render for this ingenious solution, Tyndareus put in a good discussion about Odysseus to his brother Icarius, Penelope'due south male parent. As it turned out, Odysseus made the right option. Helen, who abandoned her husband, went downwards in legend as the most faithless of wives, while Penelope, who waited xx years for Odysseus to render, earned fame equally the about faithful wife of all.
Though Icarius consented to the marriage of Penelope and Odysseus, he wanted the couple to remain in Sparta with him. But the prince of Ithaca refused. As Odysseus drove off with her in his chariot, Icarius ran behind begging his daughter not to go out him. Penelope answered past raising her veil to comprehend her face, modestly indicating that she would go with her new husband. Icarius, left in the dust, later on erected a shrine to modesty at that site.
Draft Dodging? Try Feigning Insanity
When Helen ran off to Troy with Paris, Odysseus was bound by his oath to assistance Menelaus recover her. Yet he was happily married to Penelope and had no want to get out his wife and their new infant: a son named Telemachus.
Odysseus feigned madness in an effort to avoid the war. When Palamedes came to recruit him, he found Odysseus, evidently insane and oblivious, guiding a plough hitched with a donkey and an ox and sowing salt in a field. But Palamedes suspected trickery, and proved it by placing the infant Telemachus in front end of the draft animals and turn. When Odysseus turned the plow to avoid his son, his sanity was revealed.
Despite his reluctance, Odysseus became the most loyal of all of Agamemnon's troops. On the battlefield, Odysseus?who led 12 shiploads of men from Ithaca and the surrounding islands?demonstrated courage to the point of fearlessness. Even more so, even so, he employed eloquence and wiles to defeat his enemies. It was Odysseus who:
- Saw through Achilles' disguise and tricked him into giving himself away.
- Lured Iphigenia to Aulis under the faux pretense of wedding her to Achilles.
- Manufactured simulated prove to frame Palamedes every bit a traitor (a fob that led the Greeks to kill him).
- Persuaded the Greek generals to award him, rather than Ajax, the armor of Achilles.
- Devised the trick of all tricks, a ploy that would have made his crafty gramps Autolycus and his wily father Sisyphus proud: the Trojan Horse. (see All'south Non Fair in Love and State of war: The Autumn of Troy for more on the wartime exploits of Odysseus.)
It seems clear that without the deviousness and powers of persuasion of Odysseus, the Greeks would never have won the war.
Excerpted from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Classical Mythology 2004 past Kevin Osborn and Dana L. Burgess, Ph.D.. All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in whatever form. Used by arrangement with Blastoff Books, a fellow member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
To guild this book direct from the publisher, visit the Penguin USA website or telephone call 1-800-253-6476. You can also purchase this volume at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.
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Source: https://www.infoplease.com/culture-entertainment/mythology-folklore/classical-mythology-take-long-way-home-odysseus