The mastermind behind the Trojan Horse and Athena’s favorite mortal, Odysseus was renowned for his cunning and resourcefulness. Though not an Athenian, he embodied many of the qualities later Athenians admired in themselves.
Shrouded in mist, the stranger appeared on the rocky shore in the guise of a young shepherd, “as refined as a prince’s son,” watching intently as a gaunt, weather-beaten man struggled to his feet. Behind the wretched figure lay a calm sea that belied the twenty years of war, shipwrecks, monsters, temptations, storms and divine grudges he had surmounted to return here.
Long-haired, salt-stained, and haggard, Odysseus gazed across the fogbound coastline before him and failed to recognize it. The Phaeacians, he thought, must have tricked him and abandoned him in some foreign land. Surely this could not be Ithaca…
Suspicious as ever, he turned to the shepherd and demanded to know where he was. The young stranger assured him that this was indeed Ithaca. No tricks. No deception.
Overjoyed, Odysseus immediately began lying.
