Odysseus or Ulysses (Greek Ὀδυσσεύς Odysseus; Latin: Ulixes or, less commonly, Ulysses), pronounced /oʊˈdɪs.i.əs/, is the main hero in Homer's epic poem, the Odyssey, and plays a key role in Homer's Iliad. King of Ithaca, husband of Penelope, father of Telemachus, and son of Laërtes and Anticlea (the tragedy Iphigenia at Aulis names Sysiphus as his father), Odysseus is renowned for his guile and resourcefulness (known as Odysseus the Cunning, and said to be third to only Zeus and Athena in wisdom), and is most famous for the ten eventful years it took him to return home after the Trojan War.
Relatively little is known of Odysseus' background except that his paternal grandfather (or step-grandfather) is Arcesius, son of Cephalus and grandson of Aeolus, whilst his maternal grandfather is Autolycus, son of Hermes and Chione. Ithaca, an island along the Ionian coastline of Greece, is one of several islands that would have comprised the realm of Odysseus' family, but the true extent of the Cephallenian realm and the actual identities of the islands named in Homer's works are unknown.