Claim: The Odyssey has an author.

Odysseus -LRB- -LSB- oʊˈdɪsiəs , _ oʊˈdɪsjuːs -RSB- Ὀδυσσεύς , Ὀδυσεύς -LSB- odysse͜ús -RSB- -RRB- , also known by the Latin variant Ulysses -LRB- -LSB- juːˈlɪsiːz -RSB- , -LSB- ˈjuːlɪsiːz -RSB- Ulyssēs , Ulixēs -RRB- , was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer 's epic poem the Odyssey . Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer 's Iliad and other works in that same epic cycle .   Husband of Penelope , father of Telemachus , and son of Laërtes and Anticlea , Odysseus is renowned for his intellectual brilliance , guile , and versatility -LRB- polytropos -RRB- , and is hence known by the epithet Odysseus the Cunning -LRB- mētis , or `` cunning intelligence '' -RRB- . He is most famous for his nostos or `` homecoming '' , which took him ten eventful years after the decade-long Trojan War .