Nikos Engonopoulos

Ulysses, also known as Odysseus, is the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey, as well as being a protagonist in Homer's Illiad and other works in his Epic Cycle. A legendary Greek king of Ithaca, Ulysses was the husband of Penelope and renowned for his ingenuity and guile, exhibited most notoriously by his adventures during and following his participation in the Trojan War.

In the present work, Engonopoulos illustrates an episode in Ulysses' life. Penelope had been beset by aggressive suitors, hungering after her wealth and kingdom and demanding she declare her husband dead after his twenty-year absence. Upon his return to Ithaca, Ulysses was disguised by the goddess Athena as a beggar in rags to test the loyalty of his family and subjects. His wife proved her faithfulness and undying love, and Ulysses and his father avenged her by killing her former suitors and their supporters in the royal palace.