Editing Odysseus (section)

==== The ''Iliad'' ====
{{Main|Iliad}}
[[File:Patroclus corpse MAN Firenze.jpg|thumb|[[Menelaus]] and [[Meriones (mythology)|Meriones]] lifting [[Patroclus]]'s corpse on a cart while Odysseus looks on, [[Etruscan art|Etruscan]] [[alabaster]] urn from [[Volterra]], Italy, 2nd century BC]]
Odysseus is represented as one of the most influential Greek champions during the Trojan War in Homer's account. Along with [[Nestor (mythology)|Nestor]] and [[Idomeneus]] he is one of the most trusted counsellors and advisors. He always champions the Achaean cause, especially when others question Agamemnon's command, as in one instance when [[Thersites]] speaks against him. When Agamemnon, to test the morale of the Achaeans, announces his intentions to depart Troy, Odysseus restores order to the Greek camp.<ref>''Iliad'' 2.</ref> Later on, after many of the heroes leave the battlefield due to injuries (including Odysseus and Agamemnon), Odysseus once again persuades Agamemnon not to withdraw. Along with two other envoys, he is chosen in the failed embassy to try to persuade Achilles to return to combat.<ref>''Iliad'' 9.</ref>

[[File:Rhesos MNA Naples.jpg|thumb|left|Odysseus and [[Diomedes]] stealing the horses of Thracian king [[Rhesus of Thrace|Rhesus]] they have just killed. Apulian red-figure situla, from Ruvo]]
When [[Hector]] proposes a single combat duel, Odysseus is one of the [[Danaans]] who reluctantly volunteered to battle him. [[Ajax the Great|Telamonian Ajax]] ("The Greater"), however, is the volunteer who eventually fights Hector.<ref>''Iliad'' 7.</ref> Odysseus aids [[Diomedes]] during the night operations to kill [[Rhesus of Thrace|Rhesus]], because it had been foretold that if his horses drank from the [[Karamenderes River|Scamander River]], Troy could not be taken.<ref>''Iliad'' 10.</ref>

After [[Patroclus]] is slain, it is Odysseus who counsels Achilles to let the [[Achaea (ancient region)|Achaean]] men eat and rest rather than follow his rage-driven desire to go back on the offensive—and kill Trojans—immediately. Eventually (and reluctantly), he consents.<ref>''Iliad'' 19.</ref> During the funeral games for Patroclus, Odysseus becomes involved in a wrestling match with Ajax "The Greater" and foot race with Ajax "The Lesser", son of Oileus and Nestor's son [[Antilochus]]. He draws the wrestling match, and with the help of the goddess [[Athena]], he wins the race.<ref>''Iliad'' 23.</ref>

Odysseus has traditionally been viewed as Achilles's antithesis in the ''Iliad'':<ref>D. Gary Miller (2014 ), ''Ancient Greek Dialects and Early Authors'', De Gruyter {{ISBN|978-1-61451-493-0}}. pp. 120–121</ref> while Achilles's anger is all-consuming and of a self-destructive nature, Odysseus is frequently viewed as a man of the mean, a voice of reason, renowned for his self-restraint and diplomatic skills. He is also in some respects antithetical to Telamonian Ajax (Shakespeare's "beef-witted" Ajax): while the latter has only brawn to recommend him, Odysseus is not only ingenious (as evidenced by his idea for the Trojan Horse), but an eloquent speaker, a skill perhaps best demonstrated in the embassy to Achilles in book 9 of the ''Iliad''. The two are not only foils in the abstract but often opposed in practice since they have many duels and run-ins.