Ulises

Ulises is the Spanish version of Ulysses. Ulysses, in turn, is the Latin form of the Greek Odysseus, the mythological hero central to Homer’s epic poem the “Odyssey” (written in the 8th century B.C.). The Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus’ ten year journey back to his kingdom in Ithaca, Greece after the Trojan War. In Roman mythology, the name Ulysses (Latin form) is used for Odysseus (Greek form). There is some debate as to the meaning of Odysseus. The most common school of thought among etymologists is that Odysseus is derived from the Greek verb “odyssesthai” meaning “to hate” (such as, the one who is wrathful/hated, perhaps in reference to Odysses’ shrewdness, strength and vigor during the ten-year Trojan War and the ten-year period following his Odyssey back to Ithaca). The ancient Etruscan (Italian) tribe adopted the Greek story and the name Odysseus eventually morphed into Ulixes and finally Ulysses in Latin (and later Ulises in Spanish). In Greek tradition, Odysseus/Ulysses was admired for his shrewdness, trickery and deception, but for the Romans, who were obsessed with ideals of honor; these qualities didn’t sit so well. Still, Odysseus/Ulysses was a brave and tenacious warrior on the side of the Greeks. It was Odysseus who brilliantly devised the wooden horse strategy to get inside the gates of Troy and finally defeat the Trojans and win the war (Homer’s “Iliad”). However, it’s the “Odyssey” which more fully develops the character of Odysseus during his ten year journey to return back to Ithaca and to his wife Penelope and their son Telemachus. For more detail on all the challenging and often perilous adventures experienced by Odysseus/Ulysses according to Greek tradition, see literary references below. Roman poet Virgil wrote the “Aeneid” in the first century B.C. to detail the arrival of the Trojan hero Aeneus in Italy following the end of the Trojan War and the sack of Troy (Aeneus is the legendary ancestor of the Romans according to Virgil). Ulysses also appears in this Latin literary masterpiece, but unlike the Greeks who glorified their heroic Odysseus, Virgil portrayed Ulysses as a “wrathful”, self-indulgent and sinister Greek. According to tradition, Ulysses is also considered the founder of Lisbon, Portugal.