Odyssey 9.19 · Book 9, lines 19–21
I am Odysseus, son of Laertes
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εἴμʼ Ὀδυσεὺς Λαερτιάδης, ὃς πᾶσι δόλοισιν ἀνθρώποισι μέλω, καί μευ κλέος οὐρανὸν ἵκει. ναιετάω δʼ Ἰθάκην ἐυδείελον· ἐν δʼ ὄρος αὐτῇ
I am Odysseus, son of Laertes, who am a concern to all men for my wiles, and my fame reaches heaven. I dwell in clear-seen Ithaca; and on it is a mountain,
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The setting
The great disclosure. For eight books the hero has been unnamed or in disguise; now, to the Phaeacians, he says who he is — and immediately turns from his world-wide fame to the island he comes from.
A note on this passage
Here is the sentence the whole hall has waited for: 'I am Odysseus, son of Laertes.' He names himself by his father, by his wiles, and by a fame that climbs to the sky — then, at once, by his home: clear-seen Ithaca.
Two things sit side by side in the naming. His renown rests on δόλοι, tricks, the cunning that will save his crew and destroy them by turns; and his glory, κλέος, is the very thing epic exists to preserve. Yet the moment he has claimed heaven-high fame, his mind goes straight to a small rocky island. The famous man defines himself, in the end, by where he is from.
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