TY′PHON. In Egyptian mythology the god who tried to undo all the good
work effected by Osiris.
UL′LER. The Scandinavian god who presided over archery and duels.
ULYS′SES. A noted king of Ithaca, whose exploits in connection with
the Trojan war, and his adventures on his return therefrom, are the
subject of Homer’s Odyssey. His wife’s name was Penelope, and he was
so much endeared to her that he feigned madness to get himself excused
from going to the Trojan war; but his artifice was discovered, and he
was compelled to go. He was of great help to the Grecians, and forced
Achilles from his retreat, and obtained the charmed arrows of Hercules
from Philoctetes, and used them against the Trojans. He enabled Paris
to shoot one of them at the heel of Achilles, and so kill that charmed
warrior. During his wanderings on his homeward voyage he was taken
prisoner by the Cyclopes, and escaped, after blinding Polyphemus, their
chief. At Æolia he obtained all the winds of heaven, and put them in
a bag; but his companions, thinking that the bags contained treasure
which they could rob him of when they got to Ithaca, cut the bags, and
let out the winds, and the ships were immediately blown back to Æolia.
After Circe had turned his companions into swine on an island where he
and they were shipwrecked, he compelled the goddess to restore them
to their human shape again. As he passed the islands of the Sirens he
escaped their allurements by stopping the ears of his companions with
wax, and fastening himself to the mast of his ship. His wife Penelope
was a pattern of constancy; for, though Ulysses was reported to be
dead, she would not marry any one else, and had the satisfaction of
finding her husband return after an absence of about twenty years.
“To show what pious wisdom’s power can do,
The poet sets Ulysses in our view.”