One of the most important heroes of Greek mythology, Ulysses (or Odysseus) appears in Homer's Iliad and is the protagonist of Homer's Odyssey. During the Trojan War, he helped plan the Trojan horse and also stole a sacred relic from the city along with Diomedes, during a secret night raid. He is punished in the eighth trench of the eighth circle of hell for his deception. He talks to Virgil and relates the story of his death: after sailing home from Troy (which, incidentally, the Odyssey narrates), he tried to sail to the ends of the earth, but went too far. God sank his ship with a whirlwind and drowned him.
Ulysses Quotes in Inferno
The Inferno quotes below are all either spoken by Ulysses or refer to Ulysses. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Get the entire Inferno LitChart as a printable PDF.
Ulysses Character Timeline in Inferno
The timeline below shows where the character Ulysses appears in Inferno. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Canto 26
...in two and asks who is under that flame. Virgil tells him that it is Ulysses and Diomedes. In Homer's Iliad these two heroes fought together in the Trojan War and...
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...Virgil addresses the dual flame and asks one of them to describe his final voyage. Ulysses answers and the flame flickers like a speaking tongue, giving forth a voice.
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Ulysses says that when he returned home from his long voyage from Troy, after being detained...
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Ulysses told his men that they would explore the world beyond the sun (the Western end...
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Canto 27
Ulysses leaves and another flame draws near, making strange muffled noises that Dante likens to the...
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