The Iliad opens on rage. Its sequel opens on a character sketch. The first thing Homer tells us about Odysseus, in the very first line of The Odyssey, is that he is polytropos — a "man of many turns."
A word with two faces
Polytropos is a pun, and translators have fought over it for centuries. Literally it means "much-turned" or "of many turns." That can mean well-travelled — a man turned this way and that across the world. It can also mean turning in the other sense: shifty, versatile, slippery, a man of many tricks. Odysseus is both, and the poem never quite lets you forget it.
The hero who lies
Unlike Achilles, who is defined by force, Odysseus survives by cunning — the wooden horse, the false names, the disguises. "Many-turned" is a warning label. The Odyssey is an adventure story, but it's also a long meditation on cleverness, deceit, and the price of always having an angle.
Wear it
Our Odyssey tee carries the poem's opening with a Greek galley motif and the first lines on the back. For the traveller of many turns.