Homer's Odyssey tells the story of how, during her husband's long absence after the Trojan War, many chieftains of Ithaca and nearby islands become her suitors. To spare herself their importunities she insists that they wait until she has woven a shroud for Laertes, father of Odysseus. Every night for three years, until one of her maids reveals the secret, she unravels the piece that she has woven by day so that she will not have to give up hope for the return of her beloved husband and remarry. When at length Odysseus does return, she makes him prove his identity and finally accepts him.

Homer's account has remained the dominant one. In the ancient world there were variant stories. In one of them, Telegonus, son of Odysseus and Circe, sets forth to find his father but mistakenly kills him. Telegonus returns to his mother's island with Penelope, whom he marries, and Telemachus, who marries Circe. Telegonus and Penelope have one son, Italus, the eponymous hero of Italy.