Autolycus (Thief)
heroThe master thief and shapeshifter, grandfather of Odysseus, whose gift for deception was inherited by the most cunning hero in Greek mythology.
The Myth
Autolycus was the son of Hermes and Chione, inheriting his father's talent for theft and trickery. Hermes granted him the power to make anything he stole invisible or to change its form — white cattle turned black, horned beasts became hornless. He raided the flocks of Sisyphus until that equally cunning king marked his sheep's hooves, proving the theft. Sisyphus then seduced Autolycus's daughter Anticlea, and some traditions claim this made Sisyphus, not Laertes, the true father of Odysseus, explaining the hero's unmatched craftiness. Autolycus named his grandson Odysseus, meaning "man of pain" or "man of wrath." He lived on Mount Parnassus near Delphi, where the young Odysseus was scarred by a boar during a hunt — the scar that Eurycleia later recognised when she washed the disguised hero's feet upon his return to Ithaca.
Parents
Hermes, Chione
Children
Anticlea (mother of Odysseus)
Symbols
Fun Fact
Shakespeare named his charming rogue in The Winter's Tale "Autolycus" — a "snapper-up of unconsidered trifles" — directly after this mythological thief. The name has since become a literary shorthand for lovable scoundrels. Autolycus also proves that in Greek mythology, cunning runs in families: Hermes to Autolycus to Odysseus is a three-generation dynasty of professional tricksters.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth:
Explore Further
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Eurycleia
heroEurycleia was Odysseus's old nurse who recognised him by a boar-tusk scar on his thigh when she...
Hermes
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Hermes (Messenger)
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Odysseus
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Delphi
placeThe most important oracle in ancient Greece, where the Pythia delivered Apollo's prophecies. The...
Delphi Treasury of Athens
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Hermes Kriophoros
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