ὃ πτολίπορθος Ὀδυσσεὺς
This epithet, “sacker of cities,” is one that Odysseus often receives in the Odyssey, but he also shares it with other heroes, like Achilles, and war gods, such as Ares and Enyo, within the tradition. Parry has shown that such epithets belong to the whole tradition and not any one line (MHV 137–138, 146, 171): that is, Odysseus is a sacker of cities within the whole tradition, not simply, or in this line, not yet at this particular point in the story. Similarly, Haft (1990) argues that this epithet, used frequently in the Odyssey, but only here and at Iliad 2.278 in the Iliad, implies that the audience would be familiar with Odysseus’ later exploits, especially his role in sacking Troy through the ambush strategy of the Wooden Horse, and thus would understand the epithet to mean the sacker of Troy in particular. In this last detail, she disagrees with Parry, who labels this epithet generic (MHV 146). Haft argues that the use of the definite article with the epithet makes its meaning more specific (see also above on 10.231). Haft also draws parallels and connections between the ambushes in Iliad 10 and the sack of Troy (Haft 1990:51–55).