Ulysses has returned to his kingdom, Ithaca, having made a long journey home after fighting in the Trojan War. Confronted again by domestic life, Ulysses expresses his lack of contentment, including his indifference toward the "savage race" (line 4) whom he governs. Ulysses contrasts his present restlessness with his heroic past, and contemplates his old age and eventual death

When Helen of Troy is abducted, Menelaus calls upon the other suitors to honour their oaths and help him to retrieve her, an attempt that leads to the Trojan War.

He is most famous for his nostos, or "homecoming", which took him ten eventful years after the decade-long Trojan War.

Helen (Ancient Greek: Ἑλένη, romanized: Helénē[a]), also known as Helen of Troy,[2][3][b] in Latin as Helena,[4] beautiful Helen, Helen of Argos, or Helen of Sparta,[5] was a figure in Greek mythology said to have been the most beautiful woman in the world. She was believed to have been the daughter of Zeus and Leda, and was the sister of Clytemnestra, Castor and Pollux, Philonoe, Phoebe and Timandra. She was married to King Menelaus of Sparta "who became by her the father of Hermione, and, according to others, of Nicostratus also."[4] Her abduction by Paris of Troy was the most immediate cause of the Trojan War.