Ulysses is one of my favorites of the Greek heroes, as he is crafty as well as brave. Ulysses seems to have more personality and fewer character flaws than Achilles and Agamemnon (for instance).

Ulysses (aka Odysseus) was known for his craftiness. When Helen left for Troy, a call to arms was issued by Agamemnon. Odysseus, a former suiter of Helen, was married already and didn't really feel like going to war over her, so he made up what seems to be an ancient way of draft-dodging: he dressed himself up in peasant's clothes and pretended to be mad; he went around ploughing the beach and throwing salt over his shoulder as if it were seeds. When he was sent for, he pretended not to know who they were; however, Palamedes, outwitting him, threw Odysseus's baby son in front of the plow and sends the mad father to save his son. Now that all knew he wasn't mad, he had to join up (and held a grudge against Palamedes, understandably; he gained revenge through trickery). He is credited with many of the ploys associated with the war: he tricked Clytemnestra, Agamemnon's wife, into sending her daughter Iphigenia unwittingly to her death. The Trojan horse is thought to be his idea. After the war, he began a ten-year journey back to his home, with much trouble, and was the only one to survive out of his men. He came home to find his home overrun by suitors for his wife, Penelope, who remained faithful by trickery (as would be fitting); she said she refused to choose a suitor until she finished weaving a shroud for her father-in-law, which she unravelled every night. The ploy was betrayed by one of her servants, and the suitors got angry and forced her to choose. She offered a contest: whoever could string her husband's bow and shoot an arrow with it through twelve axes. No one could, except the disguised Odysseus himself (who, as one could imagine, was pretty ticked), and after doing so, he and loyal servants began slaughtering the unwelcome houseguests. Afterwards, Penelope was reluctant to get close, since she wasn't sure of his identity until he exposed the secret of their bed, contructed around a live olive tree. Convinced that he was her husband, she accepted him, and Odysseus finally found his home again.