"but what a feat that hero dared and carried off
in the land of Troy where you Achaeans suffered!
Scarring his own body with mortifying strokes,
throwing filthy rags on his back like any slave,
he slipped into the enemy’s city, roamed its streets –
all disguised, a totally different man, a beggar."
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 4, lines 272-277. Helen tells the story of how Odysseus cunningly disguised himself as a begger to slip into Troy unrecognized during the Trojan war. This foreshadows the exact same tactics being used by Odysseus, with Athena’s help, to return unnoticed to Ithaca.