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Konstantine Panegyres, Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History, The University of Western Australia

A 2,000-year history of chucking a sickie

Odysseus Galen
Dallas and John Heaton/Getty

One of the earliest figures known to have faked an illness for personal advantage was Odysseus.

Odysseus was the hero of Homer’s Odyssey, which was probably written around the 8th century BC, but based on much older legends.

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