Callidice appears in post-Homeric traditions as a queen of Thesprotia whom Odysseus supposedly married during unmentioned travels after his return to Ithaca, fathering a son named Polypoetes. This tradition, found in the lost epic Telegony, represents attempts to extend and elaborate Odysseus' story beyond
Homer's conclusion, filling gaps and imagining alternative adventures. For students of epic tradition, figures like Callidice demonstrate how mythology remained
a living, evolving system with different authors and localities claiming the famous hero for their own narratives. Such additions raise questions about canonical versus variant traditions and how audiences understood mythological truth. When analyzing references to Odysseus, students should recognize that ancient audiences knew multiple, sometimes
contradictory versions of his story. Callidice's appearance in later tradition also reflects ongoing fascination with Odysseus' wandering nature, suggesting that even after returning home, he could not remain settled, prefiguring his prophesied final
journey inland in the Odyssey itself.