[2] Some scholars believe that another Sophocles title, Niptra (Νιπτρα, "The Footwashing", "The Washing"), is the same play as Odysseus Acanthoplex.
[1][3][4] Dana Sutton, however, disputes this, suggesting that Niptra was a separate play dealing with Odysseus' return to Ithaca but not with his death.
[6] As background to the plot of the play, Homer's Odyssey tells of Odysseus spending a year with the goddess Circe.
[8] According to archaeologist Thomas B. L. Webster, the plot of Odysseus Acanthoplex had a diptych form, i.e., in two parts, analogous to Sophocles' extant Ajax, Trachiniae and Antigone.
Early in the play, Odysseus related the directions from Teiresias described in The Odyssey in which he was supposed to carry an oar far inland as a sacrifice to Poseidon.
[5][8][11][12] The other examples Aristotle gave of this type of effective plot were Sophocles' Oedipus Rex and a play about Alcmaeon by 4th century BCE tragic playwright Astydamas.