Menelaus was the overlord of Greece. When the Trojans would not return Helen, Agamemnon, the brother of Menelaus and king of Mycenae, told him to call all the kings of Greece to Aulis to get ready for war against Troy. Many kings did not want to come, including Odysseus.
Agamemnon sent Palamedes to bring Odysseus to Aulis. Odysseus pretended to be insane, driving his oxen on the seashore, plowing the sand, and throwing salt on the ground. Palamedes threw Odysseus's son under the feet of the oxen and Odysseus had to stop.