What makes Odyssues a classic Greek hero What makes Odyssues a classic Greek hero? How can Homer’s The Odyssey be characterized as the story of an epic hero? Odysseus is intelligent, but his intelligence is of the cunning, sly type . . . Not the book-smart type. He is, after all, a man of “twists and turns . . .” The Greek term for this versatility is “polytropos”, or “turning in many directions.” Odysseus is a man of deceptions and disguises.

Odysseus is a wanderer who seeks to return home. The sharpness with which he led his men in the Trojan War is the same devious aptitude he uses to find his way back home after the war. It is also the same intelligence he uses to outwit monsters and other foes who block his path and threaten his men’s lives.

Characteristics/Examples Odysseus mocks reliance on strength alone. Strength without cunning is what dooms the suitors to Odysseus’s deception. Odysseus cuts his losses to Charybdis and Scylla through careful navigation. Odysseus is also able to use the strength of his mind to enjoy the siren’s song without falling prey to their seductive dangers. Even Odysseus’s encounter with Achilles in the Underworld is a reminder of how brutish glory brings a short, violent life. Odysseus’s glory, or kleos, is won by his wits and will yield hima long, peaceful life.

Physical Strength While Odysseus demonstrates cunning, farsightedness, adaptability and other aspects of intellectual prowess, he is by no means a physical weakling! He is not enormous, but he is powerful, and he is both an excellent athlete and a formidable soldier. This combination of intellectual and physical excellence is called “arete” in Greek.

In order to use his cunning and his strength, Odysseus must be willing to face danger with courage. He does not shrink away from his leadership role in times of great peril.

Fortunately . . . Odysseus also has the help of the gods at times. In the beginning of the epic, Athena represents Odysseus favorable to the other gods at council meetings. Ultimately, Zeus helps Odysseus rule peacefully once he finally arrives home. Of course, the gods are not always pleased. Poseidon makes Odysseus’s journey a true test of his wit and valor.

What else? Odysseus is also an aristocrat. He is a member of the ruling class who seeks to recapture his “rightful” place after his long years away at war. He returns to one last battle in which he takes revenge on interlopers… rude, crass suitors for his wife’s affections and possessions . . . And reasserts his claim to his palace, a beautiful wife and a loyal son to be his proper heir.

A few notes on his atypical status… Yes, like most classic heroes, Odysseus must prove himself again and again and again, and the perceptions others have of him are of vital importance to his heroic stature, but ….

…unlike heroes such as Beowulf who search out the dragon and the danger . . . Odysseus is always willing to find another way around danger if possible. He doesn’t run, but he is willing to hide . . . Behind disguises, behind well-timed silences, amongst sheep and at a dinner table!

Odysseus has a voracious appetite and a mortal’s weakness for comfort. As with many tragic heroes, Odysseus has faults that lead to disaster. Unlike tragic heroes, Odysseus is able to use his conniving to escape the ultimate price others have to pay for his mistakes. Odysseus has a voracious appetite and a mortal’s weakness for comfort. He wastes valuable time from his “nostos”, or journey home, on Calypso’s island where he indulges in sex, food and a basically hedonistic lifestyle. When he finally misses the excitement of activity and glory, he politely leaves for home.

More evidence of appetites . . . He wants to colonize the Cyclops’ island. When he and his men are trapped and in severe danger of being eaten down to the last man, Odysseus thinks of a clever ruse to escape the monster. Just before he and his men are truly free of the beast, his appetite for fame makes him careless and he reveals his name. By doing this, he earns Poseidon’s wrath.