Odysseus Greek Hero

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As the years go by, definitions change and tales shift away from what they once were. Even the greatest of tales, such as the epic poem The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Fitzgerald, change and move far away from what they were once about. The Odyssey is a great example of how tales shift, for it was originally about a great, heroic, Greek man named Odysseus's journey back home from the Trojan War. It is narrated by the great poet Homer. During this rigorous journey back home, Odysseus encounters multiple challenges that vary in difficulty, from fighting cyclops to navigating the deadly sea. In addition, he also meets and loses many people along the way during all of the excursions he does while fighting the gods to get back home. This thus …show more content…
The foundation of this statement is formed on the six main Greek values that the Greeks used to base their life around. However, under this section, the Greek value that makes Odysseus indefinitely a classic Greek hero is the value of love for home and family. This is mostly because of how much Odysseus expresses this value through the epic poem The Odyssey. Odysseus spends almost all of his time wishfully thinking of coming back to his homeland, and to be reunited with his family while on the dreadful voyage. Various examples are displayed throughout the epic poem, even from the beginning to the end. A great example of this Greek value that makes Odysseus a classic Greek hero is when he lands on Phaeacia where he meets Alcinous and where he weeps, “Where shall a man find sweetness to surpass his own home and his parents? In far lands he shall not, though he finds a house of gold” (Homer 35-37). In careful analysis of the passage, what Odysseus is saying is essentially that a man can not find as much happiness as his own home and parents bring them. In addition, he goes on to explain how you do not find true happiness in lands far away from home, even if there was a house made of gold there. Thus this supports how Odysseus greatly expresses the value of love for home and family, even going as far to say that it is better than …show more content…
Heroes throughout the decades change depending on the new characteristics and ideology of children going through childhood. Hence why it would be quite ideaotic to compare a hero from many hundreds of years to one that in the previous years has become heroized by the children of modern day. This is the basis on which makes him not as heroic in modern times as he used to be back in the Ancient Greek era. However, to simply just start off, what defines a modern hero is mainly if they uphold 5 characteristics, those being if they are impactful, fair to everybody, have power in what they do, influence people to do better, and treat women with the utmost respect. In continuation, these five main characteristics are not thoroughly seen within Odysseus in The Odyssey. This can be solidly said by the premise of Odyseeus not following a couple of these characteristics such as not treating women with the utmost respect, does not influence people to be better and does not treat everybody fairly up to today’s standards. Subsequently, this leads to Odyseeus being shown all throughout the epic poem not following these characteristics of a modern hero, which even through part one of the epic poem it demonstrates this. Starting with how Odysseus does not show the utmost respect to women; Odysseeus while on his journey faced many challenges, however out of all of the challenges he
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