Characteristics Of Odysseus In The Iliad

In Homers’ The Iliad, Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero during the fabled Trojan War. It was he who was the architect of the Trojan horse, which was a giant wooden horse filled with Greek soldiers left outside the walls of Troy to feign surrender. The Trojans fell into the deception and had their kingdom sacked as a result, culminating the end of the war. The plan developed by Odysseus exhibited his cunning, a trait that would serve him well in the upcoming years of his journey home. Odysseus would first demonstrate his intelligence when he and his crew met the giant cyclops Polyphemus. Odysseus and his crew stumbled into the cyclops’ cave where they soon found themselves sealed in by a colossal boulder, courtesy of the one-eyed monster. …show more content…
Odysseus shows his courage and determination by literally confronting the dead, witnessing many of the fabled punishments handed out by the Gods including: the pushing of Sisyphus’ boulder, and Tantalus never being able to reach the grapes above him or the water below him. After leaving the Underworld, Odysseus would next encounter the sirens, women who lured sailors to the jagged rocks of their island by singing the sweetest songs, only to transform into birds and eat their victims when they got close. The crew would then reach a strait with Scylla, a six-headed monster and Charybdis, and a literal whirlpool on each side. Wisely, Odysseus opts to sail towards Scylla, as losing six men was better than losing an entire ship; it was the lesser of two evils. Odysseus would then lose his entire crew on the island of the sun. Against the orders of Odysseus, who was cautioned by Tireseas, his crew slaughtered all of the golden cattle on the island. As punishment, they were all destroyed in a storm created by Zeus. Odysseus, being the lone survivor, eventually drifted to the island of Calypso. Odysseus was held captive by this goddess for seven long years before Hermes secured his release. During his captivity, Calypso and Odysseus had sex on several occasions, another instance of