Odysseus Raider Of Cities In Homer's The Odyssey

In Homer’s The Odyssey, towards the beginning, Homer used the specific appositive “raider of cities” to illuminate the negative side of Odysseus when he plundered a town without any self control. Later, when Odysseus is fighting for justice by killing the suitors, at one point, Homer narrates, “And Odysseus raider of cities struck Eurydamas down” (Homer 418). When Odysseus is fulfilling his revenge against the suitors, he is still described as a raider of cities by Homer. Now, since Odysseus is fighting in the name of justice against the sinful suitors, is Homer still using the appositive in a negative way? Or is Homer using the appositive to show a more positive side of Odysseus? In other words, has the “raider of cities” changed with respect …show more content…
Beforehand, Odysseus did not show mercy towards anyone when he himself states, “I stormed that place and killed the men who fought…Plunder we took, and we enslaved the women, to make…equal shares to all” (146). Homer emphasizes that Odysseus as a raider of cities does not show mercy towards anyone as he enslaves innocent women and gives them off to men as if they are objects. Moreover, Odysseus enacts all this plundering and enslavement without any self control, which further highlights that he is glorifying and enjoying himself. Destroying a city, killing many people, and raping innocent women evidently shows the immense amount of self control that Odysseus completely lacks. Later on, Odysseus seems to change his stance on mercifulness when he states, “To glory over slain men is no piety…Your part is now to tell me of the women…who dishonored me, and the innocent” (422). Homer accentuates the change in Odysseus with respect to his mercifulness towards the sinless. Whereas before, Odysseus did not differentiate between the innocent and the guilty, now he shows great regard towards whom he is about to kill. As a raider of cities, furthermore, he does not enjoy himself over killing so many men. He himself says that it is impious to glorify over murdered men at this point, which reveals the transformation in his personal morals. This change in Odysseus with respect to his …show more content…
After his escape from Polyphemos the Kyklops, Odysseus impetuously says, “[T]ell him Odysseus, raider of cities took your eye: Laertes’ son, whose home’s on Ithaka…If I could take your life I would…the god of the earthquake could not heal you there” (160). Odysseus does not show any self control at all when he taunts Polyphemos after he and his men barely escape. Furthermore, he knows that he is threatening the son of Poseidon, yet he does not stop making his imprudent remarks towards Polyphemos displaying no control over himself. His own pride and selfishness gets in the way to ruin his brilliantly formulated plan of escaping from the Kyklops’ cave, which was very successful up to this point. Also, by revealing his name, as a raider of cities, he does not the slightest regard to his or his men’s safety, which expresses the negative effects of his lack of self possession on him and people around him. Later, instead of revealing his name, Odysseus “never blinked…had this trick – wept, if he willed to, inwardly” (360). In front of his beloved wife Penelope, Odysseus had to hold in all the tears that he had built up inside of him for twenty years. Since the beginning of the poem, Odysseus has been mourning primarily for Penelope and now that he is with her, Homer emphasizes the vast amount of tears and love that Odysseus has to control for his wife in order to carry out his plan