Odysseus An Epic Hero

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The story begins after Troy has been defeated and the Greeks have returned home. One of the most well known epic poems, The Odyssey, a mythological Grecian epic poem that has been verbally passed down for centuries, it was finally written down between 900 and 700 BC by the influential scholar Homer. It is literally the journey home from the Trojan War for Odysseus, ruler of Ithaca. Having left Troy with ships full of supplies and men, Odysseus mostly survives on his own, confronting various dangers and mishaps that keep him away from Ithaca and his loved ones for about twenty years. Odysseus proves himself, not only to be an epic hero but an ordinary man as well. He carries heavy resemblance of both personalities, which evidently help him throughout the story. …show more content…
In the Odyssey, Odysseus overcame all obstacles and hardships that different gods put in his way while still being gracious to them. Tenacious is what I think best makes Odysseus the epic hero he is. This special attribute of his is shown many times throughout the epic. He never treats any god, human, or beast with disrespect. He demonstrates his heroism early on as a skilled warrior in the Trojan War. Not only was he a great fighter, he was cutthroat and very subtle. When the Cyclops Polyphemus had Odysseus and his crew surrounded, Odysseus tricks the Cyclops by telling him that they were nobody important, they later disguised themselves underneath a flock of sheep so Polyphemus would then accidently let them out of his

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