Odysseus: A Hero
Heroism was not an invention of the Greeks. Yet, through the first hundreds
years of their civilization, the Greek literature has already given birth to
highly polished and complex long epics that revolved around heroes. These
literature works gave many possibilities of definition of heroism. The Greeks
illustrated heroism to obey the rules laid down by the gods and goddesses, and
those who obey the rules would gain honor and fame. The Greeks regarded
intelligence as one of the highest gifts that all heroes must posses. The
Greeks required that all heroes must have courage. Odysseus, one of the heroes
of the epic "Odyssey" standout. He was constantly expected to be a true ...
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rule, a characteristic that all heroes
must have according to the Greeks' tradition . All heroes must followed the
rule because if they did not, they would be punished by the immortals, and would
not be recognized as heroes. When Odysseus reach the land of the Cyclops race.
Odysseus decided to pick his best men, goods offered as gifts, and headed toward
a Cyclops's cave. When his men saw cheese, pens, and lamb on lying on the racks,
they pleading to Odysseus, "Why not take these cheeses, get them stowed, come
back, throw all the pens, and make a run for it? We'll drive thekids and lambs
aboard. We say put out again on good salt water!" Odysseus dismissed the
suggestion, "I wished to see the cave man, and what he had to offer." Odysseus
dismissed the suggestion of his men, and choose to wait to greet the Cyclops
with the gifts as in the custom of the Guest/Host relationship rule. Those
actions and sayings showed that Odysseus was always following ...
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to my harm.' She swore at once, outright, as I demanded,
and after she had sworn, and bound herself, I entered Circe's flawless bed of
love." Odysseus was asked by the goddess Circe to make love with her in order
to build trust between her and Odysseus. However, Odysseus realized that the
goddess wanted to go to bed with him, not to build trust, and as a result,
Odysseus used his cunning to ask Circe to make a deal in which Circe had to
swear to reverse her spell on his men in trade for him to make love with her "as
to build trust". The goddess accepted the deal because both sides would get
what they want—Circe would go to bed with Odysseus, the goddess would reverse
her spell on ...
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"Odysseus: A Hero." Essayworld.com. July 20, 2007. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Odysseus-A-Hero/68313.
"Odysseus: A Hero." Essayworld.com. July 20, 2007. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Odysseus-A-Hero/68313.
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