The Hero of the Odyssey: Odysseus

Welcome back, Greeks and Geeks! Today I am going to be telling you about another famous Greek hero, Odysseus. Strap yourselves in, because this is a long one.

Odysseus was the main protagonist in Homer’s epic the Odyssey. He was the son of Laeres, a former Argonaut, and Anticlea, the daughter of a son of Hermes. With his impressive heritage, it was almost guaranteed that he would go on to do great things.

As he was the King of Ithaca, he was one of the suitors for Helen of Sparta (who would later go on to be known as Helen of Troy). Though Helen was certainly beautiful, Odysseus was interested in her cousin, Penelope. Plus, there were many, many suitors of Helen, so the chances of him marrying her were low.

Tyndareus, the King of Sparta, was quite worried about the suitors. He worried that, when one was finally chosen, the others would get violent. So, Odysseus gave him some advice in exchange for his help in getting the hand of Penelope in marriage. Odysseus told Tyndareus to have all the suitors vow to respect the final choice and that they would support Helen and her husband in any eventual trouble they may have.

So, when Menelaus was chosen, all the suitors left peacefully and Odysseus was able to marry Penelope. Together, they went back to Ithaca, where they gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Telemachus.

And they would have lived happily ever after, if, of course, this was not a Greek epic.

If you read my post about the Trojan War already, you know that Helen was kidnapped by Paris of Troy. And because of that little oath that Odysseus said all the suitors should swear to, he was called to help rescue her and bring her back to Sparta.

However, Odysseus did not want to go to war, as the seer Halitherses told him that if he went on this journey, it would take him years and years to return. He tried to play the role of a madman to get out of going, but Palamedes, the man sent to retrieve Odysseus, knew he was faking it, and tricked him to expose his lie.

So, Odysseus went on to fight in the Trojan War.

(It was Odysseus who recruited Achilles, as he knew that without him, the Greeks would lose the war.)

Throughout the war, Odysseus was one of the main strategists and advisors, and also helped keep up the morale of the Greeks. In fact, it was Odysseus who came up with the idea of the Trojan Horse.

He was also quite cruel during the war, specifically towards his enemies. It was said that he killed the child of one of his enemies, while also lying and saying that Palamedes was a traitor so he, too, would die, as he never did forgive him for tricking him to get him to go to war.

It may be for that reason that the gods decided to punish Odysseus and make him take ten years to get back home. This ten-year journey was filled with different adventures that filled Homer’s Odyssey, most notably his encounters with Polyphemus, Circe, the deceased seer Teiresias, and Calypso.

Polyphemus was a cyclopes who captures Odysseus and his men early on in their journey. The cyclopes ate six of Odysseus’ men before Odysseus introduces himself as “Outis” (which translates to ‘Nobody’) and offers him wine and gets him drunk. With Polyphemus drunk, Odysseus attacks, stabbing the cyclopes in the eye and blinding him. Polyphemus begins yelling about how “Nobody is killing me!” so the other cyclopes’ on the island do not come help him. The next day, Odysseus and his men hide underneath his sheep, and Polyphemus lets them out unsuspectingly.

Between Polyphemus and Circe, Odysseus loses all of his ships except for his own. He departed with twelve ships, with full crews on each, and now he has just one ship and one crew.

When his ship reaches the Island of Circe, a feared sorceress, she turns most of his men into pigs. With the help of Hermes, Odysseus is not transformed, and he then begins to attack Circe. Somehow, Circe falls in love with Odysseus (take notes, people: attacking a sorceress WILL make her fall in love with you!) and turns his men back into men. They stay on this island for a year, and Odysseus, too, falls for Circe. At the end of the year, Circe tells Odysseus to travel to the Underworld to speak to the seer Teiresias.

While in the Underworld, Teiresias told him of many of the hardships he would still have to endure before he got back home to Ithaca. He also had encounters with Achilles and Heracles, and his mother’s spirit, who told him to hurry home as Penelope was becoming surrounded with potential suitors.

Soon, Odysseus loses all of his men. They angered the god Helios who demanded Zeus punish them, and he does, by sending a giant storm. Odysseus is the only survivor, who found himself on the island of Ogygia.

Calypso, the daughter of Atlas, lived alone on Ogygia, and she was a witch. When Odysseus reached her island, she instantly fell in love with him, and she kept him captive on the island for seven years. The whole time, Odysseus is dreaming of his home and his wife. With the help of Zeus and Hermes (and by some accounts, Athena), Odysseus is released from the island.

Soon after he escapes from Ogygia and Calypso, he arrives home in Ithaca. Having been gone for twenty years, he had missed a lot. So, Athena came down and disguised him as an old man so he would be able to learn exactly what had happened while he was gone.

He is first reunited with one of his most faithful servants, Eumaeus, and then with his son, Telemachus. They then go to Penelope, who has finally announced that she is ready to remarry (only at the push of Athena, as she knows that Odysseus is finally back). Penelope announces a contest – whoever can string Odysseus’ bow and then shoot an arrow through twelve ax shafts will win her hand. The only one who does it is Odysseus, still disguised as an old beggar.

After he completes the task, he reveals himself to Penelope. He then, with the help of his son and Athena, kills all the suitors and hangs some of the household maids who were traitors. Penelope does not believe that Odysseus is really who he says he is, even though he is now looking like himself again. She asks him to move their marriage bed to another room, and it is only when Odysseus says that he cannot due to one of the legs of the bed being a still living olive tree that Penelope sees and believes Odysseus.

Thus, Odysseus is now done with his adventures, and he is living back in his beloved home of Ithaca with his wife and his son. Together, they all live out the rest of their days, until death takes them all.

As always, thank you for reading, and I hope to see you again soon. Αντίο, Σοφία.