2006-12-08 05:22:35 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Mythology & Folklore
Odysseus was perhaps the most untypical and complex hero in Greek mythology. Odysseus was a great fighter and superb athlete. Odysseus was undoubtedly brave, yet Homer also emphasized that he was also shrewdest and most prudent of the leader in Troy.
2006-12-08 06:30:39 · answer #1 · answered by Fivens 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because he was cleaver and persistant. He got into numerous bad situations, but never gave up. He made mistakes, but he overcame them.
Joseph Cambell wrote that the Oddessy can be seen as an initiation of Odysseus by Hermes. That through the various situations he is challenged to gain wisdom and that these lessons made him able to regain his position once he returned home at the end of the story.
2006-12-09 16:10:21 · answer #2 · answered by cedar_lea 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That is a real good question. He may have been a hero (for surviving the Battle of Troy, and making it back home after getting lost for 20 years), but his character was seriously flawed in my opinion. The man is gone for 20 years, messes around with other women (Sirens, Medea), then he gets insanely jealous when he returns home to find other men courting his wife and thinking that she has been unfaithful to him (she waited for him, with a child to raise, for 20 darn years!)
2006-12-08 07:47:45 · answer #3 · answered by Darlene G 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋