2007-10-18 15:38:18 · 6 answers · asked by dancingbaby124 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Mythology & Folklore
He was a hero before The Odyssey, but what he went through to get home to his wife was more heroic.
2007-10-18 15:42:45 · answer #1 · answered by concupiscent_mephisto 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The age-old definition of a hero is someone who sets out on a quest, and completes it. They are super-human, can do things no other man can do, are more powerful, handsome, and cunning than the rest of the human population. And they get the girl. Odysseus spends ten years fighting monsters, slaying sorceresses, and sailing his ship, so he can return home to Ithaca, Penelope and Telemachus. He defeats a Cyclops, makes it past the sirens, and the whirlpool with the creepy multi-headed monster near by. Granted, his journey is long and complicated because he angered Poseidon, but he takes everything Poseidon throws at him, and manages to get home in time to kill all the suitors, just in time. And then of course, the story ends with him having to fulfill his promise to Poseidon, and he goes off to 'bring to the sea' to a far-off city. He faces the odds, and wins.
2007-10-18 15:49:09 · answer #2 · answered by rubix 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Odysseus spent ten years trying to get home to Ithica. He got past Scylla, Circe, Polyfemus, Sirens, Harpies, Calypso, Posiedon, and several other monsters/deities/hardships.
Then he freed his wife from her psycho suiters.
He was just plain heroic.
2007-10-18 16:09:10 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
He's considered a hero because he used his brain to figure out how to get out of bad situations. His cunningness is his "heroic power" in this situation.
2007-10-18 15:43:52 · answer #4 · answered by JD 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You know I always thought he was kind of a dumb A55. Got most everyone killed, couldn't find his way home, made every mistake he could. Loser!!!
2007-10-18 16:51:01 · answer #5 · answered by John S 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He survived the wrath of gods.
2007-10-18 18:00:59 · answer #6 · answered by Mr. Bodhisattva 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋