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The heroes of the Greeks were an intricate part of society. After the gods and demi-gods of Greece, the heroes were extremely revered by the people. One hero in particular has distinguished himself from the rest through his quest and adventures. That hero is Odysseus. Odysseus displays the necessary qualities to be honored as a hero, but also has distinguishing traits that set him apart from the rest.
In order to describe the traits that contrast Odysseus from the customary Greek hero, it is first necessary to define what a hero was in those days and then to illustrate the similarities Odysseus shared with them. Upon such disclosure, the true character and distinction of Odysseus will be better known. According to mythology and legend, a hero is defined as a man or a woman, often of divine ancestry, who is gifted with great courage and strength, celebrated for his or her bold exploits, and favored by the gods. On that same note, Fee states that The heros stature and divine purpose is initially established by his miraculous conception, birth, and initiation. Often the hero is conceived by or watched over by a god or other superhuman creature, and the genesis of the hero almost always has supernatural qualities that mark it as special. (Fee, p. 119) Some heroes that have been helped or favored by the gods are Agamemnon, Achilles, Heracles, Theseus, Jason, and of course, Odysseus. Agamemnon was a great king who led the Greeks in the Trojan War.
In this quest, he had the support of almost all of the Olympian gods and their eagerness to help. He also rallied other heroes, such as Achilles and Odysseus, to fight with him. Hera was the most significant of the gods to help the war efforts, as well Dionysos. Next was Achilles, who was also helped by Hera, and by Athena, who strongly suggested that Achilles not kill Agamemnon in rage. Most significantly, Achilles had the great support of his mother, Thetis. She would often solicit the help of other gods, namely Zeus, on behalf of her beloved son.
She even tried to make Achilles immortal by dipping him into the river Styx, but could not cover his heel. This prompted her to seek the help of Hephaestos, who made impeccable, protective armor for her dear son. Heracles is a hero whose main aid came from Zeus, his father, and Athena, who saved him from a storm in time to avert peril. Zeus quite often made sure that his son was well protected. The hero Jason also had a lot of help from many gods. Hera, Artemis, Apollo, Demeter and most importantly, Athena helped him.
Athena was the driving force behind building his ships for his quest. This finally brings us to Theseus, who was also in the favor of Athena. He sacrificed the Bull of Crete (or Marathon) to her in praise, for she was the goddess associated with Athens where he was trying to regain his throne. Like all of these heroes, Odysseus too, was in favor of most of the gods. In fact, all of the Olympian gods aimed to help him, except Poseidon. When Odysseus was fighting in Troy with the other heroes, the gods, especially Hera, were on their side, as previously mentioned.
Later, on his adventures to getting home to Ithaca, Hermes helped him outwit Circe, the witch. He gave Odysseus the moly plant, which only gods can uproot, in order to be immune to Circe's potions and to save his crew. Then, when Odysseus was stuck on the island of Ogygia, being held captive by Calypso, the Olympians voted to help him out to get him off the island. They told Calypso to release him and she consequently gave Odysseus rations to survive as well as materials to build himself a raft. It is also important to note, however, that despite being favored by most gods, the hero almost always came into conflict with at least one of the gods during his or her quest.
The hero would often do something characteristically selfish, and swiftly anger one of the gods. This brings us to Agamemnon's problems with Artemis. On the way to fight the Trojan War, Artemis stopped the winds from allowing the ships to sail on to Troy, because she was angry with Agamemnon for boasting that he was a better shot than she was. She demanded that Agamemnon sacrifice his daughter Iphigeneia to her in order for the winds to pick up again.
He was obviously distraught, but then conceded. Clytemnestra, his wife, was appalled, but Iphigeneia was brave and offered herself to Artemis. Artemis was impressed, spared her, and replaced with her with a doe. Soon after, the winds resumed, and the ships could sail on. Related to this, Achilles had problems with Apollo when he killed his son, Tenes. He averted the wrath of Apollo though, by giving the weapons that killed Tenes to Philoctetes, who was the one to suffer.
The next conflict to be seen is between Heracles and Hera. Hera hated Heracles from the moment she found out that he was the son of Alcmena by her ever-adulterous husband, Zeus. She constantly tried to kill him or bring him danger, especially when she tried to interfere with the completion of his twelve labors. At one point, she brought sleep upon Zeus so that she could bring a terrible storm to where Heracles was sailing. Heracles might have met his fate if Zeus had not awoke in time.
Subsequently, there was disharmony with Jason and Zeus, because of Jasons association with the witch Medea. She brutally and dishonorably killed the prince Absyrtus when on Jasons ship and as a result, the ship, the Argo, was caught in a terrible storm and subject to disorientation because of Zeus. The only way to get back home was to seek help from Circe. Apart from this, there was a minor altercation with Theseus and Dionysos. There was no major conflict, as Theseus was unaware that Dionysos fell in love with his savior Ariadne when they stopped on the island of Naxos, and kidnapped her. The last of the conflicts to be mentioned before Odysseus, is that of Bellerophon and Zeus.
Bellerophon suffered the spite of Zeus when he tried to fly up to the dwelling of the gods with his horse, Pegasus. Pegasus was taken away from him and he was flung back to earth. Odysseus major conflict was with the god Poseidon. During his wanderings, Odysseus ended up on the island where the Cyclops lived. He and his men got trapped in a cave with the Cyclops, Polyphemus, who was the son of Poseidon. In order to escape, Odysseus devised a plan where he and his men would drive a burning stake into Polyphemus one eye, then escape clutching the bellies of his sheep.
At first, he identified himself as Nobody to Polyphemus, but as he and his men were sailing away, his ego got the best of him and he revealed his true identity. He yelled to the Cyclops, If anybody asks who robbed you of your eye, you may tell him that it was Odysseus the sacker of cities, the son of Laertes, King of Ithaca! (Green, p. 314 - 315) And so, with that foolish announcement, Odysseus brought upon himself a curse from Poseidon, who was avenging his sons blindness. This curse would prove to be costly, as it would be the cause of the extension of Odysseus journey by another ten years and of the evils he experienced on his way home. The next important trait of a hero is the quest or adventure that the hero embarks on. A heros life would be rather insignificant if he did not have a quest in which he could set out on and fight for a great cause in order to prove himself.
This quest of the hero almost always begins with some sort of act of initiation. In the case of the heroes of the Trojan War (Agamemnon, Achilles, Odysseus), the event that sparked their quest was the kidnapping of Helen. Agamemnon was the main leader of this quest and summoned the rest of the men to help him. When Achilles was at this War, he had another quest within it to avenge the death of his cousin, Patroclos. During a battle, Hector killed Patroclos (the initiating event) and stole his armor which was borrowed from Achilles.
Achilles then vowed to kill Hector, and succeeded. Oftentimes, the quest of the hero lasted a long time and was laden with adventures. This is the most evident in Odysseus travels, as described by Homer in The Odyssey, and in those of Heracles, Jason and Theseus. Odysseus entire adventure, spanning from his involvement in the Trojan War to his journey home afterwards, lasted altogether twenty years. This is longest recorded journey among the heroes. In addition, heroes encounter many confrontations and fight in battles with monsters, demons or other creatures.
Odysseus, in company with the other heroes, did this too. All the heroes present at the Trojan War (Agamemnon, Achilles and Odysseus) fought many battles and exemplify this aspect. In addition to the Trojan War, Odysseus encountered creatures such as the Lotus-eaters, the Cyclops, Polyphemus, the witches Calypso and Circe, the Sirens and the monsters Scylla and Charybdis. Other heroes too, encountered creatures as well. Heracles encounter...
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