To completely understand the true meaning of an epic hero, one has to be familiar with the original epic hero a man of legendary proportions, a man by the name of Odysseus. After reading the Odyssey one can easily see that every hero in play, movie or book has some Odysseus like quality. Odysseus is a man that every man wants to be like and every woman wants to be with. He has unsurpassed physical strength which coincides with a sharp intellect, he has an insatiable thirst for glory and courage that takes him beyond the level of mortal men.

The Odyssey was written between 750 and 650 B.C., by the poet Homer, and is set in Bronze Age Mycenaean Greece after the fall of the city of Troy, post Trojan war. The epic is about the hero which is previously discussed, Odysseus. After the fall of

Troy, Odysseus and his men are lost at sea, and begin a tale of wandering from islands to strange foreign lands, overcoming strange sorcery and antagonists.

However, this story does not begin with the trials Odysseus himself but with the tribulations of his loved ones, specifically his wife Penelope and his only son Telemachus. the readers, are taken on a journey of the main character, Odysseus, bearing witness to the many vices and virtues that play a pivotal role on his voyage to his homeland of Ithaca. On his journey, he encounters the many supernatural beings of Greek literature, forcing him to make decisions that greatly impact his life. Through these encounters, his unique heroic qualities are clearly depicted in numerous ways. A man of outstanding prowess and bravery, Odysseus uses his cunning ideas and insuperable intelligence to overcome the many obstacles presented to him. He is a crafty thinker, always searching for the best resolution that will prove beneficial to himself and others. “I was already plotting?What was the best way out? How could I find escape from death for my crew, myself as well? My wits kept weaving, weaving cunning schemes ?life at stake, monstrous death staring us in the face.?(Book IX, lines 469-472) While his physical strength is greater than most, it is his emotional stability and level-headedness that allow him to reason and evaluate situations so well, thus often emerging victorious. But, without his perseverance, faith and ability to never lose sight of his true goals, he would have never managed to survive and reach his homeland of Ithaca. In times of peril, Odysseus was able to depend on his bravery and tact. Being the master of strategy, he often rationalized his way to victory by using his quick wit and persuasive personality. His cunning and creative ideas used when manipulating situations to fall in his favor were nearly flawless. A perfect example of his ability to maneuver out of tricky situations was demonstrated in his encounter with Polyphemus, the Cyclops. Odysseus and his crew were trapped in a cave by Polyphemus awaiting what they thought would be a gruesome and fatalistic end to their journey. However, after persuading Polyphemus into intoxication and then blinding him, Odysseus and his men were able to hide in the underbellies of rams. They clung to their fur as the exasperated Cyclops directed the rams from his cave in the hopes that he would find and devour Nobody, whom he would later identify to be

Some topics in this essay:
Cyclops Odysseus, Troy Odysseus, Penelope Learning, Book IV, Ultimately Odysseus, , Sparta King, Mycenaean Greece, epic hero, odysseus able, wife penelope, heroic qualities, physical strength, epic hero legendary, son telemachus, hero legendary, cyclops odysseus, ix lines, homeland ithaca,