... the contest and had slain the suitors, he is reunited with his wife. By using both his strength and mental ability, Odysseus saved the lives of his crew members as well as his own and was also successful in his goal of reaching home. But he never could have arrived in Ithaca without help from the gods. The gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus always play an important role in the ... Greek epics. Without them, the entire final outcome of the story would be altered. In many of the epics, a hero would be aided by a god yet would have another against them to make their journey more difficult....

• Word Count: 2103
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... death himself. This will turn out to be Gilgamesh's question of life as we will see. The Odyssey is somewhat different in the format of events, so we do not know much about Odysseus until later in the story. But due to reading the Iliad we know that Odysseus is the king of Ithaca and he is a major part of the Trojan war. In the beginning of the Odyssey, we do know that Odysseus has a family which is ... struggling without him. He will come to realize his family means more to the preservation of his life than anything he could learn in war. So both of our characters are very well off, th...

• Word Count: 1637
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School