Athena's Guiding Hand in Odysseus' Journey

A typical hero of fictional standards completes brave and valiant deeds that challenge them to become stronger throughout their life. In The Odyssey, told by Homer, Odysseus is molded to appear as one of these heroes in the eyes of the people around him. All done by the insightful goddess Athena. Although friends and enemies see him as a force to be reckoned with, Athena consistently bears Odysseus through his problems, by persuading Zeus into Odysseus’ favor, and directly keeping the suitors from killing him; when Odysseus doesn’t have this undeviating help, he tends to make bad decisions, like giving away his whereabouts to the oblivious cyclops, and consciously allowing his men to be put in a deadly situation.

For example, at the start

Was not Odysseus your favorite when...he sacrificed to you?’...’Can I forget godlike Odysseus, most astute of men, whose offerings were so unstinting when he sacrificed to the undying gods,’” (5). Athena takes her time to remind Zeus that Odysseus has been faithful to them even in the midst of war, when Zeus would have otherwise forgotten. If Athena had not done this Zeus would not have helped Odysseus in his recurring times of need. This help from Athena allows it to be seen that without Athena's help Odysseus would not have had Zeus’ help alongside her own. This lack of help would have resulted in many times where Odysseus would have met death instead of continuing on to be considered a hero. Although Athena is the one who used her powers to give the unworthy Odysseus this title. Also, as Odysseus finally returns to Ithica he plots to take down the suitors that still reside in his

He ripped the top of a huge peak, then hurled a chunk at us…’Why must you goad that savage so?...if he’d heard us breathe or speak even the slightest words he would have hurled one more rough rock and smashed our heads and hull’...These were their words. But my firm heart was not convinced. Again my anger had to taunt: ‘Cyclops, if any mortal man should ask about the shameful blinding of your eye, then tell them that the man who gouged you was Odysseus’” (184-185). Odysseus and his remaining men were almost completely free from the effects of being trapped in the Cyclops cave. Which had only happened after Odysseus decided that he wanted to stay and meet the person who lived in said cave, which then also resulted in the death of many men. Although, when finally escaping, he decided to call back to the Cyclops in order to gloat, and in doing so gave away their position and his own name, that the Cyclops previously knew nothing about. In the few small times like this where Athena does not directly give Odysseus inspiration and ideas to make him seem like a hero, he makes brash and horrible decisions. In doing this the Cyclops was able to give Poseidon his attacker’s name, which then leads to a powerful god working against Odysseus for the rest of the story. Also,