In The Odyssey the ancient Greeks had a sense of explorations, independence and love life. They were skillful and wise men and women. They are depicted as courageous and adventurous heroes and warriors. Under all those beautiful characteristic illustrated in The Odyssey, under that shell that it portrayed, the ancient Greeks had many fears. They feared the sea, Cyclops, scared of scandals, death and people with different cultures. Ancient Greeks had all these fear because it turns out that they fear everything that could take their life. Life is a big deal for ancient Greeks, they love and appreciate their life and would do anything to protect it. Even though everything that could cause death was terrifying for the ancient Greeks, the scariest thing was the meddlesome of the gods.
The Greeks had many fears. The fear that seems perplexed is of the sea. One might think because they are geographically surrounded by sea they would have learned how to cope and master skills of the sea. They did not; it is proven in the odyssey that ancient Greeks feared the ocean. They feared the violence that the ocean can bring upon them. They thought ocean was an endless trap to death. Laodamas the son of king Phoenicia explained that there is “Nothing worse than the sea, I always say, to crush a man, the strongest man alive.” (Odyssey. P. 195). He could have seen what the sea had done to Odysseus. Odysseus, the greatest hero in the odyssey, was beaten and sabotage by the ocean. If the sea had done that to him, it might have killed and ordinary person in Odysseus position. The ancient Greeks recognize the destruction the ocean can bring upon them. That is the reason the sea was considered to be one of the most frightening things. The reason the...
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...jor problem to ancient Greek because the Poseidon controls the sea it can cause destruction and death.
In conclusion, the Greeks had many fear, but they had more fear for the gods. The Greeks feared the sea for it ability of taking life. And life turns out to be one of the greatest possessions for the Greeks. Ancient Greeks feared the Gods because they also had the ability to take life away. The gods were frightening powerful immortals that were inconsiderate toward the puny little Greeks. For example, Poseidon a reckless god, he ravaged Odysseus and caused him to wander off at sea. He took no pity on him; he just wanted to torture him for not sacrificing in his name. Calypso as beautiful and charming as she was, her obsession caused her to be a meddlesome goddess. Athena as clever she was in helping Odysseus to find his way home, she was also a meddlesome God.
this, for once the suitors are gone Odysseus is free to reclaim is post in
The Odyssey has a lot of god’s but Odysseus gets the wrath of Poseidon because he punctures Poseidon’s son’s eye. After that day Odysseus’ life is ruined for 20 years trying to get back to his homeland of Ithaca. “(Zeus:) “For his sake Poseidon, shaker of the earth, although he does not kill Odysseus, yet drives him back from the land of his fathers. But come, let all of us who are here work out his homecoming
The sum of all human traits is defined as human nature, meaning the excuse for our vices, and the flaws of mortal life. In Homer's The Odyssey, the main character Odysseus demonstrates these flaws throughout his journey, constantly struggling through the eternal fight for realization of life and death, and is weighed down by the never ending power struggle of nature versus mankind.
Odysseus is a hero because he acts courageously while facing the many challenges he encounters. Odysseus’s shows great bravery when he engages in physical challenges. Odysseus daringly fights against the suitors, while significantly outnumbered: “For I must tell you this is no affair / of ten or even twice ten men, but scores, throngs of them” (XVI, 291 – 293). Even though Odysseus is facing hundreds of men, his bravery keeps him confident that he can win the battle. Odysseus must use his physical strength when Poseidon punishes him with turbulent waves: “Odysseus’s knees grew slack, his heart / sickened, and he said within himself / Rag of man that I am, is this the end of me?” (V, 307 – 309). Odysseus is exhausted from the torrential sea, yet refuses to give up because of enormous courage and his unwillingness to surrender. Odysseus must also cope with emotional challenges throughout his journey. His emotions are tested when he ventures to the underworld, Hades, and must confront his greatest fear, death: “From every side they came and sought the pit / with rustling cries; and I grew sick with fear. / But presently I gave command to my officers” (XI, 45 -47). Although Odysseus is deeply fearful when he comes face to face with the dead, his mental f...
Throughout the Odyssey there are many themes that Homer uses to portray different people and events. To name a few, there are the themes of Betrayal and Revenge,Greed and Glutony, Hospitality, Role of the Gods and Wealth (the amount of money one had determined the status he held in the greek society, and this explains Odysseus's love for plunder).
The ancient Greeks have brought upon numerous ideas, inventions, and stories to the world. Greek mythology influences modern day literature and life. The Odyssey is an epic poem written by Homer, which tells the story of Odysseus's journey home after the Trojan War. Odysseus does not achieve his goal of reaching home so easily; monsters and gods come in his way and hinder him. The Odyssey expresses Greek values of hospitality from the customs of Ithaca, humility from Odysseus’s reform, and loyalty from Odysseus’s family.
The Greeks, as portrayed by Homer, are a very vengeful people. Throughout The Odyssey, a theme of vengeance is dominant. These displays of retribution come from different entities for fairly different reasons. So why is revenge such a factor in The Odyssey? Fear and the overwhelming feeling of payback are two answers. Homer gives numerous examples of how certain characters demonstrate their power in a fury of rage. He writes of the payback Zeus gives to those who break the rules, of Poseidon’s hatred towards Odysseus, and of Odysseus’s revenge to those who have dishonored his home.
Homer’s The Odyssey chronicles Odysseus’s return home from the Trojan War to reunite with his wife, kingdom, and son. However, Odysseus has been encountering serious difficulties that have prevented him from reaching home for nearly twenty years. These difficulties include various different types of monsters, each of which seems to embody undesirable traits such as laziness or savagery. The Greeks portray creatures with these traits as monsters as an example of the Greeks’ “better” traits and subsequent superiority. Each species of monster within The Odyssey represents one or more qualities that the Greeks have demonized in comparison to themselves.
Poseidon, the god of the sea, is angered by the death of his son, the Cyclops. When Odysseus and his crew stopped off at the Cyclopes island on their way home from war, the cyclops, Polyphemus, begins terrorizing Odysseus’ men. Odysseus blinded him and boasted about the event. He sends storms against Odysseus and tries to wreak his ship in Book 5. While shipwrecked at sea, on a raft – which was aided by Athena – Poseidon sends another storm, washing Odysseus up on shore. Eventually, Odysseus is on another ship gifted to him by the Phaeacians, Poseidon turns the ship to stone and sinks while pulling into the harbor at Scheria. The idea that “a bad storm” can affect a well-trained
...happens, it all happens for the best. That everything that is done is a given test that you must achieve in order to reach your destiny. The Odyssey is a test of human devotion and trust through the gods, the mortals, and the obstacles through which they venture, which is shown throughout the entire story and in our everyday lives. Through this story, one can see that all of this is true, whether you believe it or not. These tests can be shown through an epic simile by Homer saying, "As a man hides a brand in a dark bed of ashes, at some outlying farm where neighbors are not near, hoarding a seed of fire to save his seeking elsewhere, even so did Odysseus hide himself in leaves"(54). This shows the symbolism that the ocean is Odysseus’ tests and he hides under the leaves in order to hide from the tests. But in the end, the tests help him and make everything well.
Socrates, a Greek philosopher stated, "Look death in the face with joyful hope, and consider this a lasting truth: the righteous man has nothing to fear, neither in life, nor in death, and the Gods will not forsake him” (Socrates). This explains the basis for Greek beliefs that can be carried over to values and qualities of them. As in this, Homer, the author of The Odyssey, portrays many Greek values that make up a righteous man or as, Homer’s character Odysseus, an epic hero. The Odyssey is the story of King Odysseus' return from the Trojan War to his kingdom of Ithaca. Stories, like The Odyssey, are told with the intent of delivering a message that was important to their culture. Through characters and situations, The Odyssey promotes and emphasizes many important ancient Greek values such as hospitality, pride, and fate.
The Odyssey, an epic poem written by Homer and translated by Robert Fitzgerald, is about the war hero Odysseus' ten year adventure to return home after the Trojan War. At one point in the epic poem, Odysseus is retelling his adventure at the land of the Kyklopês, in which he and his crew go to an island filled with these creatures. Through Odysseus, Homer uses contrasting connotation when speaking of the crew and the Kyklopês to convey that mankind is better than the Kyklopês using two different domains domains of society.
In book eight of Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus is on the island of the Phaeacians and is waiting to return home to Ithaca. Meanwhile, Alcinous, the Phaeacian king, has arranged for a feast and celebration of games in honor of Odysseus, who has not yet revealed his true identity. During the feast, a blind bard named Demodocus sings about the quarrel between Odysseus and Achilles at Troy. The song causes Odysseus to start weeping, so Alcinous ends the feast and orders the games to begin. During dinner after the games, Odysseus asks Demodocus to sing about the Trojan horse and the sack of Troy. This song too causes Odysseus to break down and cry. Homer uses a dramatic simile to describe the pain and sorrow that Odysseus feels as he recalls the story of Troy.
Athena is the goddess everyone wants to have as guardian for his life. She went against her uncle Poseidon to fight for her Odysseus. At one point, we can even think that Athena is also in love to Odysseus because she has never him down. But the real truth is Athena is an amazing goddess who protect Odysseus no matter what because this is the Love she has for him
Many diverse cultures are found in every corner of the world. Every culture is defined by its traditions and values. The film “The Odyssey,” depicts the culture of the ancient Greeks where it illustrates the life of a man, Odysseus, who has gone on a journey just to get back to his kingdom. Many values and traditions could be identified through the path of the journey. Some elements that are found important to the Greeks are the music, the religion, and the duty to the kingdom.