What Makes Odysseus An Epic Hero

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“And when long years and seasons wheeling brought around that point of time ordained for him to make his passage homeward, trials and dangers, even so, attended him even in Ithaca, near those he loved”(963-964). This quote exemplifies how the epic hero Odysseus’ travels and journeys affected his life, continuing even after his return home. Those that do not know of his voyages might say that Odysseus is just an old name, and that there was nothing extraordinary about his life at all; but that’s for you to decide. During the end of the 8th century B.C. , there was a king that ruled under the name Odysseus. This king was a very powerful man with a massive army and many servants at his command. His power though was only derived from what he had …show more content…

He was a humble king that had great respect for those loyal to him and his close friends. One of the major factors that makes Odysseus the epic hero that he is described as, is the fact that he fought in many battles including the Trojan war, a ten year transcending battle that tested the strength and endurance that he had much of. After defeating the Trojans in the war, his journey home was not a short one. He had angered the sea god Poseidon and was not letting him return so easily. The first trait that makes Odysseus an epic hero is his Intellectual skills. He is a very intelligent person in terms of knowing what is going on around him and how to get out of complex situations. An example of this would be, for one, when he had come across the island of …show more content…

Some of the ways that he demonstrates this trait is by surviving the Trojan War, which lasted many years. He is strong in many ways than just physical. His mental state of mind is strong as well, including when he was tricked into eating a lotus flower given to him by Calypso's servants. He, out of all his men, realized that the lotus flower was poisoning their minds and if not snapped out of, would consume their state of mind into never wanting to leave the chamber. A third way that he resembles being strong is when he had to cling to a pear tree on the side of the mountain between Scylla and Charybdis. That feat also would have taken a numerous amount of endurance. Being strong can come in many forms than just physical, and Odysseus was many forms of it, including mental and

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