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A Strong Body In The Odyssey

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Merriam-Webster defines strong as, “able to withstand great force or pressure.” In ancient Greek culture, the idea of having a strong mind and a strong body was heavily emphasized. In Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, Odysseus the king of Ithica is a perfect model for this value. He begins his trek home following the Trojan War; however, his journey is troublesome and lengthy as he encounters numerous monsters, gods, and other predicaments. After twenty years, he returns home to his wife and son unaccompanied by his men who were killed at sea. Through the epic tale of Odysseus, readers are able to learn of the importance that a strong body and a strong mind had on Greek culture. Odysseus is able to prove in many ways how useful having a strong body is. At …show more content…

In his previous encounter with Polyphemus, Odysseus says that his name is nobody. Later on, when Odysseus stabs the Poyphemus’ eye, the he exclaims, “ Nohbdy, Nohbdy’s tricked me, Nohbdy’s ruined me!” (Homer 338). This makes the other Cyclops on the island think that Polyphemus is just drunk and they ignore his cries. This proves Odysseus’ cleverness and aids in his escape from the island. Odysseus also exhibits his intelligence when meeting Circe the Witch. When Odysseus arrives on Circe’s island, all of his men except Eurylochus go to greet her. After their meeting, Circe makes them forget about their desire to return home and gets them drunk. Once the men are intoxicated, she turns them into pigs. Eurylochus reports the events back to Odysseus, and when Odysseus is on his way to save his men, Hermes visits him. It is said that “ Protected by the plant’s magic, Odysseus resists Circe’s sorcery” (Homer). Odysseus has the wisdom to heed Hermes’ advice and by doing so, has the power to save his men. His intelligence is not just shown through his cleverness, but also through the way he listens to advice when it is

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313-315). Polyphemus takes Odysseus and members of his crew, and kills several of them. ODysseus and his crew treated Polyphemus with respect and offered him gifts, but Polyphemus still brutally murdered several men. Odysseus tricks Polyphemus by telling him his name is Nohbdy, and gets Polyphemus drunk on potent wine. The Odysseus and his crew stab Polyphemus in his one eye.

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In many stories, the hero uses either his wit or strength to solve problems. However, in the epic poem, The Odyssey, written by Homer, Odysseus, the main character, uses both intelligence and strength in order to overcome the problems he faces. Both are used many times in the epic, but Odysseus relies more on his intelligence. This is shown many times, such as when he kills the suitors that stay in his home, encounters the Cyclops, Polyphemus, and when he decides to immediately leave the island of the Lotus Eaters. During the time when Odysseus killed the suitors, intelligence was more important than strength.

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We see his cunning when he claims to be named Nobody in the cave of the Cyclops Polyphemus. One of the most well known examples of his intelligence occurs when Odysseus and his men encounter the sirens on their journey back to Ithaca. His men come across a flower named the “ Lotus flower”, which keeps them all under a drugged state and trapped to the island. Odysseus must use his intelligence and cunning to draw his men back to sea. Lastly, when he returns back home to Ithaca he decides to do so disguised so that he can kill the suitors.

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In the Odyssey by homer and translated by Robert Fitzgerald, the Cyclops encounter is one of Odysseus’ greatest flaws and successes at the same time. It began to go downhill when Odysseus lies about his name and the condition of his ship. When him and his men are captured by the cyclops Odysseus claims his name is nobody, and his ship was wrecked, he does this to aid his escape plan and as a tactic to guard his name and men. When the escape plan is put into play, Odysseus stabs the cyclops in the eye with a red hot spear all the while him lying about his name was put into use because the cyclops yells, in agonizing pain, nobody stabbed him in the eye, this causes the other cyclops to lower there guard and not go to assist their brethren. All

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Without these peculiar, but precious traits, Odysseus would never had made it home. Odysseus’s quality of craftiness and quick thinking contributes to his intelligence. When he fought the cyclopes in “Book 9,” he had to think quick on his feet to help save him and the

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He then uses the stake to blind Polyphemus and escape from his cave. However, Odysseus also uses strategy by first getting Polyphemus drunk on wine and also telling Polyphemus that his name is “Nobody.” This allows him to trick the other Cyclops’ into thinking nobody hurt Polyphemus when he is blinded, making it more difficult for Polyphemus to seek revenge. Overall, Odysseus’ use of strength and strategy in this scene show that he is a skilled warrior and leader who is able to overcome even the most difficult challenges. In the story “The Odyssey '', Odysseus faces the villainous sorceress Circe and receives help from the god Hermes.

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The character Odysseus in The Odyssey by Homer is portrayed as having wisdom, intelligence, and perseverance. While hurting the Cyclops Odysseus used his insight cautiously into this situation, when he misleads the Cyclops about his identity he demonstrated his sharpness, ultimately pushing through the grief of his men of Scylla. Wisdom is a character trait that can describe Odysseus. Without the wisdom of Odysseus' throughout the entire journey, he would not have been able to return home.

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In the book called The Odyssey by Homer, it mainly follows the story of a king of a village called Ithaca, hundreds of years ago-This man, is named Odysseus. Odysseus goes through many adventures after the victory of the Trojan War. However, this is where Odysseus, is not being as strong as a great war hero and a king as he should be. Although Odysseus was seen as a very strong person, physically and mentally, he lacks the appreciation and the care of his crew throughout the trials and didn’t think through many of his actions thoroughly and how they would affect not only his crew but people around him.

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In 'The Odyssey' an epic poem written by Homer, a greek poet, it tells the tale of how the King of Ithaca, Odysseus, goes on an eventful adventure that costs him 20 years and all of his men. In this epic poem Odysseus demonstrates many strengths and weaknesses. Odysseus' strengths are put to use very well and show how smart he can be. However, his weaknesses put him through many hardships and show what he needs to work on. Odysseus has many strengths.

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Personal strengths and weaknesses are magnified during the course of a journey. Some strengths that were magnified during the course of Odysseus’ journey were courage and self-discipline. There were many instances in which he proves to be a courageous man. In the Cyclops story,  Odysseus knows that whatever lives on the island he has arrived to is “a towering brute” and a “wild man ignorant of civility” and yet he decides to venture into the cave.

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That Odysseus is depicted as not just strong, but smart, shows that extreme intelligence was praised in Greek culture. The Cyclops was

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Like Jacob, he isn’t known for being very strong physically, but his cunning is compared to that of the gods. Odysseus’ superior wit is demonstrated when he tricks the cyclops in book 9 and, “Strong Polyphemus from inside/ replied, ‘My friends! Noman is killing me/ by tricks, not force’” (Homer, Odyssey, 9.407-9).

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In The Odyssey, Greek culture is evident as Odysseus shows his confidence, smart, and cleverness on his journey. Throughout his whole journey he goes to 15 stops and he has a lot of strengths and weaknesses shown throughout the Odyssey. His first strength that he had is his confidence. He is super confident in what he does.

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Odysseus was a man of great stature and strength; however, Odysseus was not only physically strong, but mentally strong as well (Olson). We can see Odysseus’ mental strength, or cunning, and bravery when he is in the den of Polyphemus and devises the plan to save him and his crew by calling himself nobody and stabbing out the cyclops’ eye. He also recognizes that he

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By singing beautifully, Circe attracted, and tempted, all the men to herself except for, “Eurylochus, who feared a snare” (IV: 563-564). This demonstrates how Eurylochus resisted temptation, which in turn, saved all of his men who were tricked by Circe’s enchanting sorcery and turned into pigs. Eurylochus stayed strong and ran to tell Odysseus, who stayed with and talked to Circe, eventually saving his men. If Eurylochus had fallen into the temptation like the rest of the men, they would all have been doomed and turned into

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