Literary Myth In Homer's The Odyssey

The Odyssey, written by Homer, is an epic telling the story of Odysseus’s adventures back to Ithaca. Similar to The Odyssey, a literary myth is a legendary story about a hero that was passed down for many years. The tale of the hero Odysseus meets several of the criteria of a literary myth. The Odyssey is a literary myth because it tells the tale of a hero. Odysseus is a hero because he was clever and led his man in an escape from the Cyclops. In book 9, the crew had wandered into the cave looking for food until they encounter the Cyclops. The Cyclops trapped his men, “...he gripped two of my men at once and dashed them down upon the ground as though they had been puppies.”, (Homer, p.113) and ate them one by one. Odysseus then planned to

Perseverance is a major thing you can get from the book. Throughout the story, Odysseus goes through many obstacles such as the Cyclops and Poseidon's vengeance relatable to life’s obstacles. Even when Odysseus reaches home he still has to fight with the suitors in book 22. Also loyalty is very important in life and is a message from The Odyssey. Throughout the book Penelope remains loyal to Odysseus even with the pressure from the suitors. She tricked the suitors by saying she’d pick a husband after she knitted, but Penelope unraveled it at night. In book 22, Penelope had them do the bow challenge except she knew only Odysseus could do it. Lastly, acting intelligent and aware of your surroundings can be gotten from the story. In book 10, Odysseus sends only three men into Lamus-Telepylus which was smart since the three were attacked and killed. He does a similar thing and sends half his men on the island of Aeaea where Circe turned half his men into swine. A literary myth contains a message and The Odyssey has quite a few. The story of the great Odysseus, The Odyssey, can definitely be labeled as a literary myth. The hardships of Odysseus and his crew with messages such as perseverance and loyalty make this epic by Homer a literary myth. After identifying The Odyssey as a literary myth because of its tale of a hero and timeless messages, other stories can also be analyzed. What other stories match