Odysseus Lessons In Homer's Odyssey

There are many lessons Odysseus and is men learn on their journey home in the Odyssey. Unfortunately, only Odysseus makes it home and the rest of men are dead because of their foolish actions. In the Thrinacia and The Cattle of the Sun episode of the Odyssey Odysseus’s men once again disobey him and cost them their lives. The men and Odysseus learn valuable lessons throughout their epic journey, but in the episode the most important lessons they learn are; temptation can lead to death, being obedient can save your life, and trust your instincts. If Odysseus’s men would have been more obedient to their leader Odysseus perhaps all of them would have made it back home alive.
In the episode Odysseus and him men barley make it out alive from the

None of Odysseus’s men were really loyal to him because of their lack of obedience and honesty. In this episode the men learn that their disobedience causes them their lives when Helios the sun god realizes his scared cattle had been killed. Helios furious goes to Zeus and begs him to punish Odysseus’s men, or he will take the sun and go “down to the House of Death and blaze the sun among the dead” (Odyssey 12. 412). Zeus with no choice left but to punish Odysseus’s men whips up a storm and strikes his thunder bolt to destroy Odysseus’s ship soon after they leave the island. No one survives but Odysseus. “…his hardy life spirit left his hones behind. Then, then in the same breath Zeus hit the craft with a lightning-bolt and thunder. Round she spun, reeling under the impact…” (Odyssey 12. 446-449). The most important lesson that is learned in this episode is that Odysseus should have trusted his own instincts, and should have acted upon them. Odysseus knew before they landed on the island of Thrinacia that “‘some power was brewing trouble for us’” (Odyssey 12. 320) indicating he knew from the beginning it was a bad

“‘I’d rather die at sea, with on deep gulp of death, than die by inches on this desolate island here’’ (Odyssey 12. 377-378). Not only was this irony but a foreshadow of what was to come. The description of Odysseus’ ship being destroyed by Zeus is an epic simile and an epithet. “Round she spun, reeling under the impact, filled with reeking brimstone, shipmates pitching out her, bobbing around like Seahawks swept along by the whitecaps past the trim black hull and the god cut short their journey home forever” (Odyssey 12. 448-452). The harsh punishment describes the ship as a she who’s shipmates dive out of the burning ship like Seahawks as the Zeus again hinders Odysseus and his men from going home.
The theme of disobedience is very prominent in this episode. The poor choices Odysseus makes as well as his foolish men. In other episodes in the Odyessy like Scylla and Charybdis, The Lotus Eaters, and most episodes’ disobedience was also a problem. In the Sirens and Cyclops episode Odysseus’ men where more obedient when they were in threating situation. If this episode was never told in the book of the Odyssey, the readers would be missing out on how important it is to be obedient and trusting your own instincts. Odyessus and his men would probably have arrived to Itchia alot sooner with no