Odyssey

Due to Greece’s geographical location along the Mediterranean Sea, an important route for merchants and travelers alike, Greek city-states lived in a constant struggle to maintain their territories. Their protective tendencies drove them to initiate conflicts with neighboring societies to prevent from being attacked themselves. The primary occupation for the typical Greek male was that of a warrior, and from a physiological perspective these men were highly testosterone driven and in effect, highly masculinized. In a general sense, they were behaviorally more aggressive, stronger, and faster than the modern day man. Therefore, these war stricken patriarchal societies were highly motivated by the powerful god-like epic heroes that they heard stories of and later read about in the Homeric epics.
The epic hero in The Odyssey is Odysseus, the aristocratic ruler of the island of Ithaca. Although he played a secondary role to the epic hero Achilles and to other characters such as Agamemnon and the Trojan Hector, the times where we ultimately meet him in The Iliad were of rather favorable distinction and prowess. For example, Agamemnon the commander of the Greek army in the Trojan War chooses Odysseus to form part of an expedition to lure Achilles back to the battle front. Achilles chooses to retract himself from the conflict due to a dispute that Agamemnon and himself have over princess Briseis. Feeling disrespected, Achilles then asks his mother Thetis to ask Zeus to turn the tides of war in favor of the Trojans. Zeus agrees and the Greeks experience a period of defeat so difficult for them to handle that Agamemnon at one point, is driven to tears in front of his army and considers retreating all together. Therefore, Agamemnon, in an apologetic state, chooses an expedition of his best and most trusted men to lure the great Achilles back. Although they ultimately don’t succeed in their task, Odysseus’ presence in the expedition, and tactical presentation of... [continues]

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