Examples Of Greed In The Odyssey

In Homer’s mythological epic: The Odessey the reader follows what is thought to be a story of a courageous soldier and his battle hardened crew fresh from their victory at the stronghold of Troy. Yet a dark shadow of greed and lust for power hangs over these heroic men. Odysseus is a supposed hero, an icon to all his men who are just as power hungry as he is thought to be heroic. Nevertheless at the time of Greek mythology all men had a level of lust, greed, and power hunger at their side. This ultimately leads to their downfall in suffering or death. At the beginning of Odysseus’ journey to his homeland of Ithaca, we find our so-called hero arriving with his warship on the southwestern coast of Thrace, home of the Cicones. The description of the battle is entirely from Odysseus’ massive ego:
“I stormed that place and killed the men who fought…Plunder we took, and we enslaved the woman...equal shares to all…my men were mutinous, fools, on stores of wine” (152, 896), indicating that he was the brave and victorious soldier and while his crew acted more towards savages. Yet Odysseus’ command over his soldiers reflect on himself, making him no better than them. Once sailing from Thrace and then to the island of the Lotus people, the miscreant finds himself on the island of the Cyclops,
When the time came to make his move, the suitors where locked into a single chamber with Odysseus and Telemachus there as well. Here Odysseus shows an even darker side to his power hunger after some of the suitors plead for mercy: “Antinous was the ringleader, he whipped us on to do these things…spare you own people” (1269, 942), and with no compassion Odysseus murdered all that stood before. None of them where armed and held no threat against Odysseus. Odysseus then went on to see his faithful wife and to know that his power hunger and lust lead to all of his crew to