Odysseus Arete In Homer's Odyssey

As a man polytropos, Odysseus undergoes many trials and tribulations on his circuitous return to his homeland of Ithaka. Though physically of stalwart build, Odysseus is known among the Homeric heroes for his mental craftiness and emotional fortitude. It is these prized attributes that enables Odysseus to adapt, coping with impediments to his survival with self-possession and cunning. However, it is also Odysseus’ limitations that cause the exacerbation of his grievous situation. Throughout Odysseus’s time at Troy and his long voyage home, he grows as an individual, learning through these experiences and encounters about human nature and survival, the importance of home and family, and about character and the true meaning of Arete.

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You’ve seen worse, that time the Kyklops like a rockslide ate your men while you looked on. Nobody, only guilt got you out of that cave alive.’ His rage held hard in leash, submitted to his mind.. ” (Book 20, Lines 8-23) Unlike with Polyphemos, Odysseus patiently waits to reveal his identity to the suitors at the most opportune moment. After Odysseus has finished his massacre of the suitors, he tells Eurykleia that, “To glory over slain men is no piety. Destiny and the gods’ will vanquished these, and their own hardness. They respected no one, good or bad, who came their way. For this, and folly, a bad end befell them..” (Book 22, Lines 460-466), acknowledging the will of the gods as supreme, rather than his own skill as a warrior. At the very end, although Odysseus is rearing to fight the men of Ithaka and finish the battle, “he yielded to” (Book 24, Line 610) Athena’s command to “Call off this battle now, or Zeus who views the wide world may be angry” (Book 24, Lines 608-609), and “his heart was glad.” (Book 24, Line 10) By the end of his journey, Odysseus has attained a greater mastery of self, patience, humility, and piety towards the