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2.1: Classification and biodiversity

Odysseus

Leader

Odysseus leads his crew in books 9-10 and leads his son and slaves in books 19-21. However for books 9-10 he is the one telling the story so in some cases there may be some bias towards him making him appear a better leader.

Odysseus’ leadership qualities

fair/not greedy
responsible
strategic/logical

Good Leader

Bad Leader

Responsible:

tells his men to leave Ismarus after ransacking the city
sends only 3 men to search the land of the Lotus-Eaters
saves men from the Lotus-Eaters
Only his boat goes to the Land of the Cyclopes
kills a huge stag for his crew to eat
goes to save his men from Circe’s palace

However…

tells the Cyclops his real name

Fair

shares Polyphemus’ flock evenly with everyone
____ to decide who searches Circe’s palace

However…

lets all his crew except his boat go into the dangerous harbour at Telepylus
doesn’t realise Elpenor is dead and forgets to bury him

Strategic/Logical

makes a plan to hurt the Cyclops
splits his crew into 2 to search Aeaea
makes a plan to defeat the suitors
delegates tasks to others during battle

However…

doesn’t tell his crew what is in the bag from Aeolus
all his crew die in the end

Husband

Good Husbinand

Bad Husband

perseveres to get back to Ithaca and to her:

despite all his challenges and losing his whole crew he still tries to get back home to Ithaca to reunite with Penelope

disloyal:

sleeps with Circe, he also stays for a whole year by choice, but Hermes said he had to sleep with her
sleeps with Calypso, he was stuck there for 7 years and cried every night because he missed home

Ancient Greek perspective: might not be so frowned on because these women were unmarried and goddesses, and so for them to want Odysseus makes him seem amazing and wasn’t considered cheating

avenges her by killing the suitors:

a large part of why he killed the suitors was because of the way they treated Penelope, he doesn’t allow people to disrespect her

tests Penelope:

when returning to Ithaca he decides to test everyone’s loyalty, when he meets Penelope it’s clear she misses Odysseus and even cries in front of him about it, in my opinion he should’ve revealed his identity to her because she was clearly loyal and it would have made her happy. He already revealed himself to others, why not Penelope.

To be fair he wasn’t happy at the sight of her crying and was also very sad

Father

To be a good father in Ancient Greek times you had to provide instruction and inspiration to them

moments

instructs him to hide the weapons and get them during the battle
Telemachus tries to string the bow, he wants to be as strong as his father
Telemachus fights the suitors with him, he will learn a lot of battle skills from him

Warrior/Hero

homeric hero characteristics:

God-like
- Odysseus is very strong physically, he defeats a stag all by himself
good Nostos
- perseveres 10 years to find his way home
revenge in honour of his family
- kills the suitors
commands respect and loyalty from those around him
- demands respect from suitors
- tests his servants for loyalty
wealthy
- wears good clothes and has a lot of property
endure suffering
- stuck on Ogygia for 7 years
- watches all his men die
- away from home for 20 years
supported by Gods
- gets Moly from Hermes
- Athena looks over Penelope and Telemachus

Intelligence & Oratorical skills

moments:

Odysseus speaking to Polyphemus
- makes him respect and fear them by mentioning they’re Greek Warriors
- lies about their boat sinking to avoid his trap
Odysseus speaking to Penelope
- compliments her and asks not to ask him about his past
- uses a detailed description of Odysseus to give Penelope hope of his return, and to make her believe his story
Odysseus speaking to his loyal slaves
- asks how they would react to seeing Odysseus, before he reveals himself

however he often differs between confidence and arrogance, like after fooling Polyphemus he reveals his name

Relationship with Athena

moments Athena helped Odysseus

disguising him as a beggar “Aethon”
- this protected him from being killed by the suitors
helps distract Penelope from Eurycleia trying to reveal “Aethon”’s identity
makes the suitors spears miss hitting Odysseus

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