Diomedes: The Normative Greek Warrior

Odysseus was a Greek soldier who suffered a great journey just to be reunited with his wife, Penelope, and son, Telemachus. Throughout his journey Odysseus displayed many traits characteristic of epic Greek heroes. These traits, which were valued by the Greeks and defined Odysseus as one of the epic heroes, included: wit, pride, loyalty, faithfulness, and strength. Odysseus used his wit to win the Trojan War and to ensure the survival of his crew on the journey home. After being blocked outside by massive walls that surrounded Troy, Odysseus planned to build an enormous wooden horse and hide Greek soldiers inside the belly of the horse.

When expressing his own heroism, Odysseus states that people “hold me formidable for guile in peace and war” (Homer 896). By everyone acknowledging his greatness, it helps Odysseus excel as an epic

Along with battling supernatural enemies, Odysseus shows he has superhuman

Odysseus faces many challenges and life-threatening moments but he faces them all. Odysseus is an hero because he has super-natural help, and he overcomes challenges during his journey by proving himself in order to reach his goal, which is getting home to Ithaca and to take control over his home. Odysseus is an hero because he is lucky to get super-natural help from the gods. Athena the goddess of war was by

When it comes to defining a hero, it is anyone who expresses goodwill through the willingness to stay loyal and courageous for the sake of others. Throughout the Odyssey, loyalty is portrayed by the sentiment of staying true to the possessions you love most. In the beginning of book 9, Odysseus informs the readers on how he was held captive by goddess Calypso where she would tempt and force herself upon him, Odysseus reveals, “But

“What makes a hero truly great is that they never despair” said Roy Thomson. Odysseus knows that his men will die, but he keeps pushing on to get home. In the Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus shows he is an epic hero by his great strength and all his epic hero abilities. Odysseus has to travel home from the Trojan war, which he did not want to go to. He wants to get home so he reunite with his wife and son.

The Persian Wars created many opportunities for heroes to stand up in defense of Greece but out of all of them, Themistocles stands above them all. By any metric, Themistocles was a strong military tactician who used the Athens navy to strengthen ground combat. While Leonidas was a hero to Sparta and one of the heroes during the Persian Wars, his only true claim to the being the real hero can be found only in his sacrifice to Xerxes’ Army when he along with 300 Spartans made their stand. Athens naval fleet was greatly bolstered by Themistocles after he built the Piraeus.

Heroism, tends to be difficult to define and remarkably ambiguous in literary works. In the Odyssey, however, Homer clearly defines a hero as a humble, determined, and loyal individual; thus, according to Homer, it is not enough to claim to be a hero, but it is also important to exhibit those qualities that Homer values as heroism. Odysseus, despite claiming heroism, upholds these traits inconsistently, as seen in his taunting of Polyphemus. In contrast, Telemachus, Odysseus’ overlooked son, dramatically grows up over the course of the epic and ultimately reveals his truly heroic qualities by the end of the poem. Thus, because Odysseus claims to be a hero, but fails to remain humble, determined, and loyal throughout the epic, he is not a hero.

Jason (Diomedes) is a Greek Hero and the leader of Argonautic Expedition in the journey to get the golden fleece. One of his nicknames is “The Golden Boy,” because he was sent on an expedition with the Argonauts to capture the Golden Fleece. This is because Jason wants his uncle Pelias to step down from the throne. When Jason was still young, Pelias killed all of Aeson’s children except for Jason. Jason was married twice from Medea and Glauce, but when Jason left to be with Glauce, Medea killed Glauce and their children Mermeros and Pheres.

Another one of these well-known heroes is Odysseus, who not only had to endure a decade of war, and then win the aforementioned war, but also spent another decade trying to find his way home to his kingdom and family. Odysseus is a well-known hero for not only winning the Trojan War through his cunning and trickery, but also for all the hardships and trails he and his crew mates went through trying to get home. According to Homer, Odysseus was king of Ithaca, and Homer portrayed Odysseus as “a man of outstanding wisdom and shrewdness, eloquence, resourcefulness, courage, and endurance.” (Britannica)

Odysseus defies the suitors and wins his wife and kingdom back. Despite Odysseus' overconfident nature, Odysseus proves he is a hero by showing bravery and intelligence. When it comes to being a hero, being brave is one of the most

The concept of hero has been interpreted in many ways throughout the ages. Hero have gone from knights slaying dragons and rescuing the princess, to heroes who save the world with their supernatural-like powers, to a modern day hero who is someone who has noble qualities and is regarded as a role model. In the epic, The Odyssey, by Robert Fagles, the heroic Odysseus is a well known in Greek mythology. However, although Odysseus is the most respected, honorable hero of Greek mythology he is not a modern hero. A modern day hero is someone who puts their life on the line to save the lives of other innocent people.

A hero is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements or noble qualities. In the movie, Odysseus shows that he is a hero by showing off his bravery and courage to defeat several monsters. He showed courage when he faced the Cyclops, when he met Lotus Eaters, and when he went back to Ithaca to see his wife. Odysseus and his men went to the cave to show the Cyclops that they are better than him. The Cyclops got angry when he got back to his cave since Odysseus and his men were eating the Cyclops’ food.

The great warrior, Achilles, has been killed in battle. The man who now can be considered the greatest warrior, Ajax, should be given Achilles’ armour (which was created by the god Hephaestus and is completely invulnerable) but the armour is instead awarded by the two kings, Agamemnon and Menelaos, to Odysseus (although not without the help of his protector, the goddess Athena). Ajax is enraged and vows to kill the Greek leaders who had disgraced him this way, but before he can act upon his rage, Athena steps in and possesses Ajax. She tricks him into believing that the sheep and cattle that were taken by the Greeks as spoils of war are actually the Greek leaders. He slaughters and mutilates some of them, and takes the others back to his home to torture, including a ram which he believes to be his main rival, Odysseus.

In the epic poem, the Iliad written by Homer, several characters taking part in the warfare between the Achaeans and the Trojans are portrayed as embodying the heroic code of courage, physical strength, leadership, arete of value of honour, and the acceptance of fate. The heroic code is illustrated by the actions of the Trojan prince, Hector and the Achaeans strongest warrior, Achilles. Both of these characters display the Greek’s image of a hero, and can also let the reader discern what the society admires, looks up to and aspires to in its heroes. There are also characters who fail to be heroic, such as the Trojan “vivid and beautiful” prince, Paris. These characters in the Iliad illustrate the qualities that Ancient Greek society values.