ipl-logo

Essay On Athena's Relationship In The Odyssey

435 Words2 Pages

In the poem The Odyssey, there are gods and mortals alike, where they have their typical relationships. The typical relationships that the gods and the humans/mortals have is the give and receive relationship, meaning the humans give offers and/or sacrifices and the gods receive those offers and sacrifices. In addition, to those simple relations there are also ones of the complex variety. Most of the complex relations have to deal around Odysseus since he is the main character to the poem. Odysseus’s relationship is between Athena- goddess of wisdom and purposeful battle and also the daughter of Zeus; and the other relationship that Odysseus have is with Poseidon, god of the sea. First, with the relation between Athena and Odysseus, Athena has this soft spot for the courageous and sharp-witted Odysseus. Athena has this liking …show more content…

The reason for Athena always helping Odysseus was because she felt this sort of connection with him; they both were these wise and battle savvy god and mortal and in a sense she felt like they were one. “Great Odysseus who excels all men in wisdom, excels in offerings too…” (The Odyssey 79) Thus, having this affection toward Odysseus, she also helps his son, Telemachus. In book 2 when Telemachus sets sail to find his father, Athena disguised as a mentor, helps Telemachus along giving him advice and keeping from harm’s way. Athena teaches Odysseus about spiritual growth. When Odysseus was nearly killed off the shore of Scheria, the first is island he reaches, he could had died if it was not for Athena. Athena let Odysseus experience the storm, in hopes of him getting stronger for going through it. Also, the relationship of Athena and Odysseus also taught other humans, that obeying the gods something good can come out of it by having a god or two have their back for a needed

Show More
Related

  • Odyssey And The Alchemist

    711 Words  | 3 Pages

    Odysseus receives guidance, and help, from mainly Athena, the daughter of Zeus. She helps Odysseus and his son, Telemachus, throughout the whole book. Often, she disguises herself as the Mentor or another person. Athena was also the one god who spoke up for Odysseus and his son during the council of the gods. Although Odysseus does gain support from a few of the other gods, at the same time, he becomes an enemy to others, such as Poseidon, so having Athena on his side helps him to further move towards his end goal to return home.

    Read More

  • Loyalty In The Odyssey

    1240 Words  | 5 Pages

    Loyalty and faithfulness are traits expected of all mankind. They are virtues that embody the highest ideals of a modern day person. Even from the ancient Greeks, loyalty was demanded of human beings. However, back then, these traits were only expected from certain people. In Homer’s epic poem

    Read More

  • Humility In Odysseus In Homer's The Odyssey

    846 Words  | 4 Pages

    Odysseus’ reverence to the gods is shown again after the suitors families and the town learns of Odysseus’ homicide, they come after the royal family. Athena and Zeus come to Ithaca, ordering a peace. Homer describes the event and Odysseus’ reaction, “So she commanded. He obeyed her, glad at heart." (Homer 24.598).

    Read More

  • Essay On Athena In The Odyssey

    1515 Words  | 7 Pages

    Athena is a major character throughout the book of The Odyssey and is known as the goddess of wisdom and battle. Throughout the course of the book, it is evident that Athena has a weak spot for the main character, Odysseus. Odysseus is trying to return home after the Trojan War, as the other Greek hero’s have already done, however he faces multiple challenges a long the way. Fortunately, for Odysseus, Athena was there to guide him through a few of these troubling situations.

    Read More

  • Deception And Trickery In Homer's Odyssey

    1791 Words  | 8 Pages

    Using her powers to her advantage, Athena continues to practice her favorite pastime and disguises Odysseus as an old beggar to “seem appalling to all those suitors” (Od. 13.459). She schemes for Odysseus to take back his house while cloaked as a bum. By using his disguise, he will be able to “tell the innocent from the guilty,” determining which servants are loyal and which are disloyal (Od. 17.398). Since he is her favorite mortal, she focuses solely on Odysseus and helps him with the overtaking of his wife’s suitors. The bright-eyed goddess develops this plan because she loves the game of lying, trickery, and illusion, and she desires to play it alongside the man who deceives as much as she.

    Read More

  • The Role Of Athena And Penelope In Homer's Odyssey

    1380 Words  | 6 Pages

    She is portrayed as the average Greek woman, but in reality is very cunning. Though both these women are two different characters, their roles are similar, and they both are equally powerful. They are cunning; teach Xenia; develop Odysseus’ character; and an important role in their families. Athena is the cunning Goddess who guides Odysseus back to Ithaca for his family and countrymen without letting him know her reality – she disguises herself every now and then to help him by testing him and his knowledge.

    Read More

  • Athena Disguise In The Odyssey

    677 Words  | 3 Pages

    She instructs him to “sail in quest of news of your long-lost father.” (86). Using her disguise, Athena reaches Telemachus and offers him wisdom. Telemachus takes this advice to heart and sets out to find his father. By offering this information about Odysseus, Athena inspires Telemachus.

    Read More

  • Athena Intervention In The Odyssey

    1056 Words  | 5 Pages

    Here, Odysseus tells Athena that she is all he has left and through her immortal powers, she is the only god still on his side who can help him in his time of need. Therefore, through Athena’s encouraging words, she is able to make Odysseus feel uplifted and more useful, especially as Odysseus is, at this point, very hopeless and miserably

    Read More

  • Divine Intervention In The Odyssey Essay

    384 Words  | 2 Pages

    Another time she helped Odysseus was when she protected him from the suitors' arrows. Without the providence of Athena Odysseus wouldn't have survived the events of The Odyssey. In book 1 of The Odyssey it says how "The story of Odysseus begins with the goddess Athena appealing to Zeus to help Odysseus, who has been wandering for ten years on the seas, to find his way home to

    Read More

  • The Gods And Mortals In Homer's The Odyssey

    610 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Odyssey, gods like Athena and Poseidon interfere with humans to satisfy their own desires, showing that they are just as imperfect and flawed as the mortals that they rule over. Athena favors Odysseus since he reminds her of herself. He portrays the same cunning, guile, and intelligence as she does; Athena had confided to him that “two of a kind, we are, contrivers, both,” comparing how similar they are. “Of all men now alive,” she says, “you are the best in plots and story telling.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Gilgamesh And The Odyssey

    1343 Words  | 6 Pages

    First, we saw this direct interaction between Athena, the goddess of wisdom and Odysseus’ son, Telemachus. Athena took the form of Mentes and appeared to Telemachus, to inspire him to call an assembly and disapprove of his mother’s suitors, and for him to commission a boat and crew to travel to Sparta and the sands of Pylos in search of news of his father (Homer

    Read More

  • Father-Son Relationships In The Odyssey

    1701 Words  | 7 Pages

    Throughout all of human history, various pieces of literature usually reflect the nature of people and the current culture of the time it was written. A topic that was frequently written about in Greek Mythology were family dynamics and relationships between family members. More specifically, father-son relationships were an extremely prevalent topic in Greek Mythology. In particular, The Odyssey touched upon this topic greatly. The basic structure of father-son relationships have stayed the same like how the parent are supposed to take care of the children.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Persuasion In The Odyssey

    877 Words  | 4 Pages

    Athena uses her role as the puppeteer to allow the entire epic to slowly unfold. Without Athena there would be no epic about Odysseus returning home from the brutal Trojan War for the reader to enjoy and the term “odyssey” would not be used to describe a long journey. Athena is the key to the entire story; consequently The Odyssey is her story. The Odyssey is Athena’s story because she plays the role of the puppeteer that causes the events to take place.

    Read More

  • Conversation Between Athena And Odysseus In The Book 13

    797 Words  | 4 Pages

    The conversation between Athena and Odysseus in the middle of book 13 reveals how each of them feels and thinks about the other at this stage in the epic. When Athena is first coming to meet Odysseus, after he has landed on Ithaca, she decides not to appear as herself to Odysseus, but first as a “young man… a shepherd boy”, and she then changes back to herself (13.252). She does this to get an honest opinion from him, as if she had appeared as a god, he might not have been honest with her. She also wants to hear his story, and see if he is actually thinking about her. After he does not “recognize” her because of her “endless” shapes, she is angry with him and accuses him of “never getting tired of twists and tricks” (13.340,56,32).

    Read More

  • Athena's Role In The Odyssey

    776 Words  | 4 Pages

    Athena is known as the goddess of war. Odysseus was aided by her ideas on how to regain power through her tactical skills. The fact that the goddess warrior was on his side through the journey home, reclaiming his land, and killing the suitors was a huge advantage. Athena is very intelligent in how she strategizes and won wars in the past. Some may argue that Odysseus is the real hero but there were many times throughout The Odyssey where he needed Athena’s protection and input of logical ideas.

    Read More

More about Essay On Athena's Relationship In The Odyssey

Open Document