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Intelligence In Homer's Odyssey

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Today in the world everyone views intelligence as a rare characteristic that the top or elite only have. Also they view people as intelligent if they solve very well-know and or popular issues. Through this viewpoint, common people will say that people like Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, and or the wealthy are intelligent. According to the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary, intelligence is defined as, “the ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one's environment or to think abstractly as measured by objective criteria”. I feel that that definition is very specific and does not even cover a decent range of people. In my definition of intelligence, I view the ability to solve simple but confusing problems, and or the ability to use …show more content…

One of the most prevalent moments occurred in book 9, “The Cyclops”, where Odysseus developed an intricate plan for escape. He tricked the cyclops into drinking wine until he passed out, and told him that his name was Nohbdy. Then he and his men pushed a large pole into his eye, when they cyclops began wailing in pain, other cyclops asked what was wrong and he said Nohbdy did it to me. The next day when the cyclops was letting his rams out, Odysseus tied his men and himself under the animals as to avoid the cyclops (Homer 340-440). This portion of the book was specifically great because Odysseus was intelligent enough to save his men and himself from the cyclops. In the end, being intelligent is not making great scientific discoveries that change the world or even doing something complex and amazing like John Harrison. Intelligence is a far more simple concept like the ability to solve simple but confusing problems, and or the ability to use reason when solving issues as intelligence. This could be expressed as not studying for a test and using the process of elimination to get an A. Also it could be figuring out what is wrong when separate parts do not fit properly together. Intelligence is a simple characteristic that many people

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