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Odysseus Leadership Qualities

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The well known Greek warrior, Odysseus, king of Ithaca and traveler was the main character in the epic poem written by Homer, The Odyssey. He fought in the Trojan war, where he devised a plan to build an enormous wooden horse and hide inside it while the enemies brought it within their walls, foolishly thinking it was a gift. When the enemies had begun to celebrate their victory and become intoxicated, Odysseus and the other soldiers rushed out of the horse and slaughtered them all. His mother was Anticlea, who Odysseys last saw just before boarding his boat with his men to embark on his voyage. Soon after he left, she died of grief, longing for him as she thought he might never return home to her. She was reasonable in thinking this however, …show more content…

An example of these skills would be the fact that he never makes his men do anything he wouldn’t do himself: “as for myself I took my twelve best fighters and went ahead” (Homer 136). It would have been much easier for him to just send his men out on their own and stay safely on the ship. However, this was not the case as he bravely went alongside his men to lead them into the land of the giants. He also made sure to take great care of and protect the men he was responsible for: “I carved a massive cake of beeswax into bits and rolled them in my hands until they softened” (Homer 707). To protect his men from the songs of the Sirens, he rolled up some bees wax to make …show more content…

Those most noticeable being wisdom, leadership, bravery, and cleverness. Because of these traits, he was the only one who was able to survive the voyage and make it back home after twenty long years. When he finally returned home, he disguised himself as a beggar with the help of Athena and made a plan with his son to enact revenge on the suitors who had taken over his home. He passed Penelope’s test of stringing and shooting his bow, killed all of the suitors with the help of his companions and finally correctly completed Penelope’s last test. And so, he, his wife, son, father, and kingdom were reunited once

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