Odysseus Should Not Be Blamed In Homer's Odyssey

In Homer’s The Odyssey, the deaths of Odysseus’ men should not be blamed on Odysseus. He made one fatal mistake which costs six lives among his men, but that is all. The men are really at fault for their deaths. The men make several mistakes over the course of The Odyssey. The first of these took place very shortly after the Trojan War. After winning the war and sacking the city of Troy they sail away on their journey back home. After a couple of days they arrive at the land of the Cicones where they killed and plundered the people. After clearing out the land, Odysseus and his men feast until their stomachs’ are full. The men rathered to stay and eat more rather than obey Odysseus’s direct orders for them to leave. This was a bad mistake, for a Ciconian man survived and got word to the men feasting on their land. “Meanwhile, the Cicones cried out for the other Cicones who lived inland.” The Cicones inland attack Odysseus and his men and “half a dozen from each ship” are killed. There would be several ships left along with many men
This is Helios, the sun god’s island. Upon stopping on the island, the men are very hungry and are looking for food. Odysseus carefully warns them not to touch Helios’s cattle or they will pay dearly for it. While away from his men, Odysseus falls asleep in the shade of a tree. While he is asleep his men disobey him and kill Helios’s cattle for food. Afterward, Helios pleads to Zeus to make Odysseus’s men pay for harming and eating his cattle. Zeus will fulfill his wish and “throw down one white-hot bolt, and make splinters of their ship in the wide dark sea.” Following this, the men set to sea when the boat is indeed struck by lightning and kills everyone but Odysseus who floats alone for days until greeted by Calypso on Ogygia Island. If the men would have obeyed Odysseus, they would not be dead, and Odysseus would not have to stay with Calypso for seven