Odysseus and his men land on a Cyclopes island, Polyphemus. Polyphemus gets mad at Odysseus and his men so Polyphemus eats 6 of Odysseus’ men. Odysseus uses his strength and his cleverness to blind the Cyclopes. “So with our brand we bored that great eye socket while blood ran out around the red-hot bar” (Homer 666). After they blinded Polyphemus, they used his rams to escape from Poly’s cave. This makes Odysseus an epic hero.
In a middle of things, Odysseus is a “pleasure” slave of a goddess temptress, Calypso. She wants Odysseus because he is handsome, strong and clever, all of the characteristics of a hero. In the text, the god messenger, Hermes, gives Calypso a letter from Zeus to have Odysseus freed. Calypso did not want to give up Odysseus, but she had to. This makes Odysseus heroic because a goddess wants a mortal being for eternity.
Also the goddess of cleverness, Athena, likes Odysseus. She likes him because he is smart and clever just like her. Also, Athena tells Zeus, her father, to tell Calypso to give up Odysseus so he could go back home, instead of sitting on a rock all day, sobbing that he can never see his wife and son again. “ Now [Athena] begs her father, Zeus, to help her favorite, and Zeus agrees” (Homer 652). So by being clever and being a hero way before Calypso was in the picture, he is able to leave Calypso’s grasp.
So I know that Odysseus is an epic hero From those 3 examples. This piece of literature is important to the world of literature because “The Odyssey” is a great beginning to all of the modern super heroes. This piece of