How Did Odysseus Show His Bravery?
Odysseus showed his bravery by fighting valiantly in the war with Troy, facing great dangers on his decade-long voyage home and ridding his home of his wife’s parasitical suitors upon his return. During his lengthy ordeal after incurring Poseidon’s wrath, he had many opportunities to demonstrate his resourcefulness, cunning and courage.
According to the “Iliad” and “Odyssey,” the epic poems by Homer, Odysseus not only showed great courage during the Trojan War, but also persuaded others, including Agamemnon, to persevere in the battle. Odysseus came up with the scheme to hide in the massive wooden horse gifted to the Trojans, the ploy that turned the tide of the war.
At the outset of his voyage home, Odysseus and his men, after visiting the land of the Lotus-Eaters, arrived at the country of the Cyclops. To save his men, Odysseus blinded the Cyclops Polyphemus.
This enraged his father Poseidon, who cursed Odysseus with 10 years of further wanderings. During this time he encountered the race of giant cannibals called the Laestrygones, Circe the witch-goddess who turned some of his men into swine, Scylla the six-headed monster and Calypso the enchantress. Finally, Odysseus returned home in disguise. Thinking him dead, his wife, surrounded by suitors, offered to marry whoever was able to string Odysseus’s bow and send an arrow through 12 axe shafts. After Odysseus was the only one who could do the deed, he slaughtered the suitors and regained his wife and home.
