(2) CLASSICAL – HERO: ODYSSEUS

 

“Tell me, Muse, of the cunning man who travelled far and wide after he had sacked the famed city of Troy”

 

“We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” –

Alfred Lord Tennyson, “Ulysses”

 

Yet again I rank the more unconventional hero higher than the conventional hero in a pantheon. I did it for the Hindu, Egyptian and Norse pantheons – and now I’m doing it for my top heroic pantheon, the classical pantheon. While the Greeks revered Odysseus, I think few revered him more than Achilles – and while the Romans tended to dislike Achilles given that they identified themselves with Troy, they tended to dislike Odysseus more, as “cruel, deceitful Ulysses”.

However, I have always preferred the Odyssey to the Iliad – and Odysseus to Achilles, although of course Odysseus also plays a key role in the Iliad (and even more so in the Trojan War). Part of that was growing up with a prose adaption of the Oydssey for children (The Adventures of Ulysses by Bernard Evslin), which still remains the version of the Odyssey lodged within my psyche. However, I don’t think I’m alone in preferring Odysseus to Achilles as I think the former is better suited to modern sensibilities. And because of just that – thinking. Odysseus certainly could fight well. Just ask the suitors – oh wait, you can’t, because they’re all dead. What appeals to modern sensibilities is that he tended to think his way out of dire situations, rather than just fight his way out.

“Husband of Penelope and father of Telemachus…Odysseus is renowned for his intellectual brilliance, guile, and versatility…he is thus known by the epithet Odysseus the Cunning…He is most famous for his nostos or “homecoming”, which took him ten eventful years after the decade-long Trojan War.”

The Odyssey is a ten year maritime magical mystery tour – or dare I say it, Poseidon adventure, as the Greek hero Odysseus just tries to return to his kingdom Ithaca after the Trojan War, barely escaping death as he is tossed from flotsam to jetsam in one shipwreck after another from Poseidon’s wrath. I mean, seriously, he could have walked home faster from Turkey to Greece, although Poseidon probably still would have got him somehow. And he loses all his ships and men en route, returning home as lone survivor – and stranger, as even then he has to remain disguised as a beggar to infiltrate his own household and outwit his wife Penelope’s persistent suitors partying it up there. And let me tell you, every dog has its day. Literally and heartbreakingly, as he is recognized by his faithful dog Argos who has awaited his return for twenty years (only to finally pass away with that last effort). But also figuratively and with undeniable satisfaction as he outwits and defeats the suitors.

“Evidence suggests the existence of a cult dedicated to Odysseus on Ithaca. This evidence includes public games called the Odysseia and a designated public gathering place or a sanctuary, known as the Odysseion.”

 

SUPERMAN-BATMAN SCALE

As I foreshadowed in my entry for Achilles, Odysseus is the Batman to Achille’s Superman.

 

PUNCHING OUT CTHULHU RANKING

Now we’re getting to another reason, perhaps even the reason, why I rank Odysseus over Achilles as a hero. Achilles may have been the greatest Greek warrior but he just spent his time fighting other warriors – where the Odyssey is quite literally Odysseus punching out one eldritch abomination after another.

 

PARTY ROCK RANKING

And yet another reason for ranking Odysseus over Achilles as hero – Odysseus could just rock a party harder. In between punching out eldritch abominations in the Odyssey, Odysseus spent his time shacking up with the ladies – indeed, that’s what he did for most of those ten years of his homecoming, one year with Circe and seven years with Calypso for eight years out of ten.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GOD TIER)