In today's eclectic society, everybody's heroes are different. One's hero may be a character in an action movie, surviving against all odds to finally get the bad-guy in the end. It may be a character with superhuman strength with no concern of death like the hero in the epic Beowulf. Others may desire more intellectual heroes such as the Wright Brothers, devoting years of effort to create a machine to make man fly, or Thomas Jefferson, risking his life by writing the Declaration of Independence. Some may call one with great moral value a hero such as Mother Teresa, Pope John Paul II, or even Jesus Christ

This is especially evident in Helen's tale of Odysseus because he uses the same tactic of disguising himself as a beggar back home at Ithaka. With the help of Pallas Athena, she disguises Odysseus into looking like a beggar so he can study his enemies without being seen. This can be seen in many of Odysseus' remarks, like in Book XVI Odysseus states, "I alone must learn how far the women are corrupted; we should know how to locate good men among our hands.." Also in Book XVII, Athena also tells Odysseus to study his enemies closely while under the transformation by saying, "learn who are the descent lads, and who are vicious.." Odysseus is once again ridiculed, in his own home this time, but manages to compose himself and keeps his identity a secret until no longer necessary. This further expands on Homer's concept of a hero by also showing that patience and ability to maintain one's composure under any circumstance is a virtue that a hero should have.

The Greeks valued a warrior with great physical strength as well as shrewdness. The emphasis on strength was based on the fact that battles were frequent from city-state to other city-states. A hero for those times would need to have a strategic way of thinking and wisdom to aid in achieving the numerous tasks placed before him. Heroes should also be eloquent in their manner of speaking, for it was a tool necessary so others could easily be convinced by the hero's speech. All the values necessary for a hero are portrayed in The Odyssey. These are told through the stories and exploits of the main hero, Odysseus.

Many examples of the concept of a hero can be seen in this tale. Odysseus used his wits to think of a plan, which would be useful in accomplishing two goals: to tell Helen of the Akhaian's plans of rescuing her while taking over Troy. The other goal was to find out his opponent's stratagem. Helen describes the shrewdness of Odysseus in making himself pass for a

prevent them from going or calling out to Helen's voice. If they had been discovered, the Trojans would've

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Approximate Word count = 1385
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)