Most of the legends here have their source in Homer's Odyssey. An interesting thing about these stories is that two of the gods who were of the greatest assistance to the Greeks at Troy, Athena and Poseidon, proved their greatest enemies as they returned to their homes. The gods, of course, were just as concerned with their personal honor as the heroes themselves, and to offend their pride or harm their favorites was to court disaster.
Nevertheless, a hero like Odysseus proves his mettle when faced with the opposition of the gods. Odysseus is shrewd, tough, clear-sighted, experienced, a man very well equipped to brave adversity. Like a few other heroes he is intensely self-reliant, confident of his own powers against the buffetings of fate.
Odysseus lives about sixty years roughly, and of these he spends thirty abroad — the years of his maturity. He leaves Ithaca as a hardy young man to take part in the Trojan War, which lasts ten years. Moreover, he goes very reluctantly. After another ten years of wandering, which had been ordained by the gods, he returns home, now a man in his forties. But then he is exiled shortly thereafter for a further ten years and comes back a man verging on old age. To be sure, Odysseus thrives on adventure, for that is how a man tests his prowess. But when he has time to reflect, as he does on Calypso's island, he is lacerated by homesickness. The gods could scarcely find a better way to punish a man whose heart is attached to home.
The Greeks felt a special affection for Odysseus because he reflected a number of Greek qualities. A wanderer living by his wits, taking part in a great national war, traveling far and wide, meeting emergencies with a cool head, and longing for his native home, Odysseus is a recognizable Greek type. But beyond that he is the survivor, the man who comes through at all hazards by his brains, his brawn, and his fortitude, plus an ounce of luck. Odysseus embodies the stubborn will of the ancient Greeks to overcome fate and create a culture that centered on man. The Romans, who called him Ulysses, disliked him for his treachery and cunning. He had these traits too, but they are far less important than those which enabled him to endure with his human dignity intact.
