Odyssey Essay

There are many qualities one must have to be a good leader. Without these qualities he wouldn't be able to make it through many hardships. A good example of someone who shows these qualities well is Odysseus I the story "the Odyssey" by Homer. In the story Odysseus is witty, strong, and loyal.

Odysseus shows his intelligence many times in the epic. One example is in line 315. It shows that he tells the Cyclops his name is Nohbdy. This makes it so that when he pokes the Cyclopes eye out he will scream Nohbdy has tricked me and the other Cyclopes wont do anything. He's also smart not to kill the Cyclops because if he does he will be stuck in the cave.

Strength is also displayed well by Odysseus. One example that he's strong is when he holds on to the bottom of a ram for an entire night. Another example is in line 101 and 102 it shows that he carries three grown men that are struggling back to the ship and ties them under the boat. He also is shown as strong when he is tied to the boat when heading toward the sirens and he struggles so much that the ropes almost come undone and his crew members have to tie it tighter.

Last is Odysseus is extremely loyal. He always stays loyal to his crew though they doubt him with the bag of winds and with hellios's cattle. He is also loyal to Ithaca because he could have stayed on one of the islands that offered him happiness, but he always stayed loyal to his homeland. He is also, for the most part, loyal to Penelope. He only did things that broke his loyalty to her when it was the will of the gods. Which brings us to the last thing he was loyal to, the gods. During his journey he did what the gods told him to and made sacrifices to them when ever necessary.

Without a leader as great as Odysseus, the crew would have been dead far before the journey was even started. It is clear that Odysseus is witty, strong, and loyal. This proves that Odysseus is a perfect example of what a good leader is.