The Odyssey is the story of the homecoming of another of the great Greek heroes at Troy, Odysseus. Unlike Achilles, Odysseus is not famous for his great strength or bravery, but for his ability to deceive and trick (it is Odysseus's idea to take Troy by offering the citizens a large wooden horse filled, unbeknownst to the Trojans, with Greek soldiers). He is the anthropos polytropos, the "man of many ways," or the "man of many tricks." His homecoming has been delayed for ten years because of the anger of the gods; finally, in the tenth year, he is allowed to go home. The story in the reader resumes the Odyssey after Circe adventure. It is at this point that the crew of the odyssey faced the sirens. As instructed by Odysseus, the crew lashed him tight to the ship, and ignored his pleas to be released. Odysseus alone heard the deadly songs of the siren. “ Come this way, honored Odysseus, great glory of the Achaians, and stay your ship, so that you can listen here to our singing,” sang the sirens. In this we find his trial by temptation. Tied to the ship he begs to be released, only to have more ropes tied to his body. In a way he fell for the temptation because he wanted to hear the sirens, but he excised restraint by ordering his men to secure him tightly to the ship before sailing past the sirens. Moving forward into the maelstrom, Odysseus and his crew come before the Laestrygones, the Scylla and the Charabdys. Against advice from Circe, Odysseus dons his armor and lance as if to battle. In the foray that followed Odysseus lost six of his strongest men to the Scylla. Personally speaking, he lost his sense of judgement to fear by ignoring the prophesies of Circe. For that he had to hear the screams of his mean as they were devoured by the Scylla pleading for help. As if that tragedy weren’t bad enough, he then, against his own judgement, landed on the island of Helios, the sun god. An island stocked with &#...
