Odysseus: The Great Tactician In Homer's The Odyssey

In Homer 's The Odyssey, Odysseus is known as “the great tactician” (7.256). With the help of the goddess Athena, Odysseus must endure a challenging journey home after winning the Trojan War. Throughout Odysseus ' journey, he has to encounter and defeat many obstacles which prohibit his desired, speedy return home. During this journey, Odysseus learns that once he gets home, he will have to conquer the suitors who have invaded his home. These suitors have attempted to court his wife, raided his food supplies, and completely disrespected Odysseus and his household. Odysseus must return to his home land, Ithaka, and become king of his home again in order to make his homecoming complete. Odysseus ' master as tactician makes his homecoming

Odysseus ' recently developed skepticism causes him to hide his true identity every time he approaches someone for the first time. When he approaches the Phaiakian princess for the first time, Odysseus tells her a half truth about his journey, but not who he really is (6.180). The same is true for when he first meets the rest of the Phaiakian royal family. He does not give away his identity until Alkinnos begs him to, and even then Odysseus is does this only when he feels as though he has, or soon will, get their trust (9.1). Odysseus is suspicious even of his swineherd who has remained loyal to Odysseus the entire time he was away (14.230). Odysseus concocts a story of a whim to the swine herd when he asks Odysseus who he is. Odysseus ' apprehension towards everyone is apart of what makes him “the great tactician” (7.256). This apprehension protects Odysseus from ever being betrayed. He is able to get everyone he speaks to to say exactly what they think about Odysseus. He is then able to use this knowledge to plan his strategies and protect himself from traitors. This suspicion allows Odysseus to gauge where everyone stands in terms of his

She transforms him into the beggar which allows him to get close to the suitors. She guides his arrow and protects him in the battle against the suitors (22.303). She “turned their shot” so that their arrows would not kill Odysseus. She arrives in the form of Mentor and fights along side Odysseus (22.233). Without Athena, Odysseus would have had an almost impossible job of succeeding in his homecoming. In the end Athena patches things over nicely between Odysseus and the angry fathers of the suitors. Again she protects Odysseus from being killed by “blotting out the memory of sons and brothers slain” of the suitors ' fathers (24.536). Although Odysseus does achieve much of his success seemingly through his own scheme and wit, Athena 's assistance cannot be over