Ancient civilizations pass on their contributions to society through oral traditions now written down. They felt the best way to continue their livelihood was to create fabulous stories that encompassed the general ideal of the people. These stories were used as tools for teaching societal standards, displaying consequences, and modeling expectations. Today new look back at these most famous stories and try to derive a consensus of how the people of the past thought and believed. The main characters in these stories were usually described as the hero. People idealized this person and used him as an example for general reference. Two of the most prominent heroes were Odysseus the Homeric epic hero, and Oedipus, Sophocles’s tragic hero. The immediate nature of both Odysseus and Oedipus displays heroic characteristics in each of their stories; they both struggle with imperfections, but each deals with his weakness differently. Both heroes begin each story as a good leader or leader. Odysseus can be best described as an embodiment of the ideal of the people. He displayed great strength and creative wit, but he was subject to his own character. Odysseus was a heroic man coming home from a long war. While he was gone his wife’s suitors had turn his home and its surroundings in to shambles. The people recognized Odysseus’s importance to the organization of the town. He was the strong ruler that they turned to in times of need. He was also known as a strong and clever warrior. Odysseus was known for helping create the Trojan horse and the down fall of the city of Troy. The horse was presented as a gift to the Trojans. Inside the hollow horse, Achaean troops were waiting to pounce on the unsuspecting Trojan’s. After the victory of the war, Odysseus tried to journey home only to be delayed continually. When he and his shipmates encounter the Cyclops who traps them in his cave, Odysseus devises a plan t...
