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JOURNAL OF MODERN MYTHOLOGY AND POP CULTURE INTRODUCTION PAGE 4
Left: Odysseus, tied to the ship's mast, listens to the Sirens singing while his crew, ears plugged with wax, desperately row. Painting by Herbert James Draper, 1909. Right: Odysseus and his companions blind the Cyclops. Image courtesy of the VRoma Archive.
Odysseus, a character of mortal parentage, appears in Homer's epic poem The Odyssey, and plays a key role in Homer's The Iliad. During the Trojan War, this Super-Human excels among a group of champions and Half-Gods, such as Achilles and Ajax. A trusted adviser and counselor during this ten-year conflict, it is he who conceives the Trojan Horse stratagem. However, Odysseus's open defiance of the Gods, and his blinding of the Cyclops Polyphemus, incur the wrath of the Sea God Poseidon, and throughout his voyage home is thwarted at almost every turn. The Goddess Athena guides and helps Odysseus along the way, but it still takes him a decade to return to Ithaca following the ten-year war with the Trojans. Homer's great story features a cast of mythic archetypes: Gods, Half-Gods, and Super-Humans.
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