Mark Derham

Prof. Nemes

Humanities 211

August 15, 2008

Odysseus: Strategist, Tactician, Warrior

Odysseus is often considered an amazing strategist and tactician. Odysseus is

not only a strategist and tactician though. He is also a great warrior who had amazing

strength and the luck of the gods and was able to survive ten years of war with Troy.

After the Trojan War, he was able to survive ten years of traveling home to Ithaca

through many perils where only his wits were able to keep him alive. The only hope he

had the whole time was that one day he would be reunited with his wife, Penelope, and

son, Telemakhos. He should be an inspiration to all as a man who could overcome any

odds and be the victor. Odysseus is known most for his masterful plan to build the

Trojan horse, which ultimately allowed the Greeks to defeat the Trojans. Odysseus was

able to overcome Kirke’s wiles on the island of Aiaia when all of his scouting party had

been turned to swine. Through Odysseus’ entire voyage home he survived attempts by

Poseidon, the god of the sea, to take his life. When Odysseus finally arrived home, he

defeated the many suitors that were after his wife through both the use of his cunning

wit and his warrior ability. Throughout this essay you will be able to see what all makes

Odysseus a great strategist and tactician and why he is such a strong and mighty

warrior.

We begin our exploration of the strategist and tactician, Odysseus, with the tale

of how he led the Greeks to victory in Troy. In the beginning of the Aeneid, Aeneas tells
the tale from his perspective of how the Greeks defeated the Trojans through the use of

the Trojan horse. The tales begins at a banquet that is being thrown in honor of the

Trojans. Aeneas begins by saying that Ulysses, Odysseus in Greek, devised a way to

get inside the Trojan’s walls by building and then subsequently hiding soldiers in a

wooden horse that was depicted as an offering. The Greeks had been broken and were

worn out and this was their last ditch effort to win. Book II of the Aeneid says, “Knowing

their strength broken in warfare, turned / Back by the fates, and years – so many years -

/ Already slipped away, the Danaan (Greek) captains / By the divine handicraft of Pallas

built / A horse of timber, tall as a hill” (Lawall 1063). Once a few of the Greek warriors

were hidden away, the remaining Greeks then pretended to sail away from Troy leaving

the horse as an offering of good will. The horse was taken inside the city and as soon

as nightfall came and all the Trojans were drunk and asleep, the Greeks emerged from

the horse and destroyed the city and its citizens. Odysseus knew that the only way to

defeat the Trojans was by breaking through into the city. This was a feat that had never

been accomplished before though by any other army. The Greeks had waged ten years

of war on Troy and had been unable to defeat them. A radical approach was needed.

Obviously an army of mass numbers would not be able to defeat the Trojans. Odysseus

was able to assess the situation and use his knowledge as a warrior and as a strategist

and tactician in order to figure out how to defeat the Trojans.

When the Trojan War ended, Odysseus would set sail for a ten year voyage

home where he face many perils, and it was only by the gods’ will and his strategic and

tactician mind that he was able to survive. The voyage tested both his will power as well

as his physical strength. Poseidon was set on the destruction of Odysseus, and he
would have likely gotten his way had it not been for the kindness of Athena looking

down upon Odysseus. In what ways then did Odysseus display his ability to manipulate

the situation at hand and take advantage of his strategic and tactical mind?

The first instance we see in the Odyssey of Odysseus being a great strategist

and tactician is when he and his men get trapped in the cave of Polyphemos, the

Kyklops. Polyphemos proves to be a horrible host when Odysseus and his men enter

his cave to find out what they are up against and are soon trapped. Each morning and

night, Polyphemos eats a couple of Odysseus’ men, and in the morning he lets his

“sheep go through – but he, behind, / reset the stone as one would cap a quiver (Lawall

326). In order to escape, Odysseus devises a masterful plan that shows his true

shiftiness. While Polyphemos is away, Odysseus sets about to plan their escape. He

utilizes everything that is within sight that can help his cause. He forgets nothing in his

masterful plan. The only thing that Odysseus could not plan on was that Athena would

grant what he prayed for. A large spike is found that can injure Polyphemos, and they

wait for his return. After Polyphemos returns and has his fill of the men, Odysseus

enters into conversation with him in which he offers Polyphemos some of his sweet

wine. Polyphemos drinks until he is drunk, and Odysseus engages him in conversation

in order to tell him that his name is Nohbdy. Polyphemos quickly falls asleep because of

the wine he drank. Polyphemos was “drunk, hiccupping, / he dribbled streams of liquor

and bits of men” (Lawall 328). The men soon drive the spike, which they charred, into

his eye, awaking Polyphemos who immediately begins to scream loudly. Polyphemos’

screams bring his friends to his aid, but they are tricked by being told that “Nohbdy” has

done anything to Polyphemos, so they leave as quickly as they came. Odysseus then
ties his men to the belly of the sheep, and in the morning when Polyphemos leads them

out to pasture, everyone escapes. If it had not been for this quick thinking, none of the

men who had entered Polyphemos’ cave would have escaped alive. Odysseus had

foreseen everything needed to escape, and he had executed his mission perfectly.

Two stops later on Odysseus’ voyage home his group had landed on the island

of Aiaia where the goddess Kirke resides who is described as “dire beauty and divine”

(Lawall 336). A scouting party was sent ahead and while they were gone they came

upon a young weaver who lured them in by singing “in her beguiling voice, while on her

loom / she wove ambrosial fabric sheer and bright” (Lawall 338). The scouting party saw

this as no threat and entered her house where they were whither to poisoned and

turned into swine. At this point, we again discover Odysseus’ warrior side, the side that

has no fear and wishes only to look after his men where he can. One of the men in the

scouting party did not enter the trap Kirke set, and when he saw his fellow soldiers

turned into swine, he ran back to tell Odysseus what had happened. Odysseus’

response to the scout was simple. “When I heard this I slung my silver-hilted /

broadsword on, and shouldered my long bow / and said, ‘Come, take me back the way

you came’” (Lawall 339). He showed no fear whatsoever. He merely wanted to set out

to save his men. That is the sign of a true warrior and leader, a man who is self-less in

the face of danger. Odysseus was able to go to Kirke’s house and save his men from

being swines.

When Odysseus finally arrives home at Ithaca, he finds his house filled with

suitors for his wife. Odysseus hatches a plan to kill all the suitors and take back his

household. He sends Telemakhos to the house and instructs him to put all the suitor’s
weapons into the cellar except for two broad swords, two shields, and two spears for

themselves. Odysseus is able to think of every possible situation during his planning.

He instructs Telemakhos to tell the suitors that he “had a mind to move them / out of the

smoke. They seemed no longer / the bright arms that Odysseus left at home / when he

went off to Troy…” if they asked why he was putting them away (Lawall 459). This is

just another example of how great a strategist and tactician he is. With the help of

Athena, Odysseus is transformed into a beggar, and he heads up to his house to beg

for food among the suitors. He soon learns who is good and who is not. He knows that

he and his son can not take all of the suitors by themselves. They will need a little help.

A few days passed when Odysseus’s bow was brought out, one that only he could

string, and it was passed among all the suitors but none could string it. It was then given

to Odysseus after much complaining about giving the bow to a beggar whereupon he

looked it over and with one fluid motion strung it. Odysseus then let fly an arrow that

killed Antinoos, the foremost of the suitors. At this time, the suitors knew what was

about to happened and one of them, Eurymakhos attempted to pay Odysseus off in

order to live. Odysseus responded by saying, “Not for the whole treasure of your

fathers, / all you enjoy, lands, flocks, or any gold / put up by others, would I hold my

hand. / There will be killing till the score is paid. / You forced yourselves upon this

house. Fight your way out, / or run for it, if you think you’ll escape death. / I doubt one

man of you skins by” (Lawall 496). Odysseus was ready. He did not travel for ten years

and finally arrive to allow the men who had attempted to steal his wife from him to live.

The suitors quickly began to fall both by Telemakhos’ spear and Odysseus’ arrows.

Swords were taken up and by the end of it every suitor had been killed. The story of
Odysseus’ return home shows both sides of Odysseus. It shows his warrior side and his

strategist / tactician side. He masterfully crafted a plan to rid his house of his suitors,

and then when it came time to carry it out, he showed his true strength as a warrior.

Odysseus must have been a powerful man to be the only one who was able to string his

bow.

Another example of Odysseus strength given throughout his voyage home is

when he survives for nine days in the open ocean. Odysseus and his men had landed

on an island where the sun god, Helios, cared for his divine cattle. Odysseus told his

men not to kill and eat the cattle for the gods forbade it, but they decided to not listen. In

the end, Zeus was angered and the crew’s punishment was death. “Zeus let fly / a bolt

against the ship, a direct hit, / so that she bucked, in reeking fumes of sulphur, and all

the men were flung into the sea… No more seafaring / homeward for these, no sweet

day of return” (Lawall 375). Odysseus was to be the lone survivor. He drifted through

the ocean for nine days until he landed on the island of Ogygia where Kalypso lived.

Odysseus was a great strategist, tactician and warrior of immeasurable strength

as you can see. Not only was he able to plan his battles before they were fought, but

during the time for fighting, he was also a very capable man. He was able to quickly

weigh each situation that he found himself in and see each possible scenario. Once he

had crafted his plan, he was always able to execute it as planned and whenever a

screw was thrown into the plans, he was always able to adapt and overcome. Odysseus

should always be looked upon as a model for a strategist, tactician, and warrior. The

goddess Athena said it best when she called Odysseus “the master mind of war” for he

truly is the master mind of war (Lawall 226).

 Work Cited

Lawall, Sarah. The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Beginnings to A.D. 100. New
York: W.W. Norton & Company Inc., 2002.