What is a hero? For me, it means outstanding talent and noble personality of which being devoted to his/her people and companions while never doing unnecessary harm to innocent people is one of the most important virtue. Odysseus may be a hero in Antiquity for fitting the ethics of that time, but today we also find some defects in his behavior. So, I would say Odysseus is almost, yet not a hero.

  Odysseus does have outstanding talent in leadership, judgment and defeating the enemy. First, he can bring his companions together to face the challenge and take dangerous adventure with him. His team didn’t fall in panic after escaping from the Ismaros and in the cave of Polyphemos, nor did they voyage in the bad weather. It shows the outstanding leadership of Odysseus which plays the leading role in such unity and stability. Second, Odysseus has great judgment most of the time. After beating the Kikonians, Odysseus urged to escaping lightly in case of the fightback of Kikonians. And later the fierce battle proved he was right. When they were on the land of Lotus-Eaters, Odysseus insisted to go home rather than be addicted to lotus and want to stay there like some of his companions did. And in the cave of Polyphemos, Odysseus didn’t let his anger take the control and kill Polyphemos directly and finally succeed in escaping from the cave. What’s more, he was really good at defeating his enemy. Let alone the Kikonians. Odysseus gave Polyphemos the divine wine at first to get close to him and then tricked him that his name was ‘Nobody’ to ensure other Cyclops wouldn’t come to his help. When Polyphemos was drunk and went to sleep, they used the sharpened beam prepared before to attack his only eye to blind him, and then finally fled away hiding under the rams.

  And Odysseus has the personality of caring and courageous. He never treated his companions badly and really cared about them. When they shared out the trophies, everyone got the same portion though sometimes Odysseus may have a little more (a single goat) after beating Kikonians and landing the island near the Cyclops and so on. After losing his companions in the battle against Kikonians and in the cave of Polyphemos, he was always grieving a lot as stated in this epic. He was also courageous enough to take the risk to visit the Cyclops and stay in the cave of Polyphemos to find whether he is hospitable or not. And during the whole suffering adventure, Odysseus kept calm and firm, which also proves the courage of Odysseus.

  All those above, outstanding talent and noble personality, make Odysseus a Antiquity hero. But there are some defects we can’t ignore today in his behavior. The first thing is the sacking in Ismaros after beating the Kikonions. They ‘sacked the city and killed the people, and out of their city taking their wives and possessions.’ Such behavior is surely blamed in today’s virtue as they sacked the whole city and harmed the common people. More ironically, the Greeks fought the Trojan War for the Helen while they also took away many ‘Helens’ however. Another thing is to stay in the cave of Polyphemos in the risk of everyone’s life. Odysseus should have been more careful since the Cyclops were lawless monsters which they already knew. And at last, Odysseus insisted to taunt the Polyphemos despite the advice of his companions. He also spoke out his name and status proudly maybe to earn some fame. Such over-esteem resulted in the curse and the suffering trip, harming himself and his companions finally.
In conclusion, Odysseus has some outstanding talent and noble personality indeed, but he also did something we can’t agree to be heroic deed. So, Odysseus is almost, yet not a hero.