An epic hero is a legendary figure whom is attributed with not only great physical strength and abilities but also a keen mental prowess. One who is noble in his or her actions and has enough emotional control, confidence and authority for his or her subordinates to feed off of. Even with all of these seemingly perfect attributes, this hero must also be able to grow and transcend beyond what he or she is already capable of. .
To completely understand the true meaning of an epic hero, one has to be familiar with the original epic hero a man of legendary proportions, a man by the name of Odysseus. After reading the Odyssey one can easily see that every hero in play, movie or book has some Odysseus like quality. Odysseus is a man that every man wants to be like and every woman wants to be with. He has unsurpassed physical strength which coincides with a sharp intellect, he has an insatiable thirst for glory and courage that takes him beyond the level of mortal men. .
The Odyssey was written between 750 and 650 B.C., by the poet Homer, and is set in Bronze Age Mycenaean Greece after the fall of the city of Troy, post Trojan war. The epic is about the hero which is previously discussed, Odysseus. After the fall of Troy, Odysseus and his men are lost at sea, and begin a tale of wandering from islands to strange foreign lands, overcoming strange sorcery and antagonists. .
However, this story does not begin with the trials Odysseus himself but with the tribulations of his loved ones, specifically his wife Penelope and his only son Telemachus. the readers, are taken on a journey of the main character, Odysseus, bearing witness to the many vices and virtues that play a pivotal role on his voyage to his homeland of Ithaca. On his journey, he encounters the many supernatural beings of Greek literature, forcing him to make decisions that greatly impact his life. Through these encounters, his unique heroic qualities are clearly depicted in numerous ways.