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The Odyssey : The Historical Importance Of The Odyssey

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It is important to keep reading, “The Odyssey.” Even though it is 2800, years old, students still need to learn about it. It is important to continue studying “The Odyssey” because is it a moral story, the historical significance is important, and it is essential to study other culture’s mythology. “The Odyssey” is read as a moral story. Odysseus learned lessons and faces many obstacles that challenge his faith and loyalty. He was able to survive because he learned he needed to listen to the Gods and Goddesses. An example of Odysseus being loyal to his wife and crew was when he heard the Sirens. In book 12, line 192, it states, “So they spoke, sending forth their beautiful voice, and my heart was fain to listen, and I bade my comrades loose me, nodding to them with my brows; but they fell to their oars and rowed on. And presently Perimedes and Eurylochus arose and bound me with yet more bonds and drew them tighter. But when they had rowed past the Sirens, and we could no more hear their voice or their song, then straightway my trusty comrades took away the wax with which I had anointed their ears and loosed me from my bonds.” He warned his men, told them to put wax in their ears, and tied himself to his ship. This shows how he was loyal and faithful for not being tempted by the Sirens. The historical significance is an amazing example of why you should still study “The Odyssey.” The beginning of the story tells about the Trojan War and why the Trojans and Greeks were at war. The history of “The Odyssey” gives a glimpse to the readers of the time period it was written in. An example of giving a glimpse of the time period is in book one, lines 1-27, “Tell me, O Muse, of the man of many devices, who wandered full many ways after he had sacked the sacred citadel of Troy. Many were the men whose cities he saw and whose mind he learned, aye, and many the woes he suffered in his heart upon the sea, seeking to win his own life and the return of his comrades. Yet even so he saved not his comrades, though he desired it sore, for through their own blind folly they perished—fools, who devoured the kine of Helios Hyperion; but he took from them the day of their returning. Of these

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