Ask a literature teacher at Scholé Academy to name a favorite book, and Homer’s Odyssey is one of the answers heard most often. Our instructors ask students the same question in the first class of the year, and they always need an answer ready in case the students turn it around on them. The mark of a true classic, like a true classic film, is its “rewatch value,” and by that standard the Odyssey excels. After half a dozen readings, it still surprises with fresh joys and insights.
One of those insights concerns Odysseus’ fatal flaw. The hero’s tragic flaw is pride, the Greek hubris, and it costs him and his men dearly. Yet near the end of the epic, Homer asks this proud king to come home as a beggar. That scene, read in early December, opens an unexpected window onto Advent and the humility of Christ.
What Is Odysseus’ Fatal Flaw?
Odysseus’ fatal flaw is pride, or hubris: an excessive confidence in his own cleverness and a hunger for glory. It shows most clearly when he taunts the Cyclops Polyphemus and shouts his real name, bringing Poseidon’s curse on his voyage home. His long journey is, in part, the slow purging of that pride.
Odysseus is not a simple man. Homer calls him polytropos, the “man of many turns,” and his character traits run in every direction: he is brave, eloquent, loyal to his home, and endlessly resourceful (the Trojan Horse was his idea). But the same intelligence that saves his men again and again also tempts him to show off. His flaws and his strengths grow from the same root.
Pride and the Cyclops: Odysseus Blinds Polyphemus
In Book 9, Odysseus and his men are trapped in the cave of Polyphemus, a one-eyed giant who devours them two at a time. Odysseus tells the Cyclops that his name is “Nobody,” gets him drunk on strong wine, and blinds him with a sharpened stake. When the other Cyclopes come to help and ask who is hurting him, Polyphemus can only shout that “Nobody” is to blame. It is one of the cleverest escapes in all of literature.
Odysseus was happy to give up his identity when it suited his scheme. But as his ship pulls away, he cannot bear to remain anonymous. He calls back across the water that it was Odysseus of Ithaca, sacker of cities, who blinded him. Polyphemus prays to his father Poseidon, and the god’s anger follows Odysseus for years. In a single boast, his pride turns a narrow escape into a long exile.
How Long Is Odysseus Away from Home?
Odysseus is away from Ithaca for twenty years: ten fighting in the Trojan War and ten more trying to sail home. Along the way he faces some of the most famous trials in Greek myth:
- Circe, the enchantress who turns his men into swine. Hermes gives Odysseus a protective herb called moly, and Circe later tells him he must visit the underworld before he can go home.
- The underworld, where Odysseus meets the shade of Achilles. Achilles says he would rather be a hired laborer on earth than a king among the dead, and he walks away proud and glad only when Odysseus tells him of his son’s courage at Troy.
- The Sirens, whose song lures sailors to their deaths. In the tale of Odysseus and the Sirens, the hero has his men plug their ears with wax and tie him to the mast so that he can listen without being destroyed.
- Scylla and Charybdis, a six-headed monster and a whirlpool on either side of a narrow strait, where Odysseus must choose to lose six men rather than his whole ship.
Each of these adventures tests his strength and cunning. The hardest test, though, waits for him at home, and it has nothing to do with monsters.
Odysseus the Beggar: Humility in His Own House
In Book 13, Odysseus finally wakes on the shore of Ithaca. All is not well. Suitors have taken over his palace, eating his food and pressing his wife, Penelope, to marry one of them. The goddess Athena tells him that he will have to go about in disguise before he can take back his home.
That might not seem like a problem. Athena has changed his appearance before; throughout the story she makes her favorites taller, stronger, and more handsome so that others will welcome them. But this time is different. She disguises Odysseus as a ragged old beggar, and she warns him that he must endure insults and abuse from men without striking back. Instead of the king of Ithaca making a triumphant return, he must remain unknown and become a beggar in his own house.
This would be hard for anyone, and it is especially hard for a man whose pride has already cost him so much. Athena’s plan for his victory depends entirely on his ability to swallow that pride: to be humbled, to accept ridicule from the very men who are robbing him, and to wait. It is a crucible of character for this man of hubris, and one of the most beautiful contrasts in the whole poem.
Argos, the Faithful Dog
The most tender moment of Odysseus’ return belongs to his old dog, Argos. In Book 17, Odysseus walks toward the palace in his beggar’s rags and sees Argos lying neglected on a heap of dung, too old and weak to rise. The dog has waited twenty years. He alone knows his master at once: he wags his tail and drops his ears, but he cannot come to him. Odysseus, who must not give himself away, quietly wipes a tear, and Argos dies having seen his master come home.
The scene is only a few lines long, yet readers of every age remember it. Before any human being recognizes the beggar as king, a humble, faithful creature does.
What Happened When Odysseus Got Home?
Odysseus’ homecoming unfolds slowly. His old nurse, Eurycleia, recognizes him by a scar on his leg while washing his feet, and he swears her to silence. Penelope, still unaware, announces a contest: she will marry the suitor who can string Odysseus’ great bow and shoot an arrow through twelve axe heads. None of the suitors can even bend it. Then the beggar takes up the bow, strings it with ease, and sends the arrow cleanly through.
In Book 22, Odysseus with his bow reveals himself and, with his son Telemachus, defeats the suitors. Penelope tests him one last time with a secret about their marriage bed that only he could know, and husband and wife are finally reunited. The epic closes with Athena imposing peace on Ithaca, though it is a peace won by violence and held by a thread.
The Hidden King: Odysseus and Advent
Like many insights in teaching, the deeper truth behind the beggar scene often comes after class is over. If it was so difficult for Odysseus to swallow his pride and accept a few weeks of humility, imagine what a step down it was for Christ at His Advent.
The eternal Son of God, at home in the glories of heaven, willingly humbled Himself to be born in a stable and to work for years as a carpenter in Nazareth. As St. Paul writes in Philippians 2, He “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant.” He did not receive the royal welcome He deserved. In His ministry He was, in the words of the prophet, “despised and rejected by men” and like “one from whom men hide their faces” (Isaiah 53:3).
The likeness is striking, but so is the difference. Odysseus’ humility was forced on him, to serve the plot and to purge his hubris. Christ’s humility was entirely voluntary and entirely for our sake. Odysseus hides his identity so that he can take back what is his. Christ veils His glory so that He can give Himself away.
The endings differ too. Odysseus eventually reveals himself and violently reclaims his house. Christ’s great revelation is the Resurrection. The peace at the end of the Odyssey is bloody and fragile; the Prince of Peace secures a peace that lasts forever. It is a joy to find Advent reminders in Homer’s epic, and the surprise of finding them makes the discovery all the sweeter.
Reading the Odyssey with Your Children This Advent
The Odyssey is a wonderful book to read aloud as a family during Advent, whether in a children’s retelling for younger students or in a full translation for middle and upper school. A few questions can help a good reading become a good conversation:
- Where do you see Odysseus’ pride helping him, and where does it hurt him and his men?
- Why do you think Athena makes him a beggar instead of simply giving him back his throne?
- Why is Argos the first to recognize him? What does that tell us about faithfulness?
- How is Odysseus’ homecoming like the coming of Christ at Christmas, and how is it different?
- Is Odysseus a hero? What makes someone truly great?
Questions like these are the heart of a classical education. They train children to read closely, to weigh a character’s choices, and to see how the great books of the past point toward the truth. (For more on this kind of discussion, see Socratic Teaching from Kindergarten to High School.)
At Scholé Academy, students read Homer and the other great books in live, online classes with teachers who love them. Explore our middle school and upper school courses to see where your child might begin.
Frequently Asked Questions About Odysseus
Was Odysseus a real person?
There is no historical evidence that Odysseus was a real person. The Iliad and Odyssey were composed around the eighth century BC, and while archaeologists have found the remains of a real city at Troy in modern Turkey, Odysseus himself is best understood as a figure of legend and poetry.
Who is Odysseus’ wife?
Odysseus’ wife is Penelope, queen of Ithaca. For twenty years she stays faithful to him, putting off the suitors by weaving a burial shroud by day and secretly unraveling it by night. Her patience and cleverness make her a match for her husband.
Is Hermes Odysseus’ grandfather?
Not quite. In later Greek tradition, Hermes is the father of Autolycus, Odysseus’ maternal grandfather, which makes Hermes his great-grandfather. In the Odyssey itself, Hermes helps Odysseus by giving him the herb moly to protect him from Circe’s magic.
Why is Odysseus a hero?
Odysseus is a hero because of his courage, endurance, and devotion to his home and family, and above all because of his wisdom and resourcefulness. He is not a flawless hero. His pride brings disaster, and part of what makes his story so rich is watching him learn humility and patience on the long road home.
What is the main theme of the Odyssey?
The great themes of the Odyssey include homecoming (nostos), hospitality, loyalty, the dangers of pride, and the triumph of patience and wisdom over brute force. Readers of every age return to it because it is, at heart, the story of a man trying to get home.
A Story Worth Rereading
The best books grow with their readers. A child who first meets Odysseus through the Cyclops and the Sirens can return to him years later and discover a deeper story about pride, humility, and faithfulness. Read in Advent, the Odyssey becomes one more way of preparing room for the hidden King who came not as a conqueror but as a servant.
You can read the Odyssey free on Project Gutenberg, and for more reflections on the season, see The Beatitudo of Christmas Lights and the Sirens-inspired Tethered to the Mast. Scholé Academy is part of Classical Academic Press. When you are ready, we invite you to explore our live, online courses for every grade.
