Blog post 2

What values were most important to early Greeks and why were they considered important?

After reading excerpts from Homer’s Odyssey and discussing Greek values depicted there, I can conclude that the Greek people valued ingenuity and courage the most of all the values. I believe that courage is highly valued by the Greeks because I found examples of it in the excerpt Odysseus and the Cyclops. After being captured by the Cyclops, the monster started depicting the sailors one by one. To save himself and his crew Odysseus forged a plan that required great courage. Together with the sailor Odysseus poured the monster whine and got him drunk, until he was asleep. Then they stabbed his eye until he was blind. When the monster screamed for help he said that nobody is killing him, Odysseus’s fake name. Then they carefully tied themselves to the giant sheep and safely returned to their anchored ship. The reason why I believe this shows courage is because the Cyclops is much larger than all of the sailors and it’s a Cyclops island. 

Along with courage the Greeks highly valued ingenuity, which is creative problem solving. At the end of the odyssey, Odysseus doesn’t want to come into his house as himself, because that would have angered the suitors. So, together with Athena he forged an inguinal plan. He would disguise himself as an old man and would outmatch all of the suitors in the contest for Penelope’s hand. After taking of the disguise he defeated all of the wicked suitors, but still Penelope didn’t recognize him. After thinking deeply Odysseus remembered the bed he made for Penelope on their wedding day, only Odysseus and Penelope could see it. Immediately Penelope knew that it was really Odysseus and that he had returned from his 10 year journey. The reason why I believe that this was inguinal is because Odysseus thought of the best way to remind her Penelope that it was really him.  

 In what ways are early Greeks values found in modern society?

The ancient Greek values are still valued today, but they aren’t in the same way. Most of the values stayed but they have either merged with traits or are not used as commonly. Courage is used less to describe heroic  deeds and more to describe risks that are taken.