The 5 Virtues of Odysseus's Timeless Journey

The 5 Virtues of Odysseus's Timeless Journey is an illustrated infographic drawn from Homer's Odyssey. The epic, composed some 3,000 years ago, follows Odysseus, a Greek warrior and king, through the ten years it took him to get home from the Trojan War. The poster breaks that journey into five virtues: perseverance, loyalty, wisdom, piety, and justice.

Nine scenes from the poem show those virtues under pressure. His men open Aeolus's bag of winds out of jealousy and the storm throws the fleet back, then the Laestrygonian giants sink eleven of his twelve ships, and he keeps going, which is the perseverance. The loyalty shows twice: he drags his men off the island of the lotus eaters before the fruit makes them forget home, and he turns down immortality from Calypso for a mortal wife. For wisdom, he blinds the cyclops Polyphemus instead of killing him, since only the giant can open the cave, then ties his men under the rams to slip out unseen. His piety is a prayer to a river god in rough water and a request to Zeus for a sign before he moves against the suitors. The justice comes last: he kills the more than 100 suitors who occupied his house, sparing only a herald and a bard who stayed true.

The scenes are drawn in the red and black style of ancient Greek pottery, and the whole piece is composed as one vase. A map traces all fourteen stops from Troy to Ithaca. Illustrations by Oriana Zhang. Translation by Michael Solot.

It suits readers of the classics, students and teachers of Greek mythology, and anyone who would rather have Homer's virtues on a wall than on a shelf. It hangs well in studies, classrooms, libraries, and offices.