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How is Odyssey's crew portrayed? What qualities do they display?

Odysseus's crew is not often portrayed in a flattering light.  There are a great many times when they let him down, and their disobedience eventually costs them their lives.  First, when they land at Ismarus, the first place they stop after the end of the Trojan War, Odysseus advises them to take the spoils from the city they've sacked, and leave right away.  However, they choose to stay and get really drunk instead.  They pass out and are ambushed by the survivors of their attack, and six men from each ship are killed.  They lack forethought and are somewhat gluttonous.


Do they learn?  No!  Aeolus, keeper of the winds, gives Odysseus a sack containing all the winds but the one which would blow them home to Ithaca.  Odysseus doesn't sleep for the entirety of the journey, until they can see their home's shores.  When he finally does fall asleep, the crew opens the sack, thinking it contains treasure that he is hoarding, and they are blow all the way back to Aeolia.  They are disobedient and greedy.


Have they learned now?  Of course not.  When they land in Thrinacia, Odysseus warns them not to eat the cows that belong to the sun god, or it will be death to them all.  Long story short, they get stranded and a bit desperate, and although Odysseus has warned them again, they eat the cows, and then they die.  Again, they are not obedient (as a crew really ought to be).

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