Moses and Odysseus were both heroes in their own respect, but their tales of heroism were vastly different. Moses is the hero in the epic poem of Exodus in the Old Testament. He was born in Egypt and is of Hebraic descent. He would eventually grow to become the savior of his people, the Israelites and lead them out of Egypt after 400 years of slavery. Odysseus is the hero and protagonist of Homer’s The Odyssey. He is a Greek warrior and king from Ithaca that fights against Troy in the Trojan War. Once the Greeks were victorious, Odysseus had to bring his crew safely back to Ithaca, but they wandered the seas for ten years. Moses and Odysseus compare in their heroic standards, but contrast in the significance of their greater impact. Moses and Odysseus are similar in that they meet the qualifications and expectations of a hero. Egypt was possibly the world’s strongest kingdom when Moses lived and he was from the royal cities of Egypt. Moses was a well-known figure and his origin fulfills one of the criteria of a hero. Similarly, Odysseus was from one of Greece’s most well-known cities, Ithaca. Odysseus is a prominent figure and he reigns as king of Ithaca, which means that Ithaca is magnificent enough to have a king rule its land. Secondly, the family of a hero plays an important role in the hero’s life. Pharaoh was intimidated by the growing number of Hebrews in Egypt, so in Exodus 1:22 he commanded, “Every Hebrew baby boy that is born you must throw into the Nile” (NIV). The life of Moses was unlikely, but Moses’ mother was not willing to give up her son, so she put her son in a basket and placed him along the Nile. In an unlikely sequence of events, the basket floated to where Pharaoh’s daughter was bathing and she pitied him. Then, Moses’ sister, Miriam was able to return Moses to be nursed by their mother before he was adopted back by Pharaoh's daughter. Even though Moses was supposed to die, he lived because of