It’s been a while, but if I recall, he specifically cursed Poseidon and said that not even the God himself could stop him from getting home.
Poseidon accepted that challenge.
I think too that blinding his son and then doing doing the equivalent of “haha ez you got wreckt by O-dawg” might have had a hand in it.
yeah the gods weren’t necessarily benevolent. just very powerful
See this is one of my favorite aspects of Greek mythology. The fact that gods are openly seen as being flawed by the same things that corrupt humans.
Zeus was a jealous horny corrupt prick. Because that’s how most kings were.
Poseidon was fickle and quick to anger. Because that’s how the seas were.
Hades was dark and cold and terrifying. Because that’s what death was (yes I know thanatos is the true god of death but more so the lighter side of it)
Each god has the flaws of the very part of nature they claim to rule over and I think that’s neat cause most religions try to make their gods seem perfect whereas Greek mythology puts all those flaws on display
The greek gods are basically how a regular person would react if given godlike power too, yeh you might try and make thigns better at first but eventually unlimited power would mean unlimited boredom and you’d end up using magic to troll people which is basically the greek gods main passtime when they’re not focussing on one specific person.
The idea of omni-benevolent gods is relatively new. The gods were always right because reality conformed to their will and the only thing that could argue with them was an equal or superior god. That didn’t mean they were always “good.”
Think of it this way. Most of us were raised around at least someone who loved to remind you “Life isn’t fair.” And they’re right. That doesn’t mean that’s a good thing, but it is a true thing. We can choose to be fair, or not, that’s in our power, but life doesn’t know or give a damn about what human morality thinks are good or bad. Such are the gods. You can bitch about them, chafe at their injustice, but you, mortal, are one irrelevant lump of bacon flavoured jello with anxiety piloting a bone-mech with meat armor. Their will is their will, adapt or die.
“Look at that bitch eating crackers like she owns the place”
It depends on how you look at it. Even before leaving for the Trojan war, he was told he would be lost on the journey home. But during the course of events trying to get home he does piss off Posiedon by blinding his son (a cyclops).
So was it fate, the gods, bad luck? I’m not sure it matters too much, but reading the story and seeing his actions, hubris (which plays a big role in a lot of Greek stories) plays a big part.
Source on the part regarding Posideon - https://www.enotes.com/topics/odyssey/questions/why-is-poseidon-angry-at-odysseus-286974
