Legacy

What It Means to Wear Odyssey

Become a member of the elite social stratum of society, the newest iteration of the Aristocratic Warrior Class.

Identity, Values, & Power = Warfare ~ Honor ~ Landownership

Origin: Mycenaean Heroic Age

Bronze Age Civilization; Homer's Iliad

In the Mycenaean period power was held by chieftain-kings and their companions-in-arms; a noble class who owned land, commanded retainers, and served as elite warriors.  They fought from chariots, wore bronze armor, and were the cultural ancestors of the later aristocracy.

Their value system centered on arete (ἀρετή) - excellence or virtue, particularly in battle.

The Journey to Now

 

Archaic Aristocracy

After the collapse of the Mycenaean palaces, Greece entered the "Dark Age."  Small kingdoms gave way to aristocratic clans that ruled local communities.  These aristocrats became the eupatridae ("well-born") - families claiming noble descent from heroic ancestors.

Their power centered in:

Landownership - controlled the best farmland

Warfare - equipped themselves and served as hoplites (heavily armed infantrymen) and dominated the battlefield

Genealogy & honor - lineage and personal glory (kleos, κλέος) legitimized their social standing

The aristocratic ideal combined heroic heritage & public excellence.

  • Lead in war
  • Make wise decisions in council
  • Sponsoring religious festivals and games

The Warrior Ethos

Greek aristocrats lived by a moral code rooted in the Homeric epics:

  • Arete (ἀρετή): The pursuit of excellence in strength, skill, courage, and intellect
  • Kleos (κλέος): Eternal glory - fame remembered in song and story
  • Time (τιμή): Tangible honor or esteem - the recognition of one's worth through awards, spoils, and social standing
  • Aidos (αἰδώς): Shame or respect - the moral restraint that kept one from dishonor

The aristocrats actions are guided by the balance between arete (personal excellence) and aidos (social duty) creating a code of conduct both individualistic and communal.

Hero to Citizen-Soldier

By the Classical period (5th-4th century BC), the older warrior aristocracy evolved into the hoplite citizen class of the polis (city-state).  While still wealth-based (since hoplites furnished their own armor), warfare became collective - emphasizing discipline and unity over individual heroics.

Although aristocratic ideals persisted:

  • notions of noble lineage remains prestigious
  • pursuit of honor through competition lived on in athletics, politics, and philosophy
  • Warrior virtues became moral ideals for all Greek men - courage, temperance, and devotion to the polis

Cultural Expression

Greek aristocratic warriors celebrated their identity through:

  • Epic poetry (Iliad, Odyssey) - our mythic self-image
  • Athletic games (Olympia, Delphi, Isthmia, Nemea) - non-lethal combat for glory
  • Symposia - elite drinking parties where warriors debated philosophy, poetry, and politics
  • Hero cults - worship of ancestors and fallen warriors, bridging mortal and divine honor

Philosophical Legacy

Later thinkers like Plato and Aristotle inherited this tradition.  They refined the warrior-aristocratic ethos into the ideal of the guardian class - disciplined, virtuous, and dedicated to the common good.

What began as the pursuit of kleos (fame) became the pursuit of moral excellence and civic virtue - the foundation of Greek philosophy and political thought.

You Are Here

By dawning the Odyssey collections in your training environment & competitions you accentuate your own journey through martial arts as a pivotal member of the new-founded aristocratic order.

We have inherited the responsibility of the ethos that Plato and Aristotle refined: we are the Guardians.  Those holding themselves to a higher standard, in pursuit of moral excellence and civic virtue - everything those that came before us bled to build is hanging over an edge nearing an unrecoverable annihilation, but together we will pull Western greatness from the abyss and raise it to greater glory than every before.