The Role Of Leaders In The Odyssey

One hundred eyes are staring at someone, judging their every move. They cannot give too many orders, but they also have to show authority. Trying to find this balance is what makes some people leaders, and others followers. In Homer's epic, The Odyssey, the reader follows the character, Odysseus, through his struggles to get home. While reading this epic, some may say he is a brave and selfless leader. Most will say he is actually careless, and unthoughtful in his decision making. Odysseus is a careless leader, one who only looks after himself and does not care about others feelings, even his own family members.

Built-in qualities such as intelligence, good looks, height and so on are not necessary to become a good leader. Anyone can cultivate the proper leadership qualities. In order to excel in their leadership a good leader must possess qualities such as self awareness, courage, confidence, innovation, fairness, openness, and dedication among others. Odysseus in The Odyssey, and Samuel, Saul and David in the Books of Samuel, display these characters. However, at some occasions they fail to do so. That is to say, leaders, being it great or small, chosen by God or people, are not completely perfect.

In the Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus is a bad example of a leader. First, Odysseus is not disciplined enough to discipline his crew even if not punishing them will cause them to ignore his orders again. For example, in the Epic of Aeolus, Odysseus asks Aeolus to put all the storms into a bag, “...curious and suspicious the sailors open the bag, thinking it contains treasure… hurricanes blow the ships back to Aeolus.”[Page 673; Line 535] This quote shows his crew not adhering to Odysseus’s orders to not open the bag. After, this happens he does not punish them instead he moves on. This shows him not wanting to control his crew instead let them do what they want. Doing so causes them to be more mutinous and ignorant towards Odysseus in the future. Odysseus does not show good leadership qualities because he himself if not strong enough to get on to his crewmates and tell them what's what.

When Odysseus could, he made very brave decisions to get his men out of tough situations, but, what can be easily be over looked is that Odysseus got his men into most of the bad situations they came upon. For instance, an episode of this poor leadership is when Odysseus does not adequately warn his men about abstaining from eating the cattle on Helios's island. Yes, one could argue that Odysseus did in fact warn his men, but he really did not warn them as well as he could have. Odysseus didn't even tell the men that they would die if they ate the cattle, and so they were quickly tempted into Eurylochus's plan, "Listen to me. . . all ways of dying are hateful to us poor mortals. . . but to die of hunger, starve to death- that’s worst of all. . . let's drive

In his work, The Odyssey, Homer presents readers with an amazing leader in Odysseus, accompanied by a less-than-fabulous crew. With this combination, instances of Odysseus not involving his followers exemplify how this failure of leadership on Odysseus’ part only come back to hurt himself. On his way back from Troy, the site of Odysseus’ recent and victorious battle, Odysseus and his crew stop at an island called Aeolia. In hopes of finding a way back home to Ithaca, Odysseus consults the king Aeolus. By the time Odysseus is ready to leave Aeolia, he is given the gift of control over the winds. Even prior to this, Odysseus had been given many gifts from his conquering of Troy. So, without telling his crew what it is, Odysseus loads this new gift from Aeolus onto the ship. But, this makes his crew curious, as Odysseus notes. “As soon as I fell asleep, the men started to talk, saying I was bringing home for myself silver and gold… And they opened the bag. The winds rushed out…” (Homer Book 10 lines 41 - 53). This quote not only shows the lack of cognitive ability for Odysseus’ crew, but also how Odysseus’ failure to inform his crew about

The Negligent Son of Laertes Throughout Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus’s leadership proves to be very underdeveloped and used inconsiderately, allowing his crew to constantly get him into tough predicaments; furthermore, proving that he is the reason for his crew invariably making mistakes. In book 10, Odysseus and his men arrive to the Aeolian Island where he is then bestowed with food and drinks for the crew. Subsequently, Odysseus receives a bag of winds from the king of the island.

In The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus demonstrates three important traits of leadership; creativity, courage, and intelligence. For example, Odysseus displayed creativity in “The Cyclops”. Odysseus used his creativity to save his men from Polyphemus, a terrible cyclops, by coming up with the idea to blind Polyphemus with a stake, to escape his cave. Without careful planning and creative thinking, Odysseus would not have been able to lead his men to safety and they all would have died as prisoners of Polyphemus. Additionally, Odysseus displayed his courage in “The Land of the Dead”.

In the world so chaotic, everybody needs a strong leader to keep things smooth and going. There are different leaders needed in different situations, and the more complicated or dangerous the situation is, the stronger and smarter the leader should be. One of the great examples of a strong leadership that has been described in literature is the one of Odysseus. Odysseus is a hero in Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey. Odysseus is portrayed as a smart, strong and charismatic leader.

In the book “The Odyssey” there were many situations where Odysseus might not have been the strongest leader. I think that he was a strong leader overall in many different circumstances. Towards the beginning of the book when he gets to the first island where they stopped for food and supplies. I think he was a good leader cause he went with them but when they had troubles with the others it wasn't his fault that he lost some of his men. He could not control what happened at that island. Towards the middle of the book when he goes to the underworld to find Teiresias. He goes by himself with none of his men all alone. I think that when he did this it made himself look very tough and strong. Towards the end where he goes by Charybdis and scylla

Traits of Leadership A true leader is someone who would sacrifice their life for someone else, someone who would do whatever it takes to make the right decision. In Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, the main character Odysseus is an example of a great leader. He is brave and wise, he exemplifies these traits multiple times throughout this poem.

A great question to ask is what does it take to display good leadership. What is a good leader dependant on? Size? Strength? A good leader mostly depends on attitude and determination. A good leader can come in any shape or size, but it depends on the determination and the level of courage. Odysseus did not show leadership in The Odyssey.

   These two heroes have embarked from the same destination but on very different journeys. Whilst they are both Iliadic heroes at the start of their stories, they develop and adapt their manner towards the characteristics required of them to succeed. Before we judge them, it is necessary to determine our definition of a successful leader. A hero from the Iliad must be "a speaker of words and one who is accomplished in action", according to the horseman Phoinix (Iliad.9.413). A leader must have these primary qualities then, as he must lead by example, but to create the ideal we must add to this. The leader should rely on no others but in turn listen to

It is important to keep reading, “The Odyssey.” Even though it is 2800, years old, students still need to learn about it. It is important to continue studying “The Odyssey” because is it a moral story, the historical significance is important, and it is essential to study other culture’s mythology.

Ten years after the fall of Troy, the victorious Greek hero Odysseus has still not returned to his native land Ithaca. A band of rowdy suitors, believing Odysseus to be dead, has overrun his palace, courting his faithful—though weakening—wife Penelope, and going through his stock for food. With permission from Zeus, the goddess Athena, Odysseus' greatest immortal ally, appears in disguise and urges Odysseus' son Telemachus to seek news of his father at Pylos and Sparta. However, the suitors, led by Antinous, plan to ambush him upon return.

The Odyssey was about Odysseus and his men and how they were going back home. They were coming back from the Trojan War. In the beginning Odysseus and his men were trying to find their way back home. In the middle of the book they had to go to the underworld to get directions to get back home. In the end of the book Odysseus is back home with Penelope and his son.