Examples Of Leadership In The Iliad

Homers’ view of leadership has to demonstrate good judgmental ability, along with courage and a need for a high level of intelligence. Also needed for a good leader is someone that is wise and clever for they will one up there opponent and be one step ahead of them. In the epic poetry, The Iliad, Homer uses the character of Diomedes to represent his definition of effective leadership, often comparing him with Agamemnon who is quite the opposite in being an unproductive, weak and lazy leader. Agamemnon is also very selfish and reckless, which causes him to not think before he is entering a conflict, along with being stuck up. Diomedes is the youngest of the commanders but is also very brave and fearless but can also act without thinking in

Agamemnon inherited the enrollment of being king from his father although he may not be best suited for the position. Agamemnon’s style was more of a self-centered leader that only cared about his power. Unfortunately this trait led him to be not so great of a leader because he did not care about anything else besides how he can become more powerful and would do anything to get it. The community of which he ruled relied on him to get council meetings together which rarely happened and this frustrated some of the towns’ people. Along these lines, Agamemnon ignored his side commanders when they offer him advice that would most likely help his reputation as a ruler. Also, Agamemnon would let his emotions get the best of him and make drastic decisions when it was critical. An example of this is when Nestor tells Agamemnon to hold on Briseis taking Achilles of which he doesn’t listen and then because of his emotions getting the best of him and him lacking, this sets up a chain reaction resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Achaian soldiers. He fails to realize when he is depressed that not everything is about himself and cannot retreat to his own wants and needs when he wants to, he is still a