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Term Paper
Student name:
Sayed Anwar Shah
Course:
Organizational Leadership (MGT 410)
Semester:
Fall 2015
Instructor:
Dr. Sujatha Chandarlapaty
Date of submission:
22 November 2015
Perspectives on Leadership from Homers Iliad
ABSTRACT
This paper aims to situate an analytical spotlight on the leadership
archetypes that Homers Iliad presents portraying how the decisions made
by leaders can impact those concerned. The whole piece of the literature
revolves around the discussion of what the role of a leader ought to be: a
shepherd of the people or the destroyer of the people. And it is this very
Homeric phrase that defines the scope and the focal point of this paper.
INTRODUCTION
The art of leadership is not an invention of the modern time. From time
immemorial men have possessed the ability to direct other men towards the
attainment of various social and political goals. Even in the primitive times,
the early human ancestors would rely on the guidance of the more daring
and more intelligent ones amongst them to find new ways of surviving in the
harshest conditions that prevailed on the nascent earth millions of years ago.
While some may argue that the art of leadership has matured and refined to
a significant degree and in fact up to the stage where it is impossible to draw
a comparison between how leadership is maneuvered today and the way it

was practiced in the ancient times, one cannot deny that its essence remains
the same. The art of leadership today continues to be influenced by almost
the same motives that shaped its various forms thousands of years ago, that
is, the desire for responsibility, achievement and power. Leaders today also
share more or less the same characteristics and traits that were typical of
their ancient counterparts. Hence, the history can provide a strong
benchmark against which we can measure and evaluate the styles of
leadership that are common today. A beautiful source of such a historic
benchmark is presented by famous Greek author Homer in his epic poem the
Iliad. Written over two and a half thousand years ago, this ancient Greek epic
poem holds in it very practical lessons about leadership that are timelessly
true and may well be used as a rich source of guidance for modern day
leaders. That said, our focus in this paper will be to answer the question
whether there are lessons the modern day leaders can learn from the Iliad
and the answer is in the affirmative.
HOMERS LEADERS
Homer uses all of his heroes to show various qualities of leadership. All of the
Greek chieftans lead a group of warriors, yet each is different. Achilles is
proud to the point of hubris; his anger at Agamemnon causes the death of
Patroclus and his behavior with the body of Hector is repulsive to the gods
and the Trojans (Allinson). Agamemnon believes he can do whatever he
wants with no one to challenge him (Stuart). Odysseus believes that his
leadership is made strong through his cunning and trickery. Menelaus'

leadership is focused on his hurt pride at his wife being in Troy instead of in
Sparta with him (Butler 22). Hector is portrayed as a brave, thoughtful and
honorable warrior (Allinson).
AGAMENON
The commander-in-chief of the Achaean army Agamemnon may be described
as personally courageous and skillful in fight but if he were to be assessed in
terms of his moral courage, standards of ethical behavior, emotions and
ideals, he would by no means qualify to be ranked among other Homeric
heroes, such as Achilles and Hector. He is contemptuous of what his troops
value as what is right (Anderson). He tends to demonstrate his authority
through bullying and is a vain, self-centered, self-indulgent and egotistical
leader, to whom the fulfillment of his personal desires is worth more than the
well-being and happiness of his subordinates.
In order to get a clearer picture of Agamemnon as a leader it would be better
to study him in the context of the fatal mistakes he commits when his army
lands in Troy.
Agamemnon takes the daughter of the priest of god Apollo as his prize.
When the priest begs him to return his daughter in return for an
enormous ransom, Agamemnon refuses. The priest prays to Apollo for
help and the god sends a plague upon the Greek armys camps
culminating in the deaths of hundreds of soldiers. Eventually forced by
the plague Agamemnon agrees to free the priests daughter but on the

condition that one of his allies and commanders, Achilles, gives him his
prize another captured Trojan girl in compensation. (Benfey 86)
The above instance summarized by Benfey in his book War and the Iliad
clearly illustrates the unfit leadership traits exhibited by Agamemnon. The
fact that he forcefully takes a Trojan girl as his prize is a reflection of his low
moral standards. His refusal to return the girl to her father despite his
continued begging and pleading further proves his indifference to the moral
concerns of other people he deals with. In fact, when the priest is begging for
his daughters return, even the troops that Agamemnon is in charge of are
heard muttering Respect the priest, accept the ransom (Shay). But the
Achaean army chief persistently proves to be a leader with a tin ear about
other peoples moral concerns. And this behavior of Agamemnon, which is
characterized by contempt, selfishness, self-indulgence, disrespect, disregard
and self-aggrandizement, results in a huge price he has to pay in the form of
the death of hundreds of his troops in a plague sent upon them in vengeance
for the priests daughter by god Apollo. But it appears that the loss of
hundreds of soldiers is not too big a price for him against his selfish desires.
Even eventually when he agrees to return the priests daughter, he does so
only on the condition that he gets to own Achilless girl in compensation. He
does so without any regard to the fact that this action would upset Achilles,
the only person who can guarantee him a victory in the Trojan War (Goldhill
128).

Homers Agamemnon exemplifies leaders who are void of what British

Professor of Classical Literature Jasper Griffin calls the Fiduciary Duty (99).
Leaders who possess this quality are believed to act solely in other peoples
interests and their leadership styles are characterized by their interest in
building a relationship of trust and confidence. German classical philologist
Joachim Latacz studies leaders Fiduciary duty under two broad categories of
the duty of loyalty and the duty of care (109). But the leader that Homer
portrays in the Iliad through his character Agamemnon fails to fit in either of
these categories.

Works Cited

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<https://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/homer/iliadessay6.htm>.

Kenyon, J. "Debate: Who is a Better Leader: Hector or Achilles?" Debates.

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