Odysseus as a Leader

The idea of leadership is a common one in The Odyssey. Throughout the story, people and gods are constantly questioning their leaders, and themselves as leaders. Characters are shown in their good and bad moments as leaders, and people have many different ideas and opinions about the characters as leaders, as well as what leaders should be. The best example of this conflict is Odysseus himself.

Many people consider Odysseus to be cocky and arrogant, which, to a certain extent, he is. The difference is that in ancient Greek culture you had to be arrogant, and confident to the point of overconfidence. You were measured by your athletic prowess, as Odysseus was in Phaeacia during book eight(196, lines 167-171, 183-189). A man was expected to be athletic, and was respected for that. In this instance Odysseus feels too weary and disheartened to compete, so he tells the men of his skills and of his times spent leading troops into battle. By outdoing them all with one throw of the discus, he was not being rash, he was buying respect. Then, also in book eight, when he brags that he could throw another disk as far, if not further, and of his other skills(198, lines 233-265), Odysseus is not trying to make people overly angry, he is only calling the men out, to test their strength against his own. What he did was akin to calling your friend a wimp for not arm wrestling you. He was not trying to be hurtful.

In class someone brought up the fact that there was no TV in ancient Greece, and that information didn’t travel quite as fast as it does today. A man could not rely on someone else to spread flattering stories about himself to other people. You had to take care of your own reputation. If you were a great warrior, and never told anyone about it, nobody would know except for the other people that were with you on your venture. True, they would tell some people, but there wouldn’t be too many that would be told. If, on the other hand, when you meet someone you introduce yourself as the son of so-and-so, and told them a bit about yourself, you make an impression. The other person could tell people that they had met you, and what family you came from, and what you had done, and if you had fulfilled their expectations of you. Every person that knew of you added to your reputation, and increased the number of people that would eventually find out exponentially. 

In ancient Greece honor and bravery in battle were two of the most important values. You were honor-bound to avenge any family member killed, look after friends, treat strangers well, and improve your family’s reputation. A great way to do that was to earn a reputation as a warrior. As I said before, information didn’t travel as fast as if does today, but it did travel. If you could say that you killed so-and-so, a great warrior, that made you even greater in the eyes of the listener.

I think that what people think is that since Odysseus is a leader, he shouldn’t brag, or be arrogant. In my opinion, it’s just the opposite. Because he is a leader, he should be arrogant, and overconfident. As a general, Odysseus had to be able to tell his men that he was confident that they would win the day, even if vastly outnumbered. He had to be able to remind any would-be usurpers and mutineers of how great a warrior he was, and how horrible it would be to face him one on one. A leader, at the time, kept power by force. If he was seen as weak, he would have a constant struggle to remain in power. If, however, he was seen as invincible, nobody would challenge him. I think that that is why Odysseus taunted the blinded Polyphemus, to maintain his hold on a crew that as we saw in book nine, was not above mutiny(213, lines 50-53). He had defeated a monster that had proven to be stronger than that of a great many men combined, also in book nine(219, lines 271-274). He also taunted Polyphemus to bolster the morale of his men. They had seen six men killed and eaten, and needed something to take their minds off it. Odysseus attempted to rouse them to a seething fury, but he went too far. He should have stopped when the men told him to, but nobody is perfect.

People say that leaders lead through actions, not words, but the two often go hand in hand, especially in ancient Greece. Odysseus defeated Polyphemus, and in bragging and taunting, he reminded his crew of it, and pressed them into understanding how enormous a task they had completed. This relates to what was said earlier about leaders depending on the way that other people perceived them. Odysseus was afraid, as the rest of his men were, and once he had defeated Polyphemus, he had to reassert himself. He had to convince the men that he had no fear, or that if he did, that he could overcome it, and still triumph.

Nobody is perfect. You hear that a lot, but you still don’t believe it. People think that Odysseus should be all-knowing and wise, but as he says to King Alcinous in book seven, “I’m nothing like the immortal gods who rule the skies,/ either in build or breeding. I’m just a mortal man”(186, lines 244-246). People make mistakes, and Odysseus’ taunting of Polyphemus was a big one, and he paid dearly for it. Odysseus does have an ego, who doesn’t, but for the most part, what he says when he brags is true. As he said, and later proved in Phaeacaia, he was a great athlete, and as he proved at Troy, he was a great warrior, tactician, and leader. Odysseus, for the most part, told the truth about himself when he was bragging, though he probably did exaggerate a bit, and perhaps stretched the truth a bit. Stories grow richer in the telling. 

People consider Odysseus to be something of a suck-up, based on his behavior towards Nausicaa in book six. He flatters her, and begs for compassion(174,  lines 190-199). Since he is a king, people think that he shouldn’t beg, that he should ask as an equal for help. The way that I see it is that Odysseus when Nausicaa first sees him is naked, dirty, unknown, and coming out of the bushes where he has spent the night. Not the standard idea of a king. If Odysseus had had a crew, armor, and other men beneath him, then he could have come to Nausicaa as a king, and merely asked for directions, where as reality placed him in a position where she had the higher rank. She was not obligated to help him, and so Odysseus knew that he would have to talk convincingly enough to make up for his appearance. Odysseus is not a suck-up, he is merely someone who knows when to ask for help, and how to ask. He was not being dishonest, most probably Nausicaa was beautiful, and would have made a fine wife for a man, as Odysseus said in book six(173, lines 164-177).

Odysseus is not conniving, dishonest, overly arrogant, too cocky, or a suck-up. Nor is he perfect. Odysseus is human, and a very astute one. He knows when to act different ways, but not dishonestly. For the most part he is as wise as a man can be, and wiser than most. But through it all Odysseus is still human. In Greek mythology, not even the gods are perfect. One cannot expect that of a man. People make mistakes, and Odysseus is no exception. The difference between cowards and heroes is how they deal with those mistakes. It would have been easy for Odysseus to give up on Calypso’s island, but he couldn’t. He had to keep going. Odysseus may not be a perfect leader, but he is staunch, honest, clever, and brave. That makes him a great leader. Odysseus’ only fault was in being human, and he paid for his mistakes more than anyone in history.