How Is Odysseus An Ineffective Leader

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In The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus is faced with many daunting obstacles where he displays effective and ineffective leadership skills. To begin, in the epic, Odysseus was an ineffective leader in the Ismarus episode. After defeating Troy, Odysseus and his men land in Ismarus, the land of the Cicones, who are friends of Troy. They rob and kill the Cicones, but after they pillage the village, Odysseus can not get his men to leave the land, which allows the Ciconian army to regroup, and kill 72 of Odysseus’s men. His inability to control his army gets many of his army killed, making him an ineffective leader. The text states, “Odysseus and his men raid the Cicones, robbing and killing them, until the Ciconian army kills 72 of Odysseus’s men” (Homer 373). …show more content…

To continue, another episode in the epic where Odysseus was an ineffective leader was the Cyclops episode. In this episode, Odysseus leads his men into the cave of Polyphemus, full of cheese and other foods, which they indulge in. Despite his men begging him to leave, Odysseus’s curiosity about what Polyphemus may look like implores him to stay. This same curiosity kills 6 of his men, making him, once more, an ineffective leader. Odysseus recalls, “My men came pressing around me pleading: Why not take the cheeses, get them stowed, come back, throw open all the pens, and make a run for it. how sound that was. Yet I refused to. I wished to see the caveman, what he had to offer- no pretty sight, it turned out, for my friends” (Homer

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