There have been many great leaders in stories, one of the greatest of them, would be Odysseus in The Odyssey. The poet, Homer, wrote the epic poem known as The Odyssey. Through his actions during the Trojan War, and in the Cyclops’ island, Odysseus demonstrates the characteristics of a tremendous leader. A primary example of Odysseus’ leadership skills, was when he came up with the idea of using the Trojan Horse to invade Troy. The Trojan war had been going on for around ten years, until one person, Odysseus, came up with the idea of using a wooden horse to invade Troy. This shows that he was a great leader, because he thought outside the box, and ended the war. Moreover, Odysseus demonstrates the qualities of a great leader when he gets him
The Odyssey, an epic poem written by Homer, has many characters, but the main character is Odysseus, king of Ithaca and hero of the Trojan War. Odysseus is a strong character and is protected by the Greek goddess, Athena. The Odyssey is the story of Odysseus, great journey home from the Trojan Was, but he makes many decisions that many people today consider unjust or unethical.(Encyclopedia Britannica) He makes these decisions all in the effort to get home, and in self defense. That is why Odysseus’ actions make him a primarily moral and ethical driven character, rather than a political and power driven character.
Although some could possibly call Odysseus, the protagonist of Homer’s The Odyssey, a great leader, the fact that he fails to earn his men’s respect, endangers his men’s lives repeatedly and allows them to die due to his own selfishness states otherwise.
In Homer 's The Odyssey, Odysseus is known as “the great tactician” (7.256). With the help of the goddess Athena, Odysseus must endure a challenging journey home after winning the Trojan War. Throughout Odysseus ' journey, he has to encounter and defeat many obstacles which prohibit his desired, speedy return home. During this journey, Odysseus learns that once he gets home, he will have to conquer the suitors who have invaded his home. These suitors have attempted to court his wife, raided his food supplies, and completely disrespected Odysseus and his household. Odysseus must return to his home land, Ithaka, and become king of his home again in order to make his homecoming complete. Odysseus ' master as tactician makes his homecoming
Odysseus is a bad leader for the traits he upheld in the book which causes him twenty years to return home to Ithaca after the Trojan war. The three traits that makes Odysseus a bad leader are being dishonest, prideful, and careless. These traits causes his men to die, him suffering, and trouble. The trait of Odysseus being dishonest is a factor of why Odysseus is a bad leader. Odysseus is meeting with Tiresias (a blind prophet) to learn his future. In the future, Odysseus will be presented with two obstacles, going through Scylla (6 headed monster) or Charybdis (a giant whirlpool). Tiresias tells Odysseus to pick the path of Scylla, his exact words were “to have passed her without loss and grief; she takes from every ship, one man for every gullet.” Tiresias is telling Odysseus to choose the path of Scylla because that path will only result in
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.
Odysseus is the main character in an epic poem called the Odyssey. In the poem Odysseus has had some bad luck getting home, with some of the gods helping him and some hindering him; his journey towards home is a constant struggle. In this poem we see a man being broke and rebuilt, through constant irony his faith was damaged and without the help of Athena he probably would have given up on his journey. Through his hard work and wise spirit he finally does achieve his goal.
“I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.” This quote by Mahatma Gandhi illustrates Odysseus’ leadership in The Odyssey by Homer. In The Odyssey, Odysseus has just finished fighting the Trojan War and is heading home. Along his way, he encounters many things including: the Laestrygonians, Cyclopes, Circe, the Sirens, Calypso, Aeolus, Helios, his worst enemy Poseidon (the god of the seas), and he also runs into Hades. Throughout these challenges, it is evident that Odysseus is not a good leader. The greatest weakness for any leader is pride, something Odysseus has too much of. Odysseus does not make smart decisions; he lacks good communication skills. Overall, Odysseus is a bad leader and he should be criticized as a leader.
What do gods, soldiers, and a one-eyed man all have in common? They are all in the Odyssey by Homer. In the Odyssey, Homer uses Odysseus’s journey to show how one’s journey can define them as a person. This essay will show, whomever may read this, how Odysseus is loyal, witty, and violent.
Sometimes the greatest leaders show their strength in different ways. As a leader, Odysseus did not let circumstances, no matter how impossible, overwhelm him. His one dream was to reach home, and after twenty years, nothing was going to stand in his way. Odysseus was a strong ruler who used his clever thinking skills and brains in addition to his physical strength to overcome perilous situations where he needed to save the lives of his men and his own.
It is an abomination for kings to commit wicked acts, for a throne is established on righteousness. Proverbs 16:12
To begin, both the leadership qualities and flaws of Aeneas and Odysseus must be examined in order to determine who the better leader is. Virgil presents Aeneas very differently than Homer presents Odysseus. They are both certainly heroes, but Aeneas seems more accessible and a stronger leader, due to the way Virgil presents him. Virgil illustrated Aeneas as a man that had to participate in many tests and tempering’s, and from that, his heroism was seen as flawless. The same goes along with Homers’ Odysseus, yet in a different, more astounding way.
In the Odyssey, Odysseus when through a lot of overwhelmingly hard challenges that impacted the length of his journey such as, the cyclops, the sirens, and the Cattle of the Sun God.
“Going forward I carried wax along the line, and laid it thick on their ears”(Hom. Od. 10.115). There are many traits that form an amazing leader, including loyalty, protection, and wisdom. A fine commander is someone who can keep his or her word to a grouping of people and someone who is able to defend every each one of them. Odysseus, radiating with fearlessness and heroism, in The Odyssey written by Homer, is required to become the chief of a group of people that he will sail with back home to Ithaca. Odysseus is a strong captain because he is able to be loyal, protect, and think with wisdom whenever his crew falls into another one of Poseidon's traps. In today's society we occasionally may not see someone as a robust leader, but if we were able to connect the definition of a fine headman to every time that person was able to protect, be loyal, and think wisely, we would be able to think differently.
“Amongst the qualities a hero should have, I would include determination, loyalty, courage, perseverance, patience, focus, intrepidity and selflessness,” once said by Ricky Martin. The image of a hero was developed throughout the course of history. As the years went on, distinctive traits were added and changed to the overall image. However, the first portrayal of a hero was originally portrayed by Ancient Greece which is known for their discoveries about the world and their beliefs. Inclusively, the term hero fits into the category of beliefs; throughout the Odyssey written by Homer, Odysseus faces a series of events in which his actions and reactions to them portray who he is. In other words, the first portrayal that comes to one's mind when they reflect on these actions of the great Odysseus is the word “hero”. The reason to this is because of the various traits exhibited by Odysseus such as bravery, selflessness or caring, and intelligent or cunning. Inclusively, the traits Odysseus exposes throughout the book fit the description of a hero both in Ancient Greece and in our current days; this reveals the changes of the archaic and present culture.
Great leaders have been around since the start of primitive civilization. Examples of said leaders are George Washington, Martin Luther King Jr., Adolph Hitler, and Alexander the Great. Despite the different areas and different views that these leaders may have had, they all had a few character traits that can be considered to be the same such as the ability to stimulate, adapt and persevere, and to stick with their primary principles. Every single one of these traits is hard to come by in a single person because they are difficult to learn but have to be instinctive and natural to a true leader.