Odyssey

6 Pages 1479 Words

The Social Ritual of Leadership
Leadership is an essential part for any group in a society that wants to be successful at whatever it’s trying to accomplish. Without a leader the group will not be able to achieve their goals. The group will instead be lost and confused. However, after that goal has been meet, does the leadership diminish as well? The passion that once was there to lead the group might not exist anymore. The wealth that the group has achieved will most likely outweigh the strength of the leadership that once excited. Also the group’s willingness to listen to their leader will also decrease. In book IX of The Odyssey of Homer, Odysseus’ leadership starts to decline, as his group was able to reach the goal that they had set out to accomplish.
The Greeks believed in the importance of social order and rituals, and one of those included having good leadership abilities. Odysseus has always portrayed himself as a true leader. He is the strongest and most powerful out of all of the men. He believed that he was the one that was responsible for leading his men to victory in the first battle against the Kikonians. Odysseus and his men defeated the Kikonians in battle and were rewarded with the war spoils that the Kikonians had to give to them. However, some of Odysseus’s men became greedy and took more possessions than was granted. They were just excited by the new fortunes that they had obtained. They did not listen to Odysseus because they had already gotten what they wanted. This caused the Kikonians to become frustrated by the way Odysseus and his people were dishonoring the social ritual of good hospitality. It will later lead to a second attack by the Kikonians and some of its’ neighbors against Odysseus and his men. This starts to demonstrate the decline of Odysseus’ leadership abilities.
In terms of the type of social order that the Greeks believed in, a good leader is someone that...