Introduction
The poem depicts many different leadership images, however, some of them are more vivid than others. For example, one of these characters is Hector. This is an exciting and multifaceted character, and the author skilfully intertwines the different features of his personality into one individuality. Hector, along with the main character, is one of the bravest and bravest warriors in the Iliad. He is a Trojan leader, the central defender of the city, and he is convinced of the justice of his place in the war. Both heroes die in the fight. Hector is characterized by valor and a passionate desire to win and become famous. He is courageous and strong and has many feats and victories. Hector is characterized by courage, humanity, sacrifice, nobility, conscientiousness, restraint, tenderness, and fidelity. This character embodies one of the aspects of leadership that led him to his death.
Aspects of Hector’s Leadership
Hector endows Homer with the features of a true, noble leader because the myth does not moralize but gives visual behavior patterns. Hector is a patriot of his city, an honest citizen with feelings for his nation. The city of Troy is his homeland, and he dies defending the rights of the inhabitants of this city. This is the type of leader who is the future of Greece, and thus, in mythology, the Greeks found for themselves universal patterns of leadership behavior that were grouped and did not have the usual archaic form. Hector realizes he is responsible for his people and tries to save them with all his might. However, he goes to a duel with Achilles and does not listen to the voice of reason, realizing that he will die. In this episode, Hector behaves not like a pragmatic leader but like a warrior who cannot afford to retreat. This led to the fact that he destroyed his people, relying on his strength, which he recognized. However, this is the only manifestation of Hector as a bad leader.
Difference from Protagonist Leadership
The archetype of Hector’s leadership is significantly different from how the protagonist behaves. After the death of his friend, obsessed with a thirst for revenge, Achilles goes to battle with Hector, blinded by anger after the victory, he mocks his body. On the other hand, the hero misses his friend, weeps bitterly at his mother, and sympathizes with Hector’s father. This demonstrates the differences in the character of Achilles and the spiritual confrontation between nobility and revenge. Hector’s leadership is the result and the predominance of rational will. Like no one else, he knows the feeling of fear, but despite this, he still learned to be a real fearless warrior and lead people. Hector sadly leaves his parents, son, and wife, because he is faithful to his duty – the protection of Troy. Deprived of the help of the gods, he gives his life to his native land.
Hector, in contrast to Achilles, is a more humane leader. He never reproaches Elena, forgives his brother, and does not hate them, although they are the perpetrators of the Trojan War. There is no disdain or superiority in Hector’s words. He addresses Achilles as an equal leader. At the same time, Achilles shows a complete disregard for the enemy. This is the main difference between the two leaders – the humanity of Hector and the excessive anger of Achilles.
Leadership
From the Iliad, much new information about leadership and its representation can be learned from the ancient Greeks. The Homeric Iliad revealed four necessaries, according to the ancient Greeks, qualities of a leader: justice, wisdom, cunning, and valor. Lists of such or similar qualities are found in a variety of cultures. However, the behavior patterns of leaders and sets of leadership traits have changed more than once over time. However, the critical features of leaders depicted in the poem are new for a modern person who is accustomed to more mundane images of leaders as managers. For example, the valor and courage of Hector can be seen in this passage.
“Great Hector singly stay’d: chain’d down by fate
There fix’d he stood before the Scaean gate;
Still his bold arms determined to employ,
The guardian still of long-defended Troy.” (Iliad 22. 9-12).
This shows that Hector, even left alone, continues to defend his homeland and his people as a true leader. This is a necessary quality of a leader but one that is rarely found. Their devotion to his work and his subordinates made Hector an outstanding leader whom people wanted to follow and to whom they swore allegiance. They did this because they saw in him an example of the heroism of courage and self-sacrifice, an ideal that everyone wanted to be like.
Conclusion
Homer’s Iliad is a good poem about heroic leaders, each with their unique abilities and character traits. Hector, however, is remembered most of all because his devotion to his homeland amazes readers even after many centuries. This may be a model of an ideal leader for whom his subordinates are not just people but those for whom he is ready to give his life. These actions make an ordinary leader a natural leader and make people trust him.
Work Cited
Homer. The Iliad. Translated by Caroline Alexander. HarperCollins Publisher. 2016