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Originally Posted by 6charlong
Namekuseijin makes a good point. Do leaders lead or merely sit back and command? The contrast between Agamemnon and Zeus, assuming that the gods represent an ideal, is telling.
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Agamemnon was the leader of the war against Troy but he wasn't king over all the Achaians. Many were rulers in there own right.
From Robert Fagles' Introduction:
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Finally, we must not entertain the idea that the Greek army is like a modern army, with a clear command structure which automatically makes disobedience to Agamemnon ‘wrong’. Agamemnon is acknowledged as overall leader of the expedition by virtue of the number of troops he brought with him, but as the constant debates make clear, authority is not taken for granted: it is demonstrated by the ability to win an argument and to persuade the rest to acquiesce (whence the requirement for heroes to be effective speakers as well as fighters). Only on Olympus is there an undisputed master who can command automatic obedience – ZEUS – and that, in the end, is down to his sheer physical superiority.
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