Chain of Command

Chain of Command

            In Book 2 Agamemnon tried to trick his men into going into battle with reverse psychology but it back fired.  They were very eager to go home but Hera put a stop to this by sending Athena down.  She advised Odysseus to stop them from leaving.  He did this with the scepter of Agamemnon.   The soldiers obeyed but one cowardly Greek, Thersites, was still trying to get everyone to leave and go home.  He was criticizing Agamemnon in the process.  Odysseus stopped this as soon as he saw it: “That was the abuse Agamemnon took from the mouth of Thersites.  Odysseus was on him in a flash, staring him down with a scowl, and laid into him” (Iliad 2.262-265).  This shows us the chain of command is among the Greeks.  There are rules about talking bad to a King or commander.  They can’t be openly against any of them or they’ll be punished physically: “And with that he whaled the staff down on Thersites’ back” (Iliad 2.286-287).  Thersites was introduced in the Iliad only to make this aspect clear.  They used physical coercion to keep their underlings in line.