From authoritarianism to authority
Transition and reconfiguration of political order in the Iliad through the 'transfer of command' in the Achaean camp
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35305/cf2.vi19.185Keywords:
Iliad, politics, authority, authoritarianismAbstract
This article analyzes the process of political reconfiguration that takes place in the Achaean camp from the abandonment of the anger of Achilles in the Iliad and the subsequent reconciliation with Agamemnon and the rest of the Achaeans onwards. The hypothesis to defend here is that the place of Agamemnon as the supreme leader of the achaean expedition (or primus inter pares) is now occupied by Achilles. Although this process is not made explicit by the poet or institutionalized in the iliadic narrative, several markers can be traced to indicate that this, as I will call it, “transfer of command” occurs de facto. This dynamic in the social and political field of the Achaean community implies a philosophical-political reflection of Homer in terms of two antagonistic forms of the exercise of power and authority, which manifest themselves in the perspectives of Agamemnon and Achilles. Finally, it is shown that the virtuous mode of the exercise of power, represented in the figure of Achilles from Iliad 19 onwards, constitutes a model that exhibits elements close to the democracy of the classical Athenian period.
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