Collective Decision Making in Homer’s Odyssey

Abstract

Collective decision making at the level of a politeia requires a collective body. The ancient Athenian concept of the ecclesia of demos was one such body as was the apella in the ancient city-state of Sparta. Qualified members of demos met at a specific place and venue to make decisions. At the level of a small polis (city-state), such gatherings were easily organized. In such cases, the power (-κρατέω -κράτος) belonged to people. If this power was exercised by the majority (πλείονας) and not by few (μὴ ἐς ὀλίγους) then this system of political organization was called (κέκληται) democracy (δημοκρατία = δῆμος + κράτος) as Thucydides so eloquently wrote in his Peloponnesian War [2.37.1] for all future generations to cherish which was his wish. Democracy can be considered as the end of a long process (voyage) of developing the art of collective decision making. It is the "Ithaca" of humanity’s expedition to discover an ideal political system. This article attempts to shed some (historical) light on this journey by looking at collective decision-making cases in Homer’s Odyssey. I was able to pinpoint ten such meetings of interest during which a sort of a collective decision was taken. Three of these meetings were held by immortals and seven by mortals. Some are described in detail while others in a few verses. All these are discussed in some detail in the different sections of the paper. Keywords: demos, democracy, Homer, Odyssey, collective decision making

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“…My interpretation and reading of Homer and Hesiod have been elucidated inPapanikos (2021b). The decision-making process in the Odyssey is detailed inPapanikos (2021a).…”

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“…I have examined inPapanikos (2021aPapanikos ( , 2021b) some issues which relate to these two great ancient works.5 According to the Lexicon (p. 140) by Hesychius from the fifth century CE, Askra means fruitless oak (see https://bit.ly/3z30E61), which might be the reason why many scholars considered Hesiod's village as being very poor. The truth is that the oak trees in Askra were and are very productive.…”