The Role of the Warrior Essay Example

To be a warrior in Ancient Greece meant many things; you fought and perhaps died for your country, you stood for justice in the community and in battle, you were courageous and willing to take on all who stood in your way, you were looked up to and revered, a step above the normal citizen. There was also a huge downside to being a warrior: you were basically a servant to the king or kings, forced to fight whenever he called for whatever reason it may be. A small price to pay for some, considering if you became a famed warrior, your name would live on for ages, and you would be considered a god amongst men. Outside of battle, the warrior fit into society mainly like the rest of the people. They led normal lives and had families just like the rest of people. They tended to their crops, if they had land, and lived their lives normally. However, they weren't as normal as the rest of the society. They were always on call to fight great battles for their polis, at the bidding of a sometimes great ruler. For the most part, they all fought for honor and glory, for the pride of themselves, their comrades, and their country or polis. A good warrior would always obey their leader, even if they did not fully understand or believe in the cause of war. Sometimes they were lied to about the cause of war. Take the Trojan War, for example. Some accounts state that king of all the Greeks, Agamemnon, had wanted to take over Troy for some time, having expanded his empire to the majority of the polis' in Greece. However, once his brother, Minnelaus, had lost his wife to the Trojan prince, Paris, it served as an excellent disguise to launch 1,000 ships for Troy. The majority of the Greeks would not agree with Agamemnon and his greed, they mostly wanted peace amongst the communities of Greece. However, once the Greeks had been wronged, and the Trojans had "offended" the Greeks, launching the greatest attack Greece had ever seen on the country of Troy seemed only right.