When he was given a choice between long, uneventful, but happy life and forthcoming, but glorious death on the battlefield, he chose the latter, preferring eternal fame to family life. The theme of kleos can be explained by the hero cult, which was widely popular during Classical times. Heroes were a major component of Greek religion and of equal importance as gods, but their attraction consisted in the fact that they were local and therefore more exclusive than the gods. They were important to the Greeks as they were closer to humans than gods, and helped define the limits of human aspirations, acting as symbols for all of the qualities humans wished to possess and dreams they wished to realise.
Depiction of a hero in the Iliad differs from Troy. Achilles can be considered the hero of both the Iliad and Troy, but there are differences in his portrayal (some of them were discussed above). Due to the change in cultural expectations of a true hero over the years, Hector is more convincing than Achilles as the hero of Troy. During Classical times, a hero was usually born or conceived in unusual circumstances, faced opposition from the very beginning and undertook a series of extremely difficult tasks. Generally, a hero had a special weapon or clothing, earned fame for his quests and died in an unusual way. A Classical hero didn’t necessarily have strong morals, but was praised for his
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For example, Paris’ and Helen’s relationship is depicted as a love affair, and the events were altered to create a happy ending for the couple (in the end, they managed to escape). Petersen does that so the romance would attract more viewers. Then, as the movie progressed, Achilles began to develop warm feelings for Briseis and looked for her during the sack of Troy to save her. Perhaps, this meant that kleos was no more his ultimate goal, which significantly humanised him in the eyes of the