A hero as portrayed in Homer is, in many ways, fundamentally different from what we would call a “hero” today. Thousands of years of political, cultural, and religious developments have carried the notion of a hero into a place recalling, but not exactly resembling Homer’s conception.
To understand these discrepancies, we must first understand what makes a hero in the Homeric sense of the word. The most obvious feature of these characters is their aristeia, their excellence. They are defined in large part by their aristeia, as exemplified by their exceptional feats in combat, bringing them kleos (more on that in a bit). It is worthwhile to note the connection between aristeia and the English word “aristocracy”, meaning “rule by the best”. Ignoring