The Idea Of Heroism In Ancient Greek Mythology

Oliver Dunn

Cathe Waldrop

English II

30 September 2022

Heroism in Ancient Greek Mythology

From the time of the Ancient Greeks to the present day the idea of heroism has been ever-present in the society and culture of the ages. In the case of the Ancient Greeks, heroism was looked upon as people who possessed qualities such as strength, bravery, and resourcefulness on the scale that no mortal man could possess, making them almost God-like. In the case of the three Greek heroes, Hercules, Theseus, and Perseus, they possessed those traits correspondingly, and therefore, the worship they received was well warranted, as they were not mortal, but demigods. These demigod characteristics are what caused the Ancient Greeks to look upon them not as mere

There was one trait that stood out from the rest though, and that was his superhuman strength. He was often called “the strongest man on Earth”, and was sometimes compared to the god's physical attributes (Hamilton 225). His strength held a major part in why the Greeks deemed him a hero, but in reality, it was what he did with strength that truly earned him his title. For example, during his infamous Twelve Labours, he completed impossible feat after impossible feat. He killed the unkillable Nemean Lion, which was often called, “the beast no weapons could wound”, with his bare hands and strength (Hamilton 232). Additionally, he even carried the literal weight of the world on his shoulders during his eleventh labor, a feat that to any mortal, would have crushed them (Hamilton 234). All of these tasks showed his immense strength, and as a result, earned him the title of hero to the Ancient Greeks. They thought of him as a hero because his qualities, most specifically his strength were “those the Greeks in general honored and admired” (Hamilton 225). Because Hercules filled in the boxes of what the Greeks admired, he was looked up to, and therefore deemed worthy of the title of hero. So in conclusion, Hercules has been deemed a hero because his inhuman strength was a quality that the Ancient Greeks valued and looked up

In today's society, people like Greta Thunberg are considered heroes based on their intellect and drive to better society, but Hercules does the opposite. He definitely did not do only bad things, but when he let his strength get the best of his emotions and intellect, he caused considerable harm. For example, “He often had sudden outbursts of furious anger which were often fatal to the often innocent objects”, and in the case of his music master, a brutal death (Hamilton 227, 229). The reason behind the death of his music master was simply because Hercules did not have an affinity for music, and as a result took his anger out on his teacher, illustrating a lack of basic control over himself. An outburst of anger to this degree would not only put Hercules into legal trouble but also strip him of any sort of hero title he had in current times. In contrast, a real-world example of someone losing the title of hero because of emotions is Gilbert Arenas, a talented basketball player. Gilbert Arenas was an influential hero in the eyes of many young basketball players who aspired to have his level of skill and dedication. This all went away when Gilbert lost control of his emotions. At the top of his career, he brought a gun to a game and made threats to shoot teammates in a small dispute,