In people’s terms, heroes are those who demonstrate bravery and save the world. In classical myths, heroes are the same; people can turn to heroes for help in troubles or other challenging situations. In ancient Greek mythology, heroes are usually descendants of a Deity and mere mortals. Usually, the heroes of ancient Greek mythology have similar characteristics that describe all the heroes. This paper discusses that all old Greek heroes have such characteristics as superhuman abilities, arrogance, and elevated status at birth.
The first characteristic of ancient Greek heroes is that they possessed supernatural powers because all heroes of ancient Greek mythology were a child, the parents of whom are God and mere mortals. For example, in the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey” by Homer, ordinary people could address Gods and even heroes from any location. In addition, Odyssey was able to talk to dead people (Murgatroyd 4). Moreover, Odysseus himself could be heard by people at any moment when he needed. Even though the mentioned phenomenon contradicts the laws of physics, the heroes of ancient Greek mythology possessed supernatural powers.
The next characteristic inherent in all Greek heroes is arrogance. An example includes the tragedy of Agamemnon, written by Aeschylus. Claiming that he is the best of all hunters, Agamemnon shows his arrogance and puts himself higher than the Goddess of Hunting, Artemis (Lefebvre 34). Thus, putting themselves more elevated than the Gods, despite being mere mortals, proves the arrogance of the heroes of ancient Greek mythology.
The last distinguishing feature of all ancient Greek heroes is their elevated status at birth. As mentioned above, the heroes are the gods’ children but are mortal because one of the parents is also a mere mortal. However, this does not prevent them from having a high status at birth. For example, in the myth of Hercules (the author is unknown), about the birth of the hero Hercules, it is said that he was the one whose connection with the Gods began even before his dawn (Pache 3). Therefore, at birth, he already had the status of a hero, and this phenomenon is characteristic of all heroes of ancient Greek mythology.
Summing up, we can say that all ancient Greek heroes had a common trait. They were considered in the person of specific heroes such as Odysseus, Hercules, and Agamemnon. Greek heroes had high self-esteem, possessed supernatural power, and had a high status immediately after birth.
Works Cited
Lefebvre, Nick. “Super or Divine: An Analysis of Greek Gods and Goddesses as the First Superheroes.” The Journal of the Carleton University Classics Society, 2019.
Pache, C. O. “Birth and Childhood.” The Oxford Handbook of Heracles, 2021.
Murgatroyd, Paul. The Wanderings of Odysseus. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2021.