Classical and Greek Hero Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Classical and Greek Hero - Essay Example 34-47). This paper discusses and compares classical hero and Greek hero in the context of the examples from the novels "The Odyssey", "Oedipus The King" and "Beowulf" in a concise and comprehensive way. - Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, was a hero of the Trojan War in the Iliad. It was his idea to build a huge wooden horse, hide Greek soldiers inside, and smuggle them into the city of Troy to capture it. The Odyssey is the story of his long and magical trip home after the war. - Achilles was the greatest warrior of the Greeks, and fought and died in the Trojan War. He was shot by an arrow in the heel, the only weak part of his body. The tendon that connects the human calf and heel is called the Achilles tendon. Burton (pp. 34-47) discusses that the most popular hero was Herakles, or Hercules. The most famous of his deeds were his 12 labors. They included killing the Hydra, a many-headed monster, and capturing the three-headed dog Cerberus, who guarded the gates of the Underworld. Hercules was so great a hero that the gods granted him immortality. When his body lay on his funeral pyre, Athena came and carried him off to Mount Olympus in her chariot. Blackmore (pp. 135-162) mentions that Homer's epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey created a classical setting for Greek Heroes. These poems are full of battles, peril, violence and war and adventures that portray the heroic characters be courageous. The heroes, in these poems, face a barrage of arrows without flinching and are ruthless enough to kill many men without regret. The heroic characters battle for love, duty, and to protect their homes and families and beloved. A hero is understood in Greek mythology as a person of divine ancestry who has an unlimited and unprecedented courage, strength and power and it is celebrated by both the gods and people. Classical and Greek heroes portray traits of strength, ability, resourcefulness, honor and pride and power. Homer's heroic characters depict these characteristics by confronting challenges through out the poems (Blackmore, pp. 135-162). In ancient Greece, it was a widely accepted value to strive for a hero's excellence. Homer's Iliad and Odyssey do not explicitly detail the characteristic of excellence or a hero, but the behavior of the heroic characters can be analyzed to derive these attributes. Odysseus, Achilles and Diomedes are three of Homer's most noteworthy characters in his epic poems that demonstrate the values of a hero's excellent. They personify what was expected of a classical Greek hero (Blackmore, pp. 135-162). Knox (pp. 78-86) discusses that one of Homer's most controversial heroes is Odysseus from the Odyssey. Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, is a key example of the traits that were expected from a hero. He was known for his