The Concept of The Hero

[Guernsey]

Whether it would be the Ancient Greeks or even our own modern intrepretaion, everyone seems to have some idea of what a 'hero' is. Usually, the 'hero' is someone who has achieved fame by preforming a great feat in their lifetimes like Herakles, Achillies or Agammenon. They are worshipped as Gods and even hav cults mnamed after them. While we may not have those kinds of rituals, the Hero worship and the tales of great men of valor still occur today. It usually in manga, comic books, television, books, etc. but the term 'hero' varies from culture to culture. What the Ancient Greeks consider to be a hero is far different from what we today considered to be a hero.

Even now, we have various intepretations of what we consider to be a hero. Usually, the hero is noble, strong and powerful figure who defies odds and succeeds int heir goals. We all have our own concept of what a 'hero' is but what do you think of the hero concept?

Here are some links to help out:

http://www.suite101.com/content/what-is-a-hero-a101471

http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2009/...n-civilization-or-the-best-of-the-akheans.htm

http://athome.harvard.edu/programs/nagy/threads/concept_of_hero.html

 

[Rydrum2112]

I always like to sort of specify subgenres. As in my intellectual Hero is Rondal Fischer, my basketball hero is Magic Johnson, my fictional Hero is George Smiley.

Mostly I like to think of Hero's as being people who excel in a feild and contribute to societity by helping advance us; whether that is by helping people directly or indirectly or giving us knowledge, technology, or entertainment.

Ofcourse the problem with picking real people as hero's is that they all have flaws, and so its nice to just focus on the positive qualities and understand that when talking of hero's we are not talking about their short comings.