Greek Heroes: The Human versus the Humane
"In Greece all begins with the epic. With it, through it, the Trojan War, which for ten years pitted the Acheans against the Trojans, became the "axial" event situated at the edge of history. At first it was only a Greek event, then a Roman one, and finally a Western one. Today, the Trojan War is disputed and even denied, but it was for centuries a shared point of reference" (Finley 31).
It was the norm for ancient poems and tales to be composed around a central figure known as the epic hero. The epic hero is a character who is marked by paradox. Erich Neuman wrote that the Greek epic hero was "the fully individuated human consciousness". He is a powerful figure, larger than life, explosive in action and in war, has high moral standards and beliefs, but usually his faults lie in emotional, social and psychological understanding (Austin 128). Neither the Greeks nor the Romans have an exact word to describe the epic hero, but rather describe individuals, normally held to be descended from gods.
A Homeric epic hero believed that men should stand together in battle, respect each other and refrain from excessive cruelty; these were all attributes of a noble warrior, and reflect the values of Greek society and the military at that time. It is important in myths and other morality plays that positive, strong roles demonstrate role models to the audience û that would mean that a "hero" would be human, but more than that, humane. Yet, much of what Odysseus does shows his lack of emotional control, his impetuousness and his selfishness, which seems to be the opposite of what a æheroÆ would represent to most people (Feeney 140). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the development of character through the actions of HomerÆs heroes to show that they may have been human, but they were hardly humane.
An epic hero is supposed to be above pettiness, and is to respect the chain of ...