Classical Studies 2200 Lecture 14: Heroes
16 Oct 2018
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HEROES AND ἥΡΩΣ (HEROS)
WHAT IS A HERO?
o In Homeric Greek, heros i s a honored title
o In classical Greek heros refers to an important dead man worshipped in his grave.
o A development of the worship of the dead or ancestor cult?
o A religious innovation of the polis?
o Seems to be an honorific title - “honorific guy”
o ‘Heroin’ comes to mean important dead female worshipped in their grave
o Cult of the dead/ancestor cult revisited (see underworld lecture for more info):
- The desire to hang on/remember the dead
WHERE DID THE HEROES COME FROM?
o People worshipped/celebrated kin
- So, people from different places would celebrate different kin
o The growth of cities from dark ages (a couple clans) that would increase to multiple
clans
o The archaic elite were important, wealthy, powerful families
o The city-states at this time were large and powerful, but fragile/unstable
- Powerful families would come into conflict and fight each other (civil war)
o During this time, there were people who could see big picture: e.g. Solon: that the city-
state as a whole is more important than the important families
o Solon worked towards social reform and reconstruction (quite idealistically) to bring
together the different clan groups/families
o Some strange legislation: restricted mourning of the dead
- e.g. ‘law of Solon’ - you cannot lament more than one person at the same time
▪ Why? - if you lament members of clans killed by other clans, loudly, at the
same time, this will fuel civil war and animosity towards the ‘enemy’
▪ An attempt to reign in the violence
▪ People began telling stories about people who were important to the Polis
as a whole, not at the clan-level
HEROIC MYTH
o It is occasionally said that cosmogonic myths are the central myths, but they only
account for (e.g.) 84 lines of Ovid’s Metamorphoses
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o It is also said that all myths are about the divine
- “A myth is an expression of the sacred in words”
o But heroic myth is far more common
o Heroic myth has common themes and stereotypical narrative forms
- Genealogies – of hero and community they’re associated with
- Migrations – reflection of archaic period during colonization
- Foundation of city – cities need histories associated with Greek myths to be
validated
- Establishment of culture
- Origin of rituals
o Protagoras was believed to have a gateway to the underworld in his house
o Classics form a “fixed body in a turning world” - we change, but the myths and stories
stay the same
o Often, in hero myths, the accidental killing of a relative, friend, or lover, is usually a
trigger for initiating travel (usually by banishment from the accidental crime)
o In heroic myths: deep Indo-European tradition of winning brides through competition
o Why don’t they seem original? They draw on traditional story motifs. But likely not all
one story.
THE 25 MOST COMMON MOTIFS OF HERO MYTHS
1. Tricks, riddles ingenious solutions to dilemmas
2. Transformations
3. Accidental killing of relative, friend, or lover
4. Giants, monsters, etc.
5. Attempts to get rid of a rival
6. Fulfilling a task or quest
7. Contests (for bride, kingship, honour, etc.)
8. Punishment for impiety
9. Displacement of parents or elders (actual or feared)
10. Killing, or attempting to kill, one’s child
11. Revenge by killing or seducing a man’s wife (or by killing his children)
12. Son (or sons) avenges mother or protects her
13. Disputes within the family
14. Deceitful wife
15. Deceitful daughter
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16. Incestuous relationships
17. Founding a city (often in a miraculous way)
18. Special weapons
19. Prophets/seers
20. Oracles (especially Delphi)
21. Mortal lovers of gods/goddesses
22. Perils of immortality as a gift to mortals
23. External soul/life-token
24. Unusual birth
25. Enclosure or imprisonment
PERSEUS
o Son of Zeus and Danae
- Danae was the daughter of Acrisius, king of Argos
- Acrisius learned he was going to die at the hands of his daughter’s son
❖ Try to avoid killing your blood relatives
- Took steps to ensure his daughter wouldn’t have a son that could kill him
o Acrisius “Made a bronze bed-chamber (thalamos) beneath the earth in the court-yard of
his house ... From the ceiling Zeus flowed like gold, and she received him into her
embrace; and revealing himself Zeus lay with the girl” (Pherecydes fr. 10 Fowler)
o Perseus and his mother were cast into the sea in larnax (‘ark’) built by Acrisius
- There is a moving passage from a lyric poem by Simonides
o Washed up on the island of Seriphos
o Taken in by Dictys, half-brother of the king Polydectes ‘he who receives many’ (so he is a
death god?)
- Polydectes wants Danae, but Perseus is in the way
- So, he sends Perseus on a quest to retrieve the Gorgon’s head
▪ They’re extremely dangerous in some version, in others they are only
dangerous when they’ve been decapitated
o Hermes and Athena are helpers (divine support)
- Hermes present because the quest suggests the world of the dead?
- Athena is a conventional guide of heroes
o From the Graeae, Perseus must learn the way to the nymphs, who possessed special
tools
o The Graeae
Document Summary
The desire to hang on/remember the dead. Where did the heroes come from: people worshipped/celebrated kin. Heroic myth: it is occasionally said that cosmogonic myths are the central myths, but they only a(cid:272)(cid:272)ou(cid:374)t for (cid:894)e. g. (cid:895) 84 li(cid:374)es of o(cid:448)id(cid:859)s metamorphoses, it is also said that all myths are about the divine. (cid:862)a (cid:373)(cid:455)th is a(cid:374) e(cid:454)pressio(cid:374) of the sa(cid:272)red i(cid:374) (cid:449)ords(cid:863: but heroic myth is far more common, heroic myth has common themes and stereotypical narrative forms. Genealogies of hero a(cid:374)d (cid:272)o(cid:373)(cid:373)u(cid:374)it(cid:455) the(cid:455)(cid:859)re asso(cid:272)iated (cid:449)ith. Migrations reflection of archaic period during colonization. Foundation of city cities need histories associated with greek myths to be validated. 2: incestuous relationships, founding a city (often in a miraculous way, special weapons, prophets/seers, oracles (especially delphi, mortal lovers of gods/goddesses, perils of immortality as a gift to mortals, external soul/life-token, unusual birth, enclosure or imprisonment. Danae was the daughter of acrisius, king of argos.
