Hero: From Greek

The word hero can easily be defined as: dictionary.com defines a hero as a man of distinguishes courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities. Hero originates from the Greek word hḗrōes. Therefore the meaning of the word itself has been influenced from Greek, the way the meaning of the word has been influenced has come from Greek literature, for example: The Odyssey by Homer. This paper will argue how the ancient concept of heroism has influenced the American culture and what it means to be a hero. While explaining the influence, I will compare and contrast the ideas of what characteristics both ancient heroes and modern heroes possess.

More common in ancient times than in modern time, all heroes had to be strong, courageous, smart, confident, noble, and possess ‘kleos’ or glory that is the result of their incredible actions. The main character of the Odyssey, Odysseus was a hero of the Trojan War and proved his kleos many times with his brute strength and cunning. To the Greek, being a strong figure is important to being a hero, however, Odysseus does not only rely on his strength to overcome all situations, and instead he uses his mind and cleverness to achieve glory. In modern time, people of great strength are looked up to and admire, but they are not what people typically have in mind as a hero. Modern day heroes use their mind and courage to receive the glory. For example: Captain Chesley Sullenberger used his intuition to land a plane on the Hudson River, saving over 150 lives on an airplane. When Odysseus and his men are captured by the Cyclops, Polyphemus, immediately Odysseus creates a plan to get the Cyclops drunk and then blind him. The fact that Homer chose for Odysseus to use a plan,...

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...o consider their contributions heroic, they do not compare to facing Poseidon, Charybdis, The Sirens, a Cyclops, and going to the Underworld. Although none of the previous things are real, Homer wrote of a hero who had faced all of those things and lived to tell the story.

In The Odyssey, Homer gives Odysseus the all of the previous characteristics because otherwise, he would not be able to complete his journey. Odysseus is the ideal hero for he is a mortal that others can relate to, unlike fictional heroes like the demi gods for example. Odysseus does make mistakes, for instance: after Odysseus blinded the Cyclops, he told the Cyclops his real name which is the reason Poseidon got angry with Odysseus. The Greek hero is a strong person, who is clever, and virtuous. These ideas of an ancient Greek hero very much influenced what American culture considers a hero.