Achilles, the swift, godlike warrior of Greek lore, is among the most complex of Homer's epic characters. Achilles and his ill-fated tendon figure prominently in the Western archetypal notion of a tragic hero; however, the application of the term "hero" to the Achaean fighter is...
Throughout human history, people have been infatuated with the role of the “hero”. The concept that someone would be willing to risk life and limb for someone else never ceases to amaze. Just take a trip to Washington, D.C. The monuments and memorials to Lincoln,...
Heroes appear in many stories, and the word ‘hero is derived from a Greek word that means a person who faces adversity, or demonstrates courage, in the face of danger’. An archetypal hero that appears in religions, mythologies and epic stories shares certain spiritual and...
Some mythologists may argue that Achilles and Odysseus are not heroes, although they were depicted as such in their prospective stories. These two characters are very much alike. They both exhibit strong heroic qualities, although in different manners they are both heroes. Some heroic traits...
There is a minor ambiguity in this title, which must be clarified for the purposes of this essay. The emphasis on an impression of the characters changing as you read more of the poem, may indicate the effect on a reader’s initial interpretation of the...
The Iliad, written by ancient Greek poet Homer, chronicles the battle and events during the final weeks of The Trojan War, an armed conflict between the Achaeans army and the defenders of Troy. It further recounts the story of the wrath of Achilles, the greatest...
Across cultures, fire has been considered both a life-sustaining and destructive force – it has the ability to warm and the potential to burn. The duality of fire parallels that of a Homeric hero’s pursuit of honor. On one hand, the pursuit is an enticing...
Western Hero Achilles Achilles was the son of Thetis, who was a daughter of the sea god called Nereus. The gods Zeus and Poseidon wanted to marry Thetis but the prophecy by Prometheus that the son of Thetis was going to be greater than his...
In the works “The Book of the Dead of Hunefer,” and “Achilles and Ajax playing dice,” both artists display the cultural norms of their respective cultures through religious, spiritual, and mythological depictions of characters in their societies. For Osiris, the artist of “The Book of...
