The Homeric Hero

In The Iliad, a book all about war, a lot of stress is put on heroes.
The entire lives of the men revolved around whether they were heroes
and whether they were good in battle or not. As the article The Iliad:
Reflections of a Hero on Writerspace Blogs states: To do well in battle
was to become famous. To prove your excellence in battle was of prime
importance to the men of Greek society during the Dark Ages. If one
did not do this, he would become a disgrace to not only himself, but to
his family as well. To shame your family would bring the greatest
dishonor to man in the eyes of society. In their times, they were
honored for killing men, the more brutal the better. The heroes were
held in the highest respects and got rewards, such as money and
women. Everybody looked up to them, especially other warriors. One
passage in The Iliad reads, "So fight by the ships, all together. And that
comrade who meets his death and destiny, speared or stabbed, let him
die! He dies fighting for fatherland - No dishonor there! He'll leave
behind him wife and sons unscathed, his house and estate
unharmed(Book 15, lines 574-580). It was viewed as an honor to die
in war as a hero, if not encouraged. When we read this book in modern
times, we question the way they define their heroes. The fact that they
celebrate their use of brute force and disregard for human life is seen
as barbaric and crazy to say the least. However, if you take a look at
our own treatment of our soldiers it becomes apparent that our
customs arent that different. In both the Homeric culture and our
modern day culture, men are rewarded for going to war and killing the
enemy. We give them praise for murdering thousands of people. The
definition of the Homeric hero isnt as crazy as it seems to be when
compared to our societys own heroes.
The two main Homeric heroes in The Iliad are Achilles and
Hector. Their actions in the epic are perfect displays of their definition
of hero. They are both revered by their opponents and show great
courage in battle. Each of them has killed an impossible number of
men, as any good hero should. At one point in the epic, after learning
that his close friend Patroklos had died, Achilles simply screams and
kills dozens of men. Hector is the one that kills Patroklos, as it states in
the book: When Hector saw great-hearted Patroklos withdraw,
wounded by the sharp bronze, he came close to him through the ranks,
and he stabbed him with his spear in the lower part of the belly. He
drove through the bronze. Patroklos fell with a thudding sound (Book
16, lines 815-819). Hector then proceeded to take the fallen soldiers
armor, a reward for killing him. He was then shown great respect for
killing another hero such as Patroklos. In war, we do something very
similar to that. When one of our soldiers kills a great deal of men or
takes care of an important enemy, they are given Medals of Honor and
are treated with utmost respect. In order to receive a Medal of Honor, a

soldier must show bravery in battle and be engaged with the enemy
force. This is not unlike what the Homeric hero must do.
The only significant difference between the Ancient Greeks
culture and our own when it comes to heroes is the form of fighting. In
Homers The Iliad, spears and swords were used as illustrated in this
passage: Hector drew his sharp sword, large and powerfulAchilles
rushed to meet himhe protected his chest by holding the sturdy
finely crafted shield before him (Book 22, lines 295-302). In the epic,
they fought in a much more gruesome and brutal way as opposed to
how we fight today. Now, firearms and explosives are used in most
wars. Even though they are different in the way they fight their battles,
war is still war. Both ways of fighting are brutal and gruesome and it
shows a lot about both societies. Soldiers are rewarded and seen as
heroes for murdering people and taking innocent lives. The biggest
similarity between the Homeric Hero and our modern day war hero is
that they are praised for one of the biggest crimes against humanity:
murder. In any other circumstance, what these heroes are doing would
be severely looked down upon.
The detailed and bloody epic that praises brutality and killing is
not so different from our current take on heroism. At first, it may seem
that Homers definition of a hero, a man that kills enemies mercilessly
in battle, is barbaric and uncivilized. After analyzing how they view
their heroes and what they expect of them, though, it becomes clear
that our societys idea of a hero is very similar. Both cultures have a lot
of respect for their heroes, almost as if they worship them, and reward
them for doing well in battle. When being honored as a hero, they are
presented with trophies of sorts in both cultures; we give medals while
they give riches and women. Although the fighting styles differed,
heroes are expected to be brave and do whatever they can to win the
war theyre in. They are honored for going into battle and slaughtering
people by the hundreds. We are not so different from those we see as
barbaric.

Works Cited
"The Iliad: Reflections of a Hero." Writerspace Blogs. N.p., 7 June 2011.
Web. 17 Oct. 2015.