The heroic ideal in ancient Greece and Rome

Heroic Ideal Greece, Rome

An Analysis of the Heroic Ideal from Ancient Greece to Roman Empire

The mythopoetic tradition in Greece begins with Homer's Iliad, which balances the heroic figures of Achilles and Hector, two opposing warriors and men of honor, amidst a war on which not even the gods are in agreement. Hector and Achilles mirror one another in nobility and strength and both represent an ideal heroic archetype of citizenry -- men who do battle to honor both their countries and their names. To illustrate, however, the way the ideal of heroic citizenship changes from the Greek mythopoetic tradition through to the late Stoicism of Roman imperialism, it is necessary to leap ahead several centuries and survey the several different bodies of work.

The mythopoetic tradition in Greece somewhat continually dwells on the same themes with regard to heroic citizenship, whether in Homer or in the Golden Age of Theater in Athens, when Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes dominated the stage. Homer's Iliad (Fitzgerald, 2008) and Aristophanes' Lysistrata (Sommerstein, 1973), for example, are two war-themed works whose tones are dissimilar but whose endings are revealing of a common bond -- despite the centuries and structures that separate them. The ending of Homer's Iliad depicts the death of Hector, the abuse of his corpse by Achilles (a man with divine prowess but human flaws), the begging of mercy by Priam, and the burial of Hector's bones following the consummation of his body on the funeral pyre. The ending of Lysistrata is a jubilant celebration of peace in song as Athenians and Spartans end their war thanks in large part to the influence of their women. The common bond is this: both works end with attention focused not on those who begin the work (Lysistrata of Athens, or Achilles of the Argives) but rather on the enemy -- the Spartans in song, and Hector of the Trojans. The sense is that both works are neither pro-war nor anti-war in the extreme, but may be read rather as artistic attempts to understand the enemy through identification and honor. They are, in other words, works of respect. The difference between the two works, however, is that Homer's is an epic dramatic poem, and Aristophanes' is a comedy -- a work which treats a serious matter (war) in a social, comedic way.

The greatest definition of the heroic figure in Greek tragedy, however, comes from Aristotle, who uses Oedipus as a perfect example of the greatness and humanness of the Greek tragic hero. According to Aristotle, the ideal hero should be good (better than ordinary men), valorous, true to life, and consistent. Sophocles' Oedipus is certainly all of these things. The key, of course, to the Greek hero is the heroic insistence upon truth, honor, and respect for the gods.

Plato's hero Socrates intellectualizes this insistence and dramatizes the search for truth by way of dialogue, holding up the philosopher as a heroic type, as in the Allegory of the Cave.

In Rome and with Virgil's Aeneid, the hero, however, is once again a man of arms. He is the father of a country and of a noble race. He strives to be a mirror of virtue and of justice. But he also embraces the Stoic ideal of putting himself second -- behind his duty to the State. Since Roman citizenship was more universal in terms of accepting many different races of men, it becomes necessary in the Roman Empire to exercise authority at a remove, with less personality and drama, as Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius show. The gods, too, are somewhat more impersonal than in Greek drama.

The Enchiridion, for example, is a work of Roman Stoicism that emphasizes clarity in the intellectual realm and points out the limitations of human control. It focuses on self-mastery rather than on domination of men. It is inward looking -- much like Sophocles' drama -- but it lacks the personality of the Greek hero.