Greek Heroes Vs Greco-Roman Heroes

Heros, whether mortal or immortal, seem to exist in nearly every modern form of media, truly our society’s interest in the heroic seems to have no limits. We’re not original nor unique in this desire, as the earliest known pieces of literature focus on the hero and his adventures. The hero frequently appears in all forms of art as well, becoming quite the staple in many artistic traditions. Particularly in that of the Greeks, which developed certain standards and traditions when it came to representing the hero in art. These didn’t always line up with the literary traditions. The artistic iconography of classical heroes has a complex relationship with the literary and oral mythic traditions, and grew to develop its own canons and standards

A concept drastically different than our modern standards, where the art must follow literary descriptions. Harry Potter must have his mother’s eyes, because that’s what the book says, and when he doesn’t the audience doesn’t accept it as being an accurate representation. However, this doesn’t seem to be an issue for the ancients, who would display well know Ethiopian heros as light skinned, because of the artistic canons of what a hero is supposed to look like. To display a hero in any other way would be an insult, and imply that he isn’t a hero.

The heroic ideal presents a certain physique which ends up being applied to heroes universally, regardless of whether it necessarily makes sense. Rather than creating a unique appearance for each hero, they typically fall into two categories, bearded or youthfully beardless. Either way they’re shown in the nude, with well defined muscles and flawless skin, even in cases where a hero should have an iconic scar. This remains largely unchanged until the Hellenistic period, which explores realism to a higher

Even Athena becomes a frequent character in his depictions, often near his side, to symbolize his role as a hero. Yet this isn’t really backed up by the literature. Whereas if a piece of literature where to change some key aspect of his appearance, or his character, we wouldn’t likely accept it as still being Herakles, the classical hero. To those who are aware of the classical Herakles, the Disney version will never truly be Herakles. He becomes something else, the child friendly Disney version. Breaking away from the accepted artistic iconography and standards, creates something new, something entirely different. Ancient authors didn’t create completely new stories with their favorite heroes, because they couldn’t. The same stories get rewritten, over and over, with slight changes and variations, but essentially the same stories with the same general events and