The Role Of Heroes In Mythology By Edith Hamilton

What is a hero? The book Mythology by Edith Hamilton has a lot of heroes and most of them have 2 things in common. The heroes are in their own ways superior whether it be strength, intelligence, and/or courage. The second thing they have in common is a quest that establishes their greatness and proving that they are good enough to be called heroes. The catch is that even though they may have the characteristics of a hero, not all of them are epic heroes.

Theseus, The Great Athenian hero, was the son of Dianae and King Aegeus. Theseus had something that not many children at his age didn’t have, “he grew up strong far beyond others” (210). When he was young his father, King Aegeus, set a hollow sword and a pair of shoes and placed a great

stone on top of them. King Aegeus’ purpose for that was to test Theseus’ strength and to see if he was worthy to be claimed as his son. Theseus has no problem lifting the great stone because of his superior mighty strength and was set to go to Athens.

Now that Theseus is claimed by his father there was a ship ready to take him to his Athens but he was hungry for danger. Going through land was the most dangerous way to travel but he decided to make it a quest and take the risk, which ended with the death of all the bandits. Theseus had an idea of dealing with justice “what each had done to others, Theseus did to him” (210). For example Sciron captured people and kicked them into sea so Theseus hurled over a precipice. If Theseus didn't have the courage for the quests that we went on he would not have been the epic hero that he is now.

The most famous quest that Theseus successfully succeeded in was killing Minotaur, the half-bull half-human monster. Seventeen young victims were sent to Crete with the purpose to kill Minotaur but none of the accomplished it so it was a big deal that Theseus finally lifted the curse. The young victims and Theseus finally arrived at Crete and Theseus has given a ball of thread by Ariadne, who fell in love with him at first sight. Theseus then entered the Labyrinth and fell upon Minotaur “pinning him to the ground; and with his fists— he had no other weapon— he battered the monster to death” (215). Theseus then used his resource of thread that guided him and the young victims that traveled with him out of the maze.

Greek society looked up to the heroes so it was important for them to have strong characteristics that could be admired by the people. Theseus was an ultimate epic God because of his courage to go on quests that could have ultimately ended his life. Superior strength made it possible for Theseus to be successful in the missions he took on. Being the son of a king gave Theseus a good image but it is not the title that made him a hero, it was the characteristics that he carried through out his life. The question still stands, what is a hero? A hero is Theseus.