Heroism
is a common theme that is found in much of mythology. These
heroes usually manage to perform extraordinary and revolutionary
tasks that leave a great impact on human society. Although many
of these tasks bring about change with lasting effect on the
environment and the world as a whole, these tasks require the
quality of courage, the quality that so epitomizes heroism.
Heroes are
generally depicted as human beings possessing superhuman abilities,
as the Greek heroes were so famous for. However, there is one
class of hero, which one might consider to be called the unsung
heroes. These include the people who had, in one way or another,
brought huge changes to the world, without garnering much glory
along the way.
Firstly,
who were these heroes? Although many of the heroes were human,
many gods also do perform heroic tasks. In Norse mythology,
there is much talk of Thor who wielded his hammer, the Mjollnir,
and defended the gods from the giants. The Greek heroes, however,
were mostly children of the gods, those such as Perseus and
Herakles, which are talked about in other sections of this site.
It is an interesting side note that most of the heroes were
male..
Let us start
on the supernaturally able heroes. One of the famous Greek heroes
was the son of Zeus, Perseus. Perseus had many encounters, and
of all, the most famous of his tasks was the slaying of the
gorgon, Medusa. On another count, the hero Theseus killed the
Minotaur, eventually saving the many people who had to be sent
to the half-human/half-bull regularly as sacrifice. The Chinese
hero, Houyi, shot down nine suns, when ten suns had appeared
in the sky at the same time, scorching the earth and drying
up the rivers.
Indian mythology
tells of many heroes, within the great epics, the Ramayana and
the Mahabharata, where the heroes were largely seen upholding
morals, and in the process overcoming great odds. An interesting
hero is the Scandinavian hero, Sigurd, who gained the title
of hero, when he killed a dragon for its treasures.
To extrapolate
the trend in heroism, these notions of heroism revolve about
the saving of lives and performing impossible tasks such as
slaying dragons or killing man-eating creatures that have been
terrorizing nearby villages. We are all familiar with this class
of hero, so let us now move on to the next class of hero.
There is
a minor theme in many mythologies around the world, which is
the theft of fire. It is through the theft of fire, that fire
finally managed to reach the human world. Initially it was restricted
only to the gods, and at times withheld by the sun. In order
for fire to reach human society, there is the need for a character
to steal the fire from its source and bring it to human society.
This character is invariably a hero, though not celebrated in
the same fashion as the first class of heroes.
The fire
stealers include Prometheus, in Greek Mythology, who stole fire
for human beings when he pitied human beings who were freezing
in the cold winter without any heat. He did this against the
will of Zeus' and was finally punished by having his liver eaten
by an eagle every day.
South American
mythology tells of a boy who was marooned on a tree, and was
saved by a jaguar who brought the boy back to his lair. There,
the boy discovered fire within the lair, and stole some for
humanity. In Oceanic culture, fire came when the hero Maui stole
fire from the keeper of fire, who dwelt in the underworld. However,
Maui could also have been considered as a trickster, on the
many occasions in which he hooked up islands from the sea and
ensnared the sun using the hair from his sister, so that during
summer the days are longer.
What marks
the stealing of fire as such an important example of heroism
in mythology is that it marked the revolution of human society
through the act of one person, which is the very essence of
heroism
in itself. This class of hero performs courageous tasks, such
as Dekanah-Wida, who forged peace between five warring tribes,
in North American mythology.
Yet another
hero inhabits the mythology of the Greeks, that of Antigone.
There were two brothers who had killed each other in pursuit
of the throne. The brothers' uncle thus buried one of the brothers,
while he deemed the other a traitor. Antigone went against her
uncle's will and gave the other brother a proper burial, which
angered her uncle. Her uncle later deprived her of food and
drink, and she hung herself, demonstrating the courage and bravery
of heroism, and on the few occasions, in a woman.
Next:
Tricksters
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Great Themes >
Heroes
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