Archetype Of A Hero Essay

When people think of a ‘hero’, most people think of Batman, Superman or Wonder Woman. True heroes make an appearance in greek mythology in the form of these three people- Meleager, Heracles, and Theseus. There are many other greek heroes that fit what we call the “archetype of a hero”. The archetype of a hero is what we consider to be qualities that most heroes have. Meleager, Heracles, and Theseus all fit a majority of these qualities and that is what makes them a hero.
Meleager is not usually the first greek to come to mind when we think about greek heroes. Meleager fits many of the heroic qualities that are listed in the archetype of a hero. One quality being that Meleager was born into royalty. Meleager’s father, Oeneus, was king of Calydon. Meleager was also subject of prophecy. When Meleager was born, the fates arrived in his room to tell his mother of the prophecy. The prophecy was that his fate was tied to a log. So if the log was
The first trait from the archetype of a hero that he possessed was that he was born into royalty. King Aegeus “had” a baby with Aethra (really it was Poseidon that had impregnated her with Theseus). One thing that he did that made him a hero, was that he did something amazing as a child. When Theseus was seven years old, he brought his friends to the palace to meet his cousin Heracles. The children saw the lion skin that Heracles wore and thought it was real so they ran from it, all except for Theseus. Theseus grabbed an axe and attacked the lion skin. Another thing that made him fit the archetype of a hero was that he was favored by the gods- Poseidon. A time where this was clear was when Minos made Theseus go into the ocean after his ring. Dolphins had carried him to where Poseidon was staying with his wife, Amphitrite. Poseidon gave him a purple cloak to wear and gave him King Minos’ ring. Theseus appeared back on the surface of the water completely dry with Minos’ ring in