Heroes In Ancient Greek Mythology

Modern culture portrays heroes as selfless. Almost all, willingly and wholeheartedly, would sacrifice themselves for a cause. The heroes of ancient Greek culture do not display the same qualities, as shown by Edith Hamilton in Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes. The Heroes of the Myths frequently use other people at the risk of that person’s life to obtain goals that they wish for themselves.
The princess Ino’s plan to kill Phrixus endangered the whole population of the kingdom. The Myth states that “ She got possession of all the seed-corn and parched it … so of course there was no harvest at all” (Hamilton 162). Ruining the seed corn crop would most likely both ruin the economy of her nation and also cause the starvation of huge numbers of citizens who depend on the seed corn as a source of food. The worried farmers send a man “to ask the oracle what he should do in this fearful …show more content…
He proved that Odysseus was not insane by “Seize[ing] Odysseus’s little son and put[ing] him directly in the way of the plow” (258). While he did effectively persuade the famed warrior to join his cause, he almost killed a little child. The messenger who did this was not a hero, but was acting on behalf of his master, Menelaus, a looming figure in the war. The fact that he was willing to risk the life of a child to bring one warrior over to his cause shows that he has little regard for human life that did not directly contribute to his cause. Another hero of the ancients, Agamemnon, wasted a young life for his own cause. He allowed and made possible the sacrifice of his daughter. Ephenia. He betrayed the trust of his wife and daughter by telling them that she was to be married to Achilles. He sacrificed his daughter because “His reputation with the Army was at stake, and his ambition to conquer Troy and exalt Greece”(259). The soldiers were not gentle, either. The myth