Humans have throughout the ages had a need of having people to look up to in order to gain strength and inspiration, as well as learn things from them. Deep inside humans, there has always been a desire to tell or write stories, whose purpose – Entertain, touch or teach – have always been the same, independent of the medium used and the time in history. The stories, which throughout the ages has captivated their audience, have often been about heroes that through their courage, valor and strength have performed great deeds that have bestowed upon them honor, fame and reputation. Heroes have existed ever since humans started to tell and write stories, but the heroic ideals have constantly been changing. They have done so in order to fulfill the need for heroes in the modern society, and even today we can still see it changing. The purpose of this essay is to compare the heroic ideals during the antiquity with the ones that exist in today’s society and to try identifying the changes.

The antiquity was a flourishing period in many areas, but especially philosophy and literature. Within literature, some of the most well-known and popular heroic stories was written and then handed down to posterity. One of these can be found in Homer’s famous epic named the Iliad. It is the story of how the hero Achilles receives his status as a hero in the Trojan War by slaying Hector, the son of the Trojan king, in a battle outside of Troy’s walls. Achilles was agile, brave and possessed great strength, which is evident in Homer’s comparison of Hector and Achilles. He is praised as a strong, brave and athletic man, but in the end, it is still his great deeds that make him a hero.

Another famous hero of antiquity is Odysseus. He participated. Just like Achilles, in the Trojan War and was the brain behind the clever idea of the Trojan horse. Though, he mainly gained his status as a hero through Homer’s epic named the Odyssey. The epic is about Odysseus’ ten year long odyssey home from the Trojan War, and how he repeatedly faced tough and difficult challenges and trials during it that he passes, thanks to his cunning and courage. This is clearly evident when he saves himself and his crew from captivity in the Cyclops Polyfemos’ cave.

Even though these heroes are different in many ways, they have many characteristics that tie them together. They rarely show any external and internal signs of weakness and often never experience any failures. They live for mainly accordingly to the Apollonian ideal and as individuals, they are not very complex. The acts that they perform often have strong personal motives, such as revenge or to survive. The physical capacity of a hero was valued higher in ancient times, but Odysseus and his great intellect showed that strength was not always the deciding factor when it came to overcoming the trials and challenges he was faced with. Though, the heroic deeds were always central in deciding whether a person was regarded as a hero or not.

If we change the focus from antiquity and instead look at today’s heroes and heroic ideals, we are faced with lots of different heroes that fall under different categories. Some of the most popular heroes in today’s society are referred to as “super heroes”, and the most famous of them is probably Spiderman. He is actually a normal teenager named Peter Parker from New York, who gains super powers after being bitten by a radioactive spider. Even though he is strong and valiant, he is far from perfect and struggle, just like many teenagers, with problems in school and with love. His heroic deeds are mainly to save and protect people from all sorts of dangers. He feels a responsibility to help the city’s residents because of his super powers, even though he often ends up in difficult situations. When he is not Spider man, he tries his best to live a life as a normal teenager.

In contrast to all the super heroes in today’s society, there are a lot of ordinary people who have become heroes, without having any kinds of supernatural abilities within them. One example of this is Erin Brockovich. She is a single mother who works as an assistant at a law firm and becomes a hero after she almost alone puts an end to a power company letting out highly contaminated water into people’s tap water leading to people getting mortally sick. She manages to do this by being stubborn and refusing to give up no matter how difficult the situation is, despite having a chaotic personal life. Erin Brockovich shows people that anyone can become a hero, as long as they are passionate about what they’re doing and do their utmost.

These two heroes are both, in many ways, opposites, but yet they have many similarities to each other. They have complex personalities, which makes it interesting and exciting for the reader or viewer to follow their journey as they succeed, against all odds, and arrive at new insights. Both are far from perfect and the persons both have external and internal problems as they’re constantly fighting. Furthermore, they also make mistakes. All of this makes them vulnerable and human, which makes it possible for the reader or viewer to more easily relate to them and thereby also feel sympathy and empathy for the successes and setbacks they encounter along their way. Many of today’s heroes, like the previously mentioned ones, have the sense of justice as their driving force behind their sacrificial acts and collective responsibility. There is an increasing emphasis on the intention a hero has and what mediums they use to get there. However, their actions have continued to be very important.

As a conclusion, we can say that the heroic ideals of the antiquity and modern age have, while having very similar foundations, changed considerably. From almost entirely being focused on a hero’s physical characteristics, we can now see how the psychological characteristics are increasingly being highlighted and are often central. Almost gone is the ideal that heroes should be perfect, without any significant external or internal problems and mistakes as well as they should not have any complex personalities. Today’s situation is almost the opposite; people in today’s society want to be able to relate to the situations the hero goes through. Their, sometimes mangled, life and sacrificial actions create empathy and sympathy amongst the readers or viewers. Despite these differences, the core of the heroic ideals has remained the same; a hero is to succeed in the big, difficult and dangerous situations and rise above the circumstances, no matter how difficult they may seem. When everything else is put aside, this is what has always defined a hero, and will continue to be.