CLASSICS 370 Chapter Notes - Chapter 12: Aeaea, Beeswax, Sarpedon
5 Sep 2016
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Unit xii reading notes classical myth: gilgamesh: introduction to heroic myth. Hero: term used very broadly to refer to the principal character in a play or film, to express admiration. For us, a hero is someone who stands out from the others, someone distinguished by prominence, bravery, or merit. For the ancient greeks, hero had a more specific meaning homer used it to mean any noble or well-born male (314: shift in meaning: homeric warrior to subject of myth and religious cult the tombs of heroes. Cult places for worship of heroes were called heroa. Tombs normally had the shape of enormous earthen mounds heaped up to protect and monumentalize the grave of the hero deliberately built in conspicuous locations to afford the deceased everlasting renown. Religious cult and other activity performed at these tombs during the classical period reinforced belief in an earlier age of heroes for those who visited and maintained the shrines (315)
