Heroism Ancient and Modern

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Heroism Ancient and Modern

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What is a hero and how do we define what a hero is? Well each and every person has their own distinct idea of what a hero is. For instance the father who saves the dog from drowning or the brother who helps you down from the tree house, but basically we all follow the guideline of someone that is brave, has plenty of courage, and accomplishes obstacles with extraordinary feats. We all see traits in people that are ordinary and usually these traits are found in select few. An ancient hero seemed to posse's great attributes in strength and people seemed to think that maybe these heroes were part immortal or gods.

A very great example of an ancient hero is Gilgamesh. I say this because he was the ruler of Uruk and society believed that he was part immortal. He displayed this in many different ways. For instance he showed great strengths in physical battle. He was selfless and the people respected for the wins of his physical battles. Gilgamesh went to the forest and overcame great obstacles but then he learns that he is part mortal. The one thing that he thought he was not so now death plays an even bigger part in his life. This is essentially what makes this story so great and catches the heart of people. This is how he becomes a great epic hero.

In the Odyssey Odysseus ends up sailing back from a war won at Troy and his ship essentially gets lost in all the storms. He continues on

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His path home regardless of all the crazy storms that seem to be detour him. He not only has some great physical strengths but he is so well known for using is mental traits. He was such a great thinker and always evaluated the situation. He had a great deal of patience and showed that unique quality when he was trapped in the storms. Although it seemed throughout the story he also had a quality that hampered his return to land and that