Homer's Odyssey: Is Heracles A Hero?

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Is Heracles a Hero? Heracles is a hero icon and regarded by many as a hero. However, by ancient standard and my definition is Heracles really a hero? Heracles is the son of Zeus, (a god) and Alcmene, (a mortal). Because Alcmene was not Zeus’s wife his affair enraged his wife Hera. As Hera was very angry, she often tried to kill or harm Heracles. When Heracles was a baby, Hera sent snakes into his crib to kill him. Heracles however, was a very strong baby and strangled the snakes before they could bite him. The ancient definition of a hero started off by defining a hero by their unusual birth and childhood. Most ancient heroes were born to noble or supernatural parents (usually a god or goddess). They also usually had an unusual childhood. …show more content…
Heroes also show these qualities through their actions. Heroes can show these qualities by standing up for what they believe in, protecting others, solving problems and helping others. Heracles has shown these qualities throughout his life and throughout his many adventures. Heracles was shown to be brave multiple times. This includes when he was a baby and Hera sent poisonous snakes into his crib. Being the brave child that Heracles was, he strangled the snakes before they could bite him. Other examples of Heracles’s bravery are his actions during his 10 trials assigned to him by the king. For his first task, He slew the dangerous Nemean Lion, whose fur could not be hurt by mortal weapons. Heracles has also shown his ambition throughout his 10 labors. Even though the tasks assigned to him were nearly impossible and made terribly hard by Hera. Heracles still continued to complete the tasks with lots of determination. In addition to showing bravery and ambition Heracles has shown integrity. When Heracles was young, he stumbled upon a crossroad where two spirits approached him. One spirit was neat, calm and well-mannered and the other was sloppy, vain and superficial. Once they came to him the second one spoke, saying she could offer him a life of ease and pleasure without pain or work and introduced herself as Vice. The other offered Heracles a life of success, but it would take hard work, she introduced herself as Virtue. As Virtue continued to speak Vice interrupted her trying to persuade the young Heracles to go down a path of unearned pleasure. Heracles, of course, chose a life of hard work that did lead him to happiness and success. One of his 10 trials was to capture the Ceryneian Hind a deer sacred to Artemis goddess of the hunt. Eurystheus and Hera assigned the task thinking that Artemis would be angered by Heracles hunting the doe. Heracles, however, used
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