It can be categorized as a person who is willing to fight for someone or something for that hero’s country, no matter what the consequences may be. Or it can be selfish, fighting for one’s own benefit and personal gain. Homer wrote that heroism has two different meanings that emphasize how a hero thinks. Achilles, for example, can be considered both noble and selfish. He fights for the Achaeans, but he also is stubborn, and refuses to fight for a certain period of time during the final year of the trojan war. This was due to the fact that Agamemnon, the leader of the Achaeans, took Achilles favorite slave women, humiliating Achilles in the process. During the time where Achilles refused to fight, his army suffered horrible losses, and his close comrade, Patroclus, died. Seth L. Schein writes about Homer’s take on heroes by saying, “Homer's attitude toward heroism can be seen in the very word hero, which elsewhere denotes a figure worshipped in hero cults, but in the Iliad signifies a warrior who lives and dies in the pursuit of honor and glory.” I disagree and agree with Schein’s interpretation of heroes for the Iliad. Although he mentions honor, which I interpreted as fighting for someone or something, he leaves out the selfishness, never mentioning heroes being selfish in his essay. Thinking for one’s personal gain is an important part of Homer’s definition of a hero, and Schein left that concept
It can be categorized as a person who is willing to fight for someone or something for that hero’s country, no matter what the consequences may be. Or it can be selfish, fighting for one’s own benefit and personal gain. Homer wrote that heroism has two different meanings that emphasize how a hero thinks. Achilles, for example, can be considered both noble and selfish. He fights for the Achaeans, but he also is stubborn, and refuses to fight for a certain period of time during the final year of the trojan war. This was due to the fact that Agamemnon, the leader of the Achaeans, took Achilles favorite slave women, humiliating Achilles in the process. During the time where Achilles refused to fight, his army suffered horrible losses, and his close comrade, Patroclus, died. Seth L. Schein writes about Homer’s take on heroes by saying, “Homer's attitude toward heroism can be seen in the very word hero, which elsewhere denotes a figure worshipped in hero cults, but in the Iliad signifies a warrior who lives and dies in the pursuit of honor and glory.” I disagree and agree with Schein’s interpretation of heroes for the Iliad. Although he mentions honor, which I interpreted as fighting for someone or something, he leaves out the selfishness, never mentioning heroes being selfish in his essay. Thinking for one’s personal gain is an important part of Homer’s definition of a hero, and Schein left that concept