Greek Heroes Vs Modern Day Heroes

What makes a hero? Is it muscles? What about intelligence? In fact, in early Greek and Middle Eastern cultures, muscles and brains had nothing to do in the making of a hero. The definition of heroism means something different to everyone; however, the concepts of heroism differ greatly between Greek and Middle Eastern cultures and the modern idea such as the deeds one does and his or her attitude.
A hero is a hero whether it be fighting a bloody battle to save all the citizens in the city or it be saving a small animal from a tall tree. Both express attitudes of helping others and selflessness by putting others before oneself. Characteristics differ through time periods and locations but they all have a common goal of helping the greater good.
An example of a modern day hero would be a firefighter, police officer, or even a medic. Take a minute and imagine a building with blazing flames coming out all the windows, smoke all in the sky, and a crowd gathered around. With a typical emergency like this one, the first people to show up, called “first responders”, after a 911 call is made is a firetruck, ambulance, and police cars. As the police remind all of the crowd to remain calm, the fire fighters rush into the burning building and evacuate any remaining people who may be trapped inside and proceed to direct the water shooting out of their hoses at the house to extinguish the flames. While all this is happening, the medics take care of any people who were injured which the flames finally get put out and the day has been saved. All of the people who put their lives on the line to save the people and end the fire would be considered a hero in today’s society. However, on the other hand, in Greek and Middle Eastern days, suddenly a dragon comes from nowhere and blows flames into the city burning down many houses and buildings. Everyone is panicking until one man rushing into town just in time to see what is happening. He rushes over to the scene and tells everyone to run and save themselves. He makes his way closer and
In one instance, where is a cyclops named Polyphemus is trying to kill Odysseus. Odysseus had been held captive by the cyclopes but one day Odysseus attempts to escape by poking out the cyclops’s eyeball and while he is running away, he yells back, “Nobody¬- that’s my name. Nobody- “… “so my mother and father call me, and my friends” (Homer 365). Once this happens the cyclops goes back to his fellow cyclopes and yells out, “Nobody, friends” …” Nobody’s killing me now by fraud and not by force!” (366) which confuses the other cyclopes because it sound like he is saying no one has hurt him. This shows that he deceives the cyclops so he can return back to his crew and continue his journey back