Hero Definitions

Richard Loop
Period 2
10/24/08


A hero is a person who does great deeds and acts of greatness. They usually do something to help the community or are going on an adventure to find immortality. An example of a hero would be Hercules.

A myth is a story that symbolizes human experience and embodies the spiritual values of a culture. A myth also helps the community to understand or explain the natural things that occur. An example would be the story of Demeter and Persephone that explains why we have summer and winter.

A hero journey is full of trials and obstacles and is cyclical (follows a similar path). The journey contains a final battle that leads to the transformation of said hero, which leads to the hero giving a boon to the community. An example of a hero journey would be the story of Jason and the Argonauts.

Universal means it contains the big picture that encompasses everything or it is a common idea used a lot. An example of that would be a hero being used in most myths.

An archetype is the original model or starting point. An example of an archetype would be the three creation myths: the watery abyss, the void, and the egg.

Cyclical means it follows the same pattern or an unbroken cycle. Something that is cyclical would be the hero journey because it always follows the same pattern.

Duality is the quality of opposites existing as a whole. An example of duality would be the yin-yang because it has both of the qualities of good and bad living in a whole.

Creation is how everything started. Genesis is a good example for this because it describes the creation of earth in the eyes and beliefs of the Christians

The life from death concept is the idea of sacrificing something to make life better or to just to create life. Jesus dying on the cross is an excellent example for this because is describes the sacrifice he made on the cross for us so we don’t have to go to hell.

Matriarchal is when the woman is in charge, like the Amazonian women.

A tie in to the Matriarchal term is the mother earth/Gaia theory, which is everything from the earth is given to us by Gaia (the Greek mother earth) and through that everything is connected.

Patriarchal is when the man is in charge, like when a king is ruling in Britain.

Father Sky is a tie in to the patriarchal term because the sky is supposed to be our guardian/protector, like a patriarch.

A sacrifice is an offering of something to appease the gods. An example of that would be the Aztecs killing the slaves they captured to make sure they get good crops.