Furthermore, we have not even to risk the adventure alone, for the heroes of all time have gone before us. The labyrinth is thoroughly known. We have only to follow the thread of the hero path, and where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god. And where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves. Where we had thought to travel outward we will come to the center of our own existence. And where we had thought to be alone, we will be with all the world.Joseph Campbell, The Power of MythHeroes have been popular throughout the existence of human beings because "thats whats worth writing about" (Campbell 123). Hero myths help us to evolve into better humans by learning from the trials and triumphs of the hero. In classical Greek literature, the epic hero can be defined in terms of the contrasting characters of Achilles and Odysseus, the two most important figures in Homer's great epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey. The two heroes represent the two different types of heroes that we have, a hero with a spiritual deed and a hero with a physical deed: There are two types of deed. One is the physical deed in which the hero performs a courageous act in battle. The other is a kind of spiritual deed, in which the hero learns to experience the supernormal range of human spiritual life and then comes back with a message. (Campbell 123)Achilles, the greatest warrior of the Greeks in the Trojan War, is actually a demi-god rather than a human hero, having been dipped in charmed waters by his mother and given the gift of invulnerability. He represents the physical deed. Odysseus, on the other hand, is a fully human character, and his heroism consists more in his cleverness, boldness and cunning than his martial ability. He represents the spiritual deed. The contrast between these two models of the epic hero could not be stronger, for although Achilles is godlike and almost immortal in his fighting prowess, h...
