Hero worship is defined as the foolish or excessive adulation of an individual. Hero cults were one of the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion. A hero was more than human but less than a god, and various kinds of supernatural figures came to be assimilated to the class of heroes; the distinction between a hero and a god was less than certain, especially in the case of Heracles, the most prominent, but a typical hero.
Is it possible that the ancient Greek practice of Hero worship has resurfaced today, and more importantly, have we been duped into participating in this Hero cult without even knowing it? On the other side of the coin, there have been numerous sermons about the metaphors of the Messiah that can be found in these modern myths. It seems that there is a wide range of opinions on the subject, and unfortunately my perspective on this topic will go against the grain of what the majority seems to think.
Before we look at the modern myth, lets take a quick look at the ancient hero mythology. One well known example of a Greek hero is Odysseus, a character in Homer’s writings the “Odyssey” and the “Iliad”, as well as other Epic works of that time. He was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca, and is most famous for his famous Trojan Horse trick to capture the city of Troy.
Heracles is another well known hero from ancient Greece, known for his great strength. He was the son of Zeus, and was considered to be the greatest of the Greek heroes. He was so popular that his cult carried into Rome where he was known as Hercules. He was said to have extraordinary strength, courage, ingenuity, and wits. He was also regarded as a playful figure who used games to relax, even playing games with children. The myth and legend of Hercules has carried over even into modern times with cartoons and movies being made about him.
Now, lets investigate the modern myth known as superheroes, and see if there is any connection to the Greek hero religion of old. Because there is a pantheon of superheroes too numerous to address them all in this blog, I have decided to simply provide a few well known examples to represent the whole superhero genre. I have divided them into four basic categories or classes of hero that seems to represent them pretty well. I will also provide a few of examples of how these superheroes are actually false-gods, and possibly even false-Messiahs. The categories that I will be addressing in this article are “vigilantes”, “mutants”, “demons”, and “gods/demigods”.
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