Superheroes: Then And Now
Unless stated or identified to the contrary, I presume that buried under any plateful of mythological spaghetti lays a morsel of the really meaty meatball. Alas, today's superheroes are already identified to the contrary - all of them are meatball-less pure mythological pasta. Superman (and Supergirl too), Batman (and Robin), Tarzan, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, The Phantom, Buffy, Van Helsing, James Bond, and multi-dozens more are meatball-less.
Modern superheroes, those with abilities unusual, may additionally include those with exceptional mental and/or observational abilities in contrast to pure superpowers, brawn or athletic skills - examples may include Sherlock Holes, Perry Mason, Miss Jane Maple or Hercule Poirot; perhaps people that have a timely gun like Paladin (TV's "Have Gun - Will Travel"). Alas, everybody are meatball-less fictional pasta.
Spiderman
The superheroes of yesteryear when mythology allegedly ruled was lacking real superpowers unless they were deities of course. Even so the deity's powers paled when compared with our modern superheroes - a certain amount of lighting bolt chucking here; a bit of shape-shifting there (though what a pretty neat superpower). Even most of the gods needed chariots to get around, or horses or that they to hoof it themselves. There are a number of exceptions like Hermes (Mercury for the Romans) who had special high-tech winged sandals plus a winged helmet.
Eliminating that category - the 'gods' - the remaining superheroes of medieval times did not have real superpowers (X-ray vision, faster-than-a-speeding-bullet velocities) or super-ultra high-tech gadgets like jetpacks and vehicles much like the Batmobile or rings like Green Lantern's to enable them to. However, they had powers, usually nerves-of-steel and/or massive strength. Were they as fictional, as meatball-less as our modern day superheroes?
At this time I ought to clarify some tips i really mean by superheroes. It isn't a lot having special superpower abilities, or possessing high-tech far above the normal, though that's aspect of it. It's more that superheroes, past or present are heroes by profession, regardless of whether sometimes reluctantly. Or, superheroes are superheroes at least ought to be personal pride or feeling of duty and for that reason it's actually a serious hobby. Superman doesn't save the entire world just once; he is doing it time and again. Jessica Fletcher (TV's "Murder, She Wrote") doesn't solve one whodunit, just one murder mystery after another after another. Paladin doesn't outdraw one outlaw, but routinely, episode after episode. Probably the concept of superheroes could be summed up as those that have the "Right Stuff".
Now surely logic dictates the non-deity superheroes of olden days share one common trait together with the superheroes of 'today', 'today' thought as say back with the days of our grandparents and great grandparents to include the superheroes of their times - that commonality is that they, then and also now, are imaginary. Well, I'm not so sure.
I'll restrict myself here mainly towards the traditional (and thus Roman) superhero clan, plus a few others that fall outside that immediate pigeonhole. I'll do this since 1) it's those that are most familiar to all of us and two) it saves this essay from developing into a book-length tome.
Here's our cast of ancient non-deity superheroes (though many are demigods). Remember that there is nothing inside the ancient texts that chronicles the exploits of the figures that explicitly states they are imaginary or fictional make-believe entities. There isn't any such disclaimer. It's just like there's no disclaimer that the Bible is really a work of fiction though Biblical tales are far more outlandish than anything the traditional Greeks dreamt in their philosophy.
Alexander the truly great (356 - 323 BCE) - There's surely no doubt regarding the reality of this man, and even though military 'superheroes' (depending on if you're on the winning or losing side) can be a dime-a-dozen, every country in every single era has some, Alex is additionally known heroically for taming the wild horse Bucephalus as well as undoing the Gordian Knot (though in certain versions he cheated a bit).
Bellerophon (Greek) tamed the wild and winged horse Pegasus, and killed a monster too (see below).
Beowulf was a pre-8th Century CE Scandinavian warrior whose main claim that they can fame was monster-slaying (again, see below).
Daedalus in Greek mythology is most beneficial generally known as daddy to Icarus. No-cost donned self-manufactured wax-wings as a way to escape imprisonment in Crete, and even though daddy cautioned his son not to fly too near the Sun, son did exactly that and consequently the wax holding the feathers of his wings melted and young Icarus did a swan dive into the sea from your higher altitude than is normally recommended. Needless to say that section of the story is idiotic on two counts. Firstly, as you rise higher in the atmosphere the temperature gets colder. Secondly, sunlight is 93 million miles away, so whether you're in an altitude of 1000 feet or 10,000 feet or 100,000 feet it's hardly from a consequence regarding because much nearer to sunlight. That aside, Daedalus travelled throughout the globe on his hand-crafted wings, and is also well represented through the Greek influenced Mediterranean region, by way of example on Sicily. That aside and prior to his acquisition of manufactured winged transport, Daedalus was credited with allowing the Labyrinth on Crete when the Minotaur (part man, part bull) was trapped in to devour boys and ladies.
Hercules: Now wait, isn't Hercules really imaginary? Well, quite aside from the TV show and various movies which feature him and his awesome mythology (some modern, some ancient), the guy has four or five entire towns named after him, so you've got being pretty special and possibly pretty real, which is more than I could say for contemporary superheroes. Exactly what is the Batmanville or Superman City? What exactly are among those ancient sites that so honour Hercules? Well there's Heracleion around the border between Macedon and Northern Thessaly; Heraklion (Crete); the port capital of scotland- Herakleion (Egypt), now submerged some four miles offshore; not to mention Herculaneum (Italy), which, along with Pompeii was wiped out when Mount Vesuvius did it's ka-boom thing in 79 CE. Aside from that there's the Pillars of Hercules out by the Straits of Gibraltar. Least us not forget the rather numerous number of temples constructed and focused on him (there was clearly many a Hercules cult previously), along with more statues than you will find museums for - well less than but you will find a lot of them; statues that's. Then too his image is featured on various coins in the realm dating from your 4th and 5th Centuries BCE. Some sources accredit the growth of the Olympics to Hercules. So good PR on an imaginary character!
I maintain if cities, towns, villages, settlements of any type along with other geographical features are named after people, they may be named after real people, not mythological or imaginary ones. As soon as you admit that Hercules existed then his daddy also existed, which was some minor character named Zeus!
Jason (and also the Argonauts) continued a treasure hunts for the Golden Fleece with Hercules on board as crew (among many more). They'd many great heroic adventures together!
King Gilgamesh - there to be real a King Gilgamesh, ruler of Warka (Uruk) in early 3rd Millennium BCE of Mesopotamia. The wall he built around Uruk is his archaeological claim to fame. He too had many heroic adventures as outlined within the "Epic of Gilgamesh".
King Arthur, in accordance with scholars, probably has some historical foundation, and in all probability lived across the 5th or 6th Centuries CE, albeit well removed from Excalibur, the Round Table and Merlin. There's really little question there was some relatively famous chieftain in those days which more than time morphed in to the popular image of King Arthur, Camelot and the Arthurian legends/mythology.
Odysseus (or Ulysses for the Romans) was the character inside the ten year super heroic odyssey called by Homer, curiously "The Odyssey". It had been a companion volume to "The Iliad" as well as "The Iliad" led Heinrich Schliemann to learn and excavate Troy (once thought to be pure fiction), as there are every reason to think "The Odyssey" 's no work of fiction either (Homer never says so) but the historic chronicles of our own superhero, Odysseus. Odysseus have also been among the heroes in the "Iliad" and of the Trojan War. He crafted the idea for the Wooden Horse among other heroic deeds from the Battle of Troy (see below for a few more of his adventures).
Oedipus, in good old fashion whodunit detective logic solved the riddle from the Sphinx (and thus avoided becoming Sphinx-food). The actual Sphinx in cases like this was still being a hybrid creature though the Greek version, not the harder famous Egyptian one. The Greek counterpart had the top of a woman, your body of an lion and wings. From what ancient images survive of the Greek Sphinx, I gather 'she' was rather well endowed. Anyway, once bested, once her riddle was solved, 'she' committed suicide.
Even though the Trojan War is way too large in scope regarding citing the exploits of all the heroes concerned here, the next mention will do. King Agamemnon of Mycenae who commanded the military loaded onto those 1000 ships (plus 13 more) launched by that face - the facial skin of Helen, wife of Menelaus (King of Sparta) and brother to King Agamemnon. Mycenae was excavated by Heinrich Schliemann (of Troy fame). Though a comparatively minor site in their time, Mycenae and its particular Lion Gate have become one of the more famous historic and archaeological sites in Greece.
The principle occupation of our ancient superheroes was dealing with, usually killing monsters. I guess there were a lack of mad scientists bent on world domination BCE; master criminals attempting to illegally corner the gold market in the past; and i also gather alien invaders were invading someplace else in those days as well. The job description for superheroes has certainly blown in all of the proportion since period of Hercules! Anyway, managing monsters was occupation enough in the past.
Bellerophon, tamer of Pegasus the flying horse, also killed the Chimaera, a gruesome monster, a hybrid composite of lion, snake and goat.
Beowulf (the warrior) had his Grendel to slay, as soon as that's accomplished, he had to manage Grendel's pissed-off mother. That too was accomplished. However, 50 years of solace later, the now King Beowulf took place swinging against a dragon, but the dragon was struck out too. It's actually a tied football game with players retired from the living.
Hercules encountered a lot of beasties when performing his twelve labours, several of which were the article of his ordeals. However, in only two labours did he apparently slay the critters; a monstrous lion and the multi-headed Hydra. Though he killed some man-eating birds, he drove away most of the flock of the predatory birds in his sixth trial. He captured lots of animals alive as needed in most of his other exploits, just like a hind, a boar, a bull, some mares, a herd of oxen, and Cerberus.
Odysseus, on his way you will find Ithaca from Troy, gave the Cyclops called Polyphemus trouble. Unfortunately this was an undesirable move since it really pissed-off the god in the sea, Poseidon (Neptune towards the Romans). As an alternative if you happen to be undertaking an ocean voyage, trying to get back home to the little lady in the household after a 120 month absence - fighting that Trojan War - you truly wouldn't like to annoy Poseidon. Anyway, between Poseidon's tricks and also other obstacles, our superhero was required to face man-eating giants; the enchantress Circe; the Sirens (bird-like creatures with feminine faces and delightful singing voices that may tempt any man); some 'wandering rocks'; a few sea monsters (Scylla & Charybdis); but as a 'reward' finally ended up inside the arms of Calypso for seven years. The real key got that seven-year-itch and continued on his in the past you will find still more obstacles and adventures.
Perseus lopped from the head of Medusa, old snake-hair herself and chief with the dreaded Gorgons. Perseus also did the time-honoured hero-thing and saved a damsel in distress - Andromeda, chained naked with a rock, an offering and treats for the hungry sea monster. The weapon of preference - Medusa's head, since whoever or whatever looked at Medusa, even if that head was at a rather condition of extreme rigor mortis, got changed into a much greater state of rigor mortis - pure stone. That used on sea monsters too. Following your fight it absolutely was love at first sight - some heroes have all the luck even though some trials and tribulations remained as ahead for Perseus.
Saint George stood a run-in using a dragon - St. George 1; dragon 0. Now I gather you may not find the honorary word "Saint" attached with your business when the granting powers-that-be considered that you are imaginary.
Sigurd could be the legendary hero of Norse mythology. In German he's cited as Siegfried (known mainly today through Wagner operas "Siegfried" and "Gotterdammerung"). In any case, among a number of other and heroic adventures, a little bit of dragon slaying was an order for the day.
Theseus slew the Minotaur in Crete, much towards the relief of possible future human sacrifices.
Monsters aside, in the event you tone down many of the more probably embellished bits, there isn't anything really improbable about these superhero tales. Obviously some tales should be taken exceeding just a grain of salt - perhaps a complete salt-shaker worth - just like the Biblical Samson since there is no way everyone can connect hair length with physical strength, so Samson, for instance, is pure fiction.
Unfortunately these ancient exploits and heroics aren't the type of issues that usually leave behind firsthand hardcore archaeological evidence. There is certainly of course a great deal of second-hand archaeological evidence - images and carvings - which is a start. I've got to base their bona-fides or reality on 1) the various authors of these epics that never hinted them to be not the reality, the complete truth and absolutely nothing however the truth; 2) the common people of people eras accepted those heroic events just as real history in much the identical way once we absorb and accept unfolding events we obtain from the press or radio/TV news bulletins; about three) the ancients often visited some quite considerable trouble to honour and preserve these stories and characters via public and private images, as official emblems, on coinage, pottery galore, jewellery/amulets, on armour/shields, via statutes, dedicated temples, as well as naming entire cities specialized in their memory.
It's pretty amazing these ancient mythical characters and events - if mythical they're - are nevertheless with us many thousands of years later. That's real stamina. I'm wondering whether 3000 years from today anyone will remember or have accessibility to tales of Wonder Woman, Paladin, or Miss Marple.
While there certainly were some imaginary heroes (though not either equipped with superpowers or who made heroics their profession) in relatively middle ages times from "Jack and also the Beanstalk" to "Hansel & Gretel", for some really weird reason, lose your pounds . be considered a relative insufficient superheroes between the times we accompany ancient background and say the early 20th Century when Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, John Carter of Mars (or Barsoom on the Martians), Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers appeared. Still no superpowers were involved. It was not until Superman was inside the 1930's how the true chronilogical age of the current superhero, accent on superpowers, had arrived.
Where are typical the present real larger-than-life superheroes - what type who seemingly make super-heroism a regular profession? Certainly during the last several centuries there were numerous heroes (as well as heroines) - Medal of Honor and Victoria Cross winners, those used in various emergency services, and also ordinary citizens who rise to extraordinary heroics when a special and in most cases one-off set of circumstances arise. But where are our professional dragon slayers? Okay, no current dragons therefore no currently employed dragon slayers. That aside, there clearly shall no longer be those superheroes around similar to those who were so well known and beloved through the ancient Greeks and also other citizens of related ancient cultures. Wrong!