Greek Heroic Age
The Greek Heroic Age was an era of myth that the poet Hesiod, active around 700 BCE, counted among his five Ages of Man. Two arrivals mark its edges. At one end, the Greeks come to Thessaly. At the other, the Greek warriors sail home from Troy. Between them lie roughly six generations of people who were superhuman, yet never divine. Homer, Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripides all celebrated them. That narrow place between mortal and god raises questions. Who earned the title of hero, and what separated them from the gods who fathered some of them? What monsters and quests filled their lives, and why did later Greeks keep painting and carving them? And what did these stories keep circling back to, whatever the adventure?
Cadmus, a Phoenician prince and a grandson of Poseidon, is counted as the first Greek hero. He founded the city of Thebes. Many early heroes shared his pattern. They descended from gods, they stood at the foundation of city-states, and they became the ancestors of heroes who came later.
Perseus was a son of Zeus, and he was famous long before his great-grandson Heracles. He beheaded the gorgon Medusa and rescued Andromeda from the sea monster Cetus. He is also the legendary founder of Mycenae.
Other early names carry their own divine lineages. Aeacus was another son of Zeus, and Bellerophon descended from the nymph Orseis. Oenomaus, king of Pisa in the Peloponnese, was a son of the war god Ares. Of all these figures, three stood highest as slayers of monsters before Heracles: Cadmus, Perseus and Bellerophon. Thebes, the city Cadmus founded, would return much later in the story of two quarrelling brothers.
Heracles turns up again and again on Greek vases and in early paintings, making him a favorite icon of the age. Vase painters usually showed only a portion of a hero's story, a single moment standing in for the whole tale.
Sculptors preserved other moments in statues. Surviving subjects include Perseus holding the head of Medusa, a Statue of Achilles, and the Pasquino Group. Among sculptors, Polykleitos of Argos is remembered as a famous name. He reshaped Greek myth through works in bronze and marble, and he created a system that allowed art to be reproduced.
Jason sailed on the Argo, and the crew who went with him became known as the Argonauts. Their goal was the kingdom of Colchis, on the Black Sea. There they hoped to win the Golden Fleece, a symbol of authority and kingship. Success would make Jason king of Iolcos in Thessaly. His voyage is counted among the oldest stories of a hero's quest.
The Calydonian boar hunt began with an insult. The king of Calydon, in Aetolia, had neglected to honour the goddess Artemis in his rites. In return, she sent a monstrous boar to ravage the region. King Oeneus then sent messengers across Greece to find the best hunters, offering the boar's pelt and tusks as the prize.
Many answered, including Atalanta, Castor and Pollux, Jason, Laertes, Lynceus, Nestor, Peleus, Phoenix and Theseus. Meleager hosted the hunt and killed the boar. Many of the hunters had also been Argonauts. Heracles was the notable absence, since he dealt separately with his own goddess-sent Erymanthian boar.
The story of Oedipus sits about two generations before Troy. Sophocles made it the basis of a trilogy of plays, yet similar stories have been traced to cultures around the world.
One generation later, about a generation before Troy, the consequences arrive. Oedipus lays a curse on his sons Eteocles and Polynices, and the tale of the Seven against Thebes is that curse coming true. The brothers had agreed to share the rule of Thebes. When Eteocles was due to step aside, he refused. Polynices then led an army against the city he loved, to enforce his claim.
Different playwrights drew different themes from the same quarrel. In Aeschylus' play, the individual set against the community becomes central. In the Phoenissae, or The Phoenician Women, patriotism takes the lead. The next generation after this war would be the one that sailed for Troy.
The scholar Gregory Nagy sees mortality as the "dominant theme in the stories of ancient Greek heroes." Achilles shows why. Heading for Troy, he chooses a short life that leaves a memory of being immortal and renowned, rather than a long, peaceful life in relative obscurity.
Achilles became the face of the Trojan War. After he killed the Trojan prince Hector, he helped escalate the fighting. Audiences know the war through a poem by the Greek poet Homer, titled The Iliad. That poem is how the age's closing conflict reached later listeners.
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Common questions
What is the Greek Heroic Age?
The Greek Heroic Age is the mythological period between the coming of the Greeks to Thessaly and the Greek warriors' return from Troy. It spans roughly six generations.
Who named the Greek Heroic Age as one of the Ages of Man?
The poet Hesiod, active around 700 BCE, identified the Greek Heroic Age as one of his five Ages of Man.
Who were the greatest heroes of the early Greek Heroic Age?
Cadmus, Perseus and Bellerophon were considered the greatest Greek heroes and slayers of monsters before the days of Heracles.
What was the quest of Jason and the Argonauts in the Greek Heroic Age?
Jason sailed on the Argo with the Argonauts to Colchis, on the Black Sea, to obtain the Golden Fleece. The fleece was a symbol of authority and kingship that would make him king of Iolcos in Thessaly.
What happened in the Calydonian boar hunt of the Greek Heroic Age?
Artemis sent a monstrous boar to ravage Calydon in Aetolia because its king neglected to honour her. King Oeneus summoned the best hunters in Greece, and Meleager killed the boar.
What is the dominant theme of the Greek Heroic Age stories according to Gregory Nagy?
Gregory Nagy sees mortality as the dominant theme in the stories of ancient Greek heroes. Achilles chose a short life with lasting renown over a long, obscure one.
All sources
11 references cited across the entry
- 1BookA history of GreeceConnop Thirlwall — Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans — 1845
- 2Hesiod, Works and Days 156–73.
- 3BookWorks and Days: A Translation and Commentary for the Social SciencesHesiod — University of California Press — 24 January 1997
- 4Alden, John B. (1883) The Greek Anthology, pp. 160–162.
- 5Kerenyi, Karl, 1959. The Heroes of the Greeks (London: Thames and Hudson) p. 75.
- 6Journal"Hȇrȏs Theos": The Death and Apotheosis of HeraklesH. A. Shapiro — 1983
- 7The Art of Classical Greece (ca. 480–323 B.C.)Colette Hemingway — January 2008
- 10Bellinger, Martha Fletcher. A Short History of the Drama, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1927