The "heroic" life: until recently, this was the stuff of legend, epic poetry and philosophers' focus. Most certainly it was in the center of the ancients' view of Life. "Life," here, is purposely capitalized; it is the view of a world-universe-sacred-and-profane existence that does not separate the mythic from the mundane. One might call that a "religious" mindset - and the naming would be correct. In the ancient world, religion and life were more often than not one-and-the-same. As was the concept of "heroism": a person's acts were defined as heroic - or not - based upon one's religious/philosophic approach to Life. In the Western tradition, that approach changed over the centuries of ancient civilization: from the primal heroism of the ancient Greeks, as exemplified in Homer's epic poem The Iliad, through the Stoic conception of the Romans found in Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, to end up with the early Christian mystic interpretation of heroism, as found in such writings as "The Passion of Saint Perpetua." It will be the purpose of this brief essay to examine how the ancient concept of the heroic life changed through time and in those three works - and to see what threads of thought, if any, persisted.
Always to be bravest and to be preeminent above others.
In the conception of Homer's pre-"Golden Age" Greeks, who lived before the intellectual refinements of men the likes of Plato could give their religious beliefs philosophical underpinnings, the heroic life was exactly that: something to be appreciated during one's life. Death was a nether existence, consequently, it was the garlands of honor accrued during one's living time span that mattered. Specifically, it was the attention and honor of men that signified one's acts as "heroic" or not. Indeed, The Iliad's central focus is the heroism of two men: Achilles and Hector. Both heroes are duly praised throughout the poetic chronicle for their valor and deeds ...