Superheroes Throughout History and Literature One of the facts of our modern age is the fact superheroes are the rage. We are fascinated by them. They have gone from comic book characters to the stars of very successful movies and television shows. In ancient times there were also superheroes, they just weren’t called by that name. The epic of Gilgamesh was a Mesopotamian hero who might have been one of their kings. No one is sure about this. The epic was written in 1,800 B.C. by an anonymous author. Gilgamesh went to the ends of the earth looking for immortality and had adventures with a wild man. When Gilgamesh found out there was going to be a flood, because a god had leaked the information, he went on a search for the Babylonian Noah who was to build the ark, just like Noah in the bible. Achilles was a Greek superhero. Just as the superhero Superman has one thing which could destroy him, so does Achilles. Superman has Kryptonite which can destroy him but Achilles was dipped in the River Styx for protection against weapons, but he had a vulnerable spot and that was his heel which he had been held by and did not get covered. When he joined the Greeks to invade Troy, Hector was a famous Trojan superhero himself, but no match for Achilles who slew him before taking an arrow in his heel and dying. Hercules was born in Thebes, in Greece. He was the son of the god Jupiter and possessed superhuman strength. He was a true superhero, who I believe while not as big, would have been on the level with the superhero the hulk in strength. You may not agree and that is your prerogative. Actually, Hercules was even more than a superhero since he was half mortal but also half god. Hercules was faced with twelve trials. King Eurystheus had assigned them to him. One was he had to capture the vicious Nemean Lion and peel off its skin and complete various other tasks no mortal could. Spartacus was another ancient super hero. While some may be stories and we can’t be sure they even lived, there is no doubt Spartacus did. He was a gladiator who had broken free. Rome at the time had millions of slaves and they all wanted to be free and when Spartacus declared war on Rome, he would release slaves along the way and many of them would join his ranks where they were trained in battle. As Roman legions were sent against this slave army they were constantly being destroyed and their weapons confiscated. It got to the point Spartacus had found his way through Italy but he made a fatal mistake. He didn’t leave and eventually he got himself trapped and captured after the pirate ships he paid for to escape on never showed up, because they had been bribed by the Romans. It seems the ancient Greeks had more superheroes than anyone else or they were just more famous. Many of them were fictitious just as superheroes are today. Homer seems to have created some of them. Odysseus was also known as Ulysses and was also known as Odysseus the cunning. Odysseus appears in the Iliad and other tales. In the Iliad Odysseus fights in the Trojan war to bring back Helen the most beautiful woman in the world. He is part of the Achaians a loose confederation of Greek states who have agreed to get Helen and return her. He also appears in Ulysses. What is this superhero worship we humans have throughout history? When did it start and why? Just because the epic of Gilgamesh was the first story about a superhero which was written down, certainly doesn’t mean it was the first story. Someone might say it was written almost two thousand years before Homer started to write, but I would like to remind you of something. The aborigines in Australia have been there for at least 65,000 years and maybe longer. They didn’t have writing for most of that time. We know of some beings who’s existence have been passed down by them. One of them was Ankotarinja, he was known as the dreaming man and the first man. He performed different exploits during his dreaming. While they had no writing at the time, they were very good at passing down oral traditions. People like superheroes and I believe there are reasons for this. They range from putting us in their place, making us feel good, by good conquering evil no matter how powerful, and just for the action packed entertainment. Let’s face it, many of the superhero stories are exciting and take us away from our daily worries, at least for a little while. If they could, every nerd would become a superhero. As a matter of fact, there was a movie I recently saw where a nerdy guy bought a costume and tried to fight crime and would constantly get beat up. I am surprised this hasn’t happened already. I believe the human race hasn’t changed much in its fantasies over the centuries, everyone would love to become a hero. There were plenty of superheroes depicted in the early and middle ages. King Arthur and Merlin come to mind with their incredible battles with the Saxons and magical beings. Merlin’s arch enemy was Mordred who we might call another magician who was evil. Epic talks exist of these battles. No one is sure exactly who Arthur was. Many believe he was a Roman soldier in what is now England who took up its defense. Saint George the Dragon Slayer was another superhero. It is said he was a Roman soldier born in the 3rd century who was condemned to death by the emperor for not giving up his faith. Over the centuries it was said he joined the English knights in the battle of Antioch in 1098. The cult of Saint George grew up among the Crusaders. A shrine was dedicated to him where Perseus was said to have rescued Andromeda from an evil sea serpent and thus the dragon slayer was born. Joan of Arc was a female superhero for a long time, then declared a witch and burned, and later thought to be a superhero again by many. She was called the Maid of Orleans. She took a large role in the Hundred Year War during the Lancastrian phase. She was later declared a saint. The French King allowed her to ride with the army wearing armor. The battle at Orleans was one of the most important because if Orleans fell that was the end of France. She rallied the army even after being wounded and they won the day. Yes, there are plenty of superheroes in history and literature no matter how ancient.
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