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HERO (Gr. open)
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See also:HERO (Gr. open) , a See also:term specially applied to warriors of extraordinary strength and courage, and generally to all who were distinguished from their See also:fellows by See also:superior moral, See also:physical or intellectual qualities. No satisfactory derivation of the word has been suggested. See also:Ancient See also:Greek Heroes. In ancient See also:Greece, the heroes were the See also:object of a See also:special cult, and as such were intimately connected with its religious See also:life. Various theories have been put forward as to the nature of these heroes. According to some authorities, they were idealized See also:historical personages; according to others, symbolical representations of the forces of nature. The view most commonly held is that they were degraded or " depotentiated " gods, occupying a position intermediate between gods and men. According to E. Rohde (in See also:Psyche) they are souls of the dead, which after separation from the See also:body enter upon a higher, eternal existence. But it is only a select minority who attain to the See also:rank of heroes after See also:death, only the distinguished men of the past. The See also:worship of these heroes is in reality an ancestor worship, which existed in pre-Homeric times, and was preserved in See also:local cults. Instances no doubt occur of gods being degraded to the ranks of heroes, but these are not the real heroes, the heroes who are the object of a cult. The cult-heroes were all persons who had lived the life of See also:man on See also:earth, and it was necessary for the degraded gods to pass through this See also:stage. They did not at once become cult-heroes, but only after they had undergone death like other mortals. Only one who has been a man can become a hero. The heroes are See also:spirits of the dead, not demi-gods; their position is not intermediate between gods and men, but by the See also:side of these they exist as a See also:separate class. In See also:Homer the term is applied especially to See also:warrior princes, to See also:kings and kings' sons, even to distinguished persons of See also:lower rank, and See also:free men generally. In See also:Hesiod it is. chiefly See also:con-fined to those who fought before See also:Troy and See also:Thebes; in view of their supposed divine origin, he calls them demi-gods (kitOeoi ). This name is also given them in an interpolated passage in the Iliad (xii. 23), which is quite at variance with the See also:general Homeric See also:idea of the heroes, who are no more than men, even if of divine origin and of superior strength and prowess. But neither in Homer nor in Hesiod is there any trace of the idea that the heroes after death had any See also:power for See also:good or evil over the lives of those who survived them; and consequently, no cult. Nevertheless, traces of an earlier ancestor worship appear, e.g. in funeral See also:games in See also:honour of Patroclus and other heroes, while the Hesiodic See also:account of the five ages of man is a See also:reminiscence of the belief in the continued existence of souls in a higher life. This pre-historic worship and belief, for a See also:time obscured, were subsequently revived. According to See also:Porphyry (De abstinentia, iv. 22), See also:Draco ordered the inhabitants of See also:Attica to honour the gods and heroes of their See also:country "in accordance with the usage of their fathers " with offerings of first fruits and sacrificial cakes every See also:year, thereby clearly pointing to a See also:custom of high antiquity. See also:Solon also ordered that the tombs of the heroes should be treated with the greatest respect, and See also:Cleisthenes (q.v.) sought to create a See also:pan-Athenian See also:enthusiasm by calling his new tribes after See also:Attic heroes and setting up their statues in the See also:Agora. Heroic honours were at first bestowed upon the founders of a See also:colony or See also:city, and the ancestors of families; if their name was not known, one was adopted from See also:legend. In many cases these heroes were purely fictitious; such were the supposed ancestors of the See also:noble and priestly families of Attica and elsewhere (Butadae at See also:Athens, Branchidae at See also:Miletus Ceryces at See also:Eleusis), of the eponymi of the tribes and demes. Again, side by side with gods of superior rank, certain heroes were worshipped as protecting spirits of the country or See also:state; such were the Aeacidae amongst the Aeginetans, See also:Ajax son of 011eus amongst the Epizephyrian Locrians and See also:Hector at Thebes. Neglect of the worship of these heroes was held to be
responsible for pestilence, See also:bad crops and other misfortunes, while, on the other See also:hand, if duly honoured, their See also:influence was equally beneficent. This belief was supported by the Delphic See also:oracle, which was largely instrumental in promoting hero-worship and keeping alive its due observance. Special importance was attached to the See also:grave of the hero and to his bodily remains, with which the spirit of the departed was inseparably connected. The grave was regarded as his See also:place of See also:abode, from which he could only be absent for a brief See also:period; hence his bones were fetched from abroad (e.g. See also:Cimon brought those of See also:Theseus from See also:Scyros), or if they could not be procured, at least a See also:cenotaph was erected in his honour. Their See also:relics also were carefully preserved: the See also:house of See also:Cadmus at Thebes, the hut of See also:Orestes at See also:Tegea, the See also: In these shrines a See also:complete set of See also:armour was kept, in accordance with the idea that the hero was essentially a warrior, who on occasion came forth from his grave and fought at the See also:head of his countrymen, putting the enemy to See also:flight as during his lifetime. Like the gods, the cult heroes were supposed to exercise an influence on human affairs, though not to the same extent, their See also:sphere of See also:action being confined to their own localities. Amongst the earliest known historical examples of the See also:elevation of the dead to the rank of heroes are Timesius the founder of See also:Abdera, See also:Miltiades, son of Cypselus, See also:Harmodius and Aristogiton and See also:Brasidas, the See also:victor of See also:Amphipolis, who ousted the local Athenian hero Hagnon. In course of time See also:admission to the rank of a hero became far more See also:common, and was even accorded to the living, such as See also:Lysimachus in See also:Samothrace and the See also:tyrant See also:Nicias of See also:Cos. See also:Antiochus of Commagene instituted an See also:order of priests to celebrate the anniversary of his See also:birth and See also:coronation in a special See also:sanctuary, and the kings of See also:Pergamum claimed divine honours for themselves and their wives during their lifetime. The birthday of See also:Eumenes was regularly kept, and every See also:month See also:sacrifice was offered to him and games held in his honour. In addition to persons of high rank, poets, legendary and others (See also:Linus, See also:Orpheus, Homer, See also:Aeschylus and See also:Sophocles), legislators and physicians (See also:Lycurgus, See also:Hippocrates), the patrons of various trades or handicrafts (artists, cooks, bakers, potters), the heads of philosophical See also:schools (See also:Plato, See also:Democritus, See also:Epicurus) received the honours of a cult. At Teos See also:incense was offered before the statue of a See also:flute-player during his lifetime. In some countries the honour became so general that every man after death was described as a hero in his See also:epitaph—in See also:Thessaly even slaves. The cult of the heroes exhibits points of resemblance with that of the chthonian divinities and of the dead, but differs from that of the See also:ordinary gods, a further indication that they were not " depotentiated " gods. Thus, sacrifice was offered to them at See also:night or in the evening; not on a high, but on a See also:low See also:altar (olcpa), surrounded by a See also:trench to receive the See also:blood of the victim, which was supposed to make its way through the ground to the occupant of the grave; the victims were See also:black male animals, whose heads were turned downwards, not upwards; their blood was allowed to trickle on the ground to appease the departed (aluaKovpia); the body was entirely consumed by See also:fire and no mortal was allowed to eat of it; the technical expression for the sacrifice was not O'ei.v but Evaryit'euv (less commonly evrEµveuv). The chthonian aspect of the hero is further shown by his attribute the snake, and in many cases he appears under that See also:form himself. On special occasions a sacrificial See also:meal of cooked See also:food was set out for the heroes, of which they were solemnly invited to partake. The fullest description of such a festival is the account given by See also:Plutarch (See also:Aristides, 21) of the festival celebrated by the Plataeans in honour of their countrymen who had fallen at the See also:battle of See also:Plataea. On the 16th of the month Maimacterion, a See also:long See also:pro-cession, headed by a See also:trumpeter playing a warlike See also:air, set out for the graves; wagons decked with See also:myrtle and garlands of See also:flowers followed, See also:young men (who must be of free birth) carried jars of See also:wine, See also:milk, oil and perfumes; next came the black See also:bull destined for the sacrifice, the See also:rear being brought up by the See also:archon, who wore the See also:purple robe of the general, a naked See also:sword in one hand, in the other an See also:urn. When he came near the tombs, he drewsome See also:water with which he washed the gravestones, afterwards See also:anointing them with perfume; he then sacrificed the bull on the altar calling upon See also:Zeus Chthonios and See also:Hermes Psychopompos, and inviting them in See also:company with the heroes to the festival of blood. Finally, he poured a See also:libation of : wine with the words: " I drink to those who died for the freedom of the Hellenes." See especially E. Rohde, Psyche (19o5) and in Rheinisches Museum, li. (1895), 28; P. Stengel, See also:Die griechischen Kuliusaltertumer (See also:Munich, 1898), p. 124; G. F. See also:Schomann, Griechische Altertumer, ii. (1897), 159; J. Wassner, De heroum apud Graecos cultu (See also:Kiel, 1883) ; See also:article by F. Deneken in See also:Roscher's Lexikon der Mythologie, in which a large amount of material is accumulated; J. A. Hild, Etude sur See also:les demons (1881) and article in Daremberg and Saglio's Dictionnaire See also:des antiquites.
See also:Teutonic Legend.
Many of the See also:chief characteristics of the ancient Greek heroes are reproduced in those of the Teutonic See also:North, the parallel being in some cases very striking; Siegfried, for instance, like See also:Achilles, is vulnerable only in one spot, and See also:Wayland See also: See also:Henri de See also:Tourville, in his Histoire de la formation particulariste (1903), basing his See also:argument on the Ynglinga See also:Saga, interpreted in the light of " Social See also:Science," reveals See also:Odin, " the traveller," as a See also:great " See also:caravan-See also:leader " and warrior, who, driven from Asgard—a trading city on the See also:borders of the See also:steppes See also:east of the See also:Don—by " the blows that See also:Pompey aimed at Mithridates," brought to the north the arts and See also:industries of the East. The argument is See also:developed with convincing ingenuity, but it may be doubted whether it has permanently " rescued Odin from the misty dreamland of See also:mythology and restored him to See also:history." It is now, however, admitted that, whatever influence the one may have from time to time exercised on the other, Teutonic myth and Teutonic heroic legend were developed on See also:independent lines. The Teutonic heroes are, in the See also:main, historical personages, never gods; though, like the Greek heroes, they are sometimes endowed with semi-divine attributes or interpreted as symbolical representations of natural forces. The origin of Teutonic heroic saga, which may be regarded as including that of the Germans, Goths, Anglo-See also:Saxons and Scandinavians, is to be looked for in the period of the so-called See also:migration of nations (A.D. 350-650). It consequently rests upon a distinct basis of fact, the saga (in the older and wider sense of any See also:story said or sung) being indeed the See also:oldest form of historical tradition; though this of course does not exclude the See also:probability of the See also:accretion of mythical elements See also:round persons and episodes from the very first. As to the origin of the heroic sagas as we now have them, See also:Tacitus tells us that the deeds. of See also:Arminius were still celebrated in See also:song a See also:hundred years after his death (See also:Annals, ii. 88) and in the Germania he speaks of "old songs" as the only See also:kind of " annals " which the ancient Germans possessed; but, whatever relics of the old songs may be embedded in the Teutonic sagas, they have See also:left no recognizable See also:mark on the heroic See also:poetry of the See also:German peoples. The See also:attempt to identify Arminius with Siegfried is now generally abandoned. Teutonic heroic saga, properly so-called, consists of the traditions connected with the migration period, the earliest traces of which are found in the See also:works of historical writers such as See also:Ammianus See also:Marcellinus and See also:Cassiodorus. According to Jordanes (the epitomator of HERO See also:father Chilperich and of her See also:mother, by Godomar; the Rhenish-Burgundian story of the ruin of Gundahari's See also:kingdom by See also:Attila's See also:Huns. Herr Abeling identifies Siegfried (See also:Sigurd) with Segeric, while—according to him—the heroine of the Nibelung sagas, See also:Kriemhild (See also:Gudrun), represents a confusion of two historical persons: Chrothildis, the wife of See also:Clovis, and Ildico (Hilde), the wife of Attila. (See also the articles KRIEMHILD, NIBELUNGENLIED).
(6)Hugdietrich, See also:Wolfdietrich and See also:Ortnit, whose legend, like that of Siegfried, is of Frankish origin. It is preserved in four versions, the best of which is the oldest, and has an historical See also:foundation. Hugdietrich is the " Frankish Dietrich " (=See also:Hugo See also:Theodoric), See also: They are arrested and thrown into See also:prison by the king. Rother, who appears under the name of Dietrich, sets out with an See also:army, liberates the envoys and carries off the princess. One version places the scene in the See also:land of the Huns. The See also:character of Constantine in many respects resembles that of Alexius Cornnenus; the slaying of a tame See also:lion by one of the gigantic followers of Rother is founded on an incident which actually took place at the See also:court of Alexius during the crusade of 1 ror under See also:duke Well of See also:Bavaria, when King Rother was composed about 116o by a Rhenish See also:minstrel. Rother may be the Lombard king Rothari (636-65o), transferred to the period of the Crusades. (8)See also:Walther of See also:Aquitaine, chiefly known from the Latin poem Waitharius, written by Ekkehard of St See also:Gall at the beginning of the loth century, and fragments of an 8th-century Anglo-Saxon Epic Waldere. Walther is not an historical figure, although the legend undoubtedly represents typical occurrences of the migration period, such as the detention and flight of hostages of noble family from the court of the Huns, and the See also:rescue of See also:captive maidens by See also:abduction. (9)See also:Wieland (Volundr), Wayland .the Smith, the only Teutonic hero (his See also:original See also:home was lower See also:Saxony) who firmly established himself in See also:England. There is absolutely no historical background for his legend. He is a fire-spirit, who is pressed into man's service, and typifies the advance from the stone See also:age to a higher stage of See also:civilization (working in metals). As the lame smith he reminds us of Hephaestus, and in his flight with wings of See also:Daedalus escaping from See also:Minos. (Io) Hogni (See also:Hagen) and Hedin (Hetel), whose personalities are overshadowed by the heroines Hilde and Gudrun (Kudrun, Kutrun). In one version occurs the incident of the never-ending battle between the forces of Hagen and Hedin. Every night Hilde revives the fallen, and" so will it continue till the See also:twilight of the gods." The battle represents the eternal conflict between light and darkness, the See also:alternation of See also:day and night. Hilde here figures as a typical Valkyr delighting in battle and bloodshed, who frustrates a reconciliation. Hedin had sent a necklace as a See also:peace-offering to Hagen, but Hilde persuades her father that it is only a ruse. This necklace occurs in the story of the goddess Freya (See also:Frigg), who is said to have caused the battle to conciliate the wrath of Odin at her infidelity, the See also:price paid by her for the See also:possession of the necklace Brisnigamen; again, the light See also:god Heilndal is said to have fought with Loki for the necklace (the See also:sun) stolen by the latter. Hence the battle has been explained as the necklace Cassiodorus's History of the Goths) at the funeral of Attila his vassals, as they rode round the See also:corpse, sang of his glorious deeds. The next step in the development of epic narrative was the single See also:lay of an episodic character, sung by a single individual, who was frequently a member of a distinguished family, not merely a professional minstrel. Then, as different stories See also:grew up round the See also:person of a particular hero, they formed a connected See also:cycle of legend, the centre of which was the person of the hero (e.g. Dietrich of See also:Bern). The most important figures of these cycles are the following. (I) Beowulf, king of the Geatas (See also:Jutland), whose story in its See also:present form was probably brought from the See also:continent by the Angles. It is an amalgamation of the myth of Beowa, the slayer of the water-demon and the See also:dragon, with the historical legend of Beowulf, See also:nephew and successor of Hygelac (Chochilaicus), king of the Geatas, who was defeated and slain (c. 520) while ravaging the Frisian See also:coast. The water-demon Grendel and the dragon (probably), by whom Beowulf is mortally wounded, have been supposed to represent the powers of autumn and darkness, the floods which at certain seasons overflow the low-lying countries on the coast of the North See also:Sea and sweep away all human habitations; Beowulf is the hero of See also:spring and light who, after overcoming the spirit of the raging See also:waters, finally succumbs to the dragon of approaching See also:winter. Others regard him as a See also:wind-hero, who disperses the pestilential vapours' of the See also:fens. Beowulf is also a culture-hero. His father Sceaf-Scyld (i.e. Scyld Scefing," the See also:protector with the sheaf ") lands on the Anglian or Scandinavian coast when a See also:child, in a See also:rudder-less See also:ship, asleep on a sheaf of See also:grain, symbolical of the means whereby his kingdom shall become great; the son indicates the blessings of a fixed habitation, secured against the attacks of the sea. (2) See also:Hildebrand, the hero of the oldest German epic. A loyal supporter of Theodoric, he follows his See also:master, when threatened by See also:Odoacer, to the court of Attila. After See also:thirty years' See also:absence, he returns to his home in See also:Italy; his son Hadubrand, believing his father to be dead, suspects treachery and refuses to accept presents offered by the father in token of good-will. A fight takes place, in which the son is slain by the father. In a later version, recognition and reconciliation take place. Well-known See also:parallels are See also:Odysseus and Telegonis, Rustem and Sohrab. (3) Ermanaric, the king of the East Goths, who according to Ammianus Marcellinus slew himself (c. 375) in terror at the invasion of the Huns. With him is connected the old German Dioscuri myth of the Harlungen. (4)Dietrich of Bern (See also:Verona), the legendary name of Theodoric the Great. Contrary to historical tradition, Italy is supposed to have been his ancestral inheritance, of which he has been deprived by Odoacer, or by Ermanaric, who in his altered character of a typical tyrant appears as his See also:uncle and contemporary. He takes See also:refuge in See also:Hungary with Etzel (Attila), by whose aid he finally recovers his kingdom. In the later middle ages he is represented as fighting with giants, dragons and dwarfs, and finally disappears on a black See also:horse. Some attempts have been made to identify him as a kind of Donar or god of See also:thunder. (5) Siegfried (M.H. Ger. Sivrit), the hero of the Niebelungenlied, the Sigurd of the related See also:northern sagas, is usually regarded as a purely mythical figure, a hero of light who is ultimately overcome by the powers of darkness, the mist-See also:people (Niebelungen). He is, however, closely associated with historical characters and events, e.g. with the Burgundian king Gundahari (See also:Gunther, Gunnar) and the overthrow of his house and nation by the Huns; the scholars have exercised considerable ingenuity in attempting to identify him with various historical figures. Theodor Abeling (Dos Nibelungenlied, See also:Leipzig, 1907) traces the Nibelung sagas to three See also:groups of Burgundian legends, each based on fact: the Frankish-Burgundian tradition of the See also:murder of Segeric, son of the Burgundian king Sigimund, who was slain by his father at the instigation of his stepmother; the Frankish-Burgundian story, as told by See also:Gregory of See also:Tours (iii. r 1), of the defeat of the Burgundian kings Sigimund and Godomar, and the captivity and murder of Sigimund, by the sons of Clovis, at the instigation of their mother Chrothildis, in revenge for the murder of her myth in epic form. The historical background is the raids of the Teutonic maritime tribes on the coasts of England and See also:Ireland. Famous heroes who are specially connected with England are See also:Alfred the Great, See also:Richard Coeur-de-Lion, King See also:Horn, Havelok the Dane, See also:Guy of See also:Warwick, See also:Sir Bevis of See also:Hampton (or See also:Southampton), Robin Hood and his companions. See also:Celtic Heroes. The Celtic heroic saga in the See also:British islands may be divided into the two See also:principal groups of Gaelic (Irish) and Brython (Welsh), the first, excluding the purely mythological, into the Ultonian (connected with See also:Ulster) and the Ossianic. The Ultonianis grouped round the names of King Conchobar and the heroCuchulainn, " the Irish Achilles," the defender of Ulster against all Ireland, regarded by some as a See also:solar hero. The second cycle contains the epics of Finn (Fionn, Fingal) mac Cumhail, and his son Oisin (See also:Ossian), the See also:bard and warrior, chiefly known from the supposed Ossianic poems of See also:Macpherson. (See See also:CELT, sec. Celtic Literature.) Of Brython origin is the cycle of King See also:Arthur (Artus), the adopted See also:national hero of the mixed nationalities of whom the " See also:English "people was composed. Here he appears as a chiefly mythical See also:personality, who slays monsters, such as the See also:giant of St See also:Michel, the See also:boar Troit, the demon See also:cat, and goes down to the underworld. The original Welsh legend was spread by British refugees in See also:Brittany, and was thus celebrated by both English and See also:French Celts. From a See also:literary point of view, however, it is chiefly French and forms " the See also:matter of Brittany. " Arthur, the leader (comes Britanniae, See also:dux bellorunz) of the Siluri or Dumnonii against the Saxons, flourished at the beginning of the 6th century. He is first spoken of in See also:Nennius's History of the Britons (qth century), and at greater length in See also:Geoffrey of See also:Monmouth's History of the Kings of See also:Britain (12th century), at the end of which the French See also:Breton cycle attained its fullest development in the poems of Chretien de See also:Troyes and others.
Speaking generally, the Celtic heroes are differentiated from the Teutonic by the extreme exaggeration of their superhuman, or rather extra-human, qualities. Teutonic legend does not lightly exaggerate, and what to us seems incredible in it may be easily conceived as credible to those by whom and for whom the tales were told; that Sigmund and his son Sinfiotli turned them-selves into wolves would be but a sign of exceptional powers to those who believed in werewolves; See also:Fafnir assuming the form of a See also:serpent would be no more incredible to the barbarous Teuton than the similar transformation of See also:Proteus to the Greek. But in the characterization of their heroes the Celtic See also:imagination runs See also:riot, and the quality of their persons and their acts becomes exaggerated beyond the See also:bounds of any conceivable probability. Take, for instance, the description of some of Arthur's knights in the Welsh See also:tale of Kilhwch and Olwen (in the See also:Mabinogion). Along with Kai and Bedwyr (Bedivere), Peredur (See also:Perceval), Gwalchmai (See also:Gawain), and many others, we have such figures as Sgilti Yscandroed, whose way through the See also:wood lay along the tops of the trees, and whose tread was so light that no blade of grass See also:bent beneath his See also:weight; Sol, who could stand all day upon one See also:leg; Sugyn the son of Sugnedydd, who was "broad-chested" to such a degree that he could suck up the sea on which were three hundred See also:ships and leave nothing but dry land; Gweyyl, the son of Gwestad, who when he was sad would let one of his lips drop beneath his See also:waist and turn up the other like a cap over his head; and Uchtry Varyf Draws, who spread his red untrimmed See also:beard over the eight-and-See also:forty rafters of Arthur's See also: Arthur himself, who tends however to become completely overshadowed by his knights, who make his court the starting-point of their adventures. Merlin (Myrddin), the famous wizard, bard and warrior, perhaps an historical figure, first introduced by Geoffrey of Monmouth, originally called See also:Ambrose from the British leader Ambrosius See also:Aurelianus, under whom he is said to have first served. Perceval (Parzival, See also:Parsifal), the Welsh Peredur, " the seeker of the See also:basin," the most intimately connected with the quest of the See also:Grail (q.v.). See also:Tristan (Tristram), the ideal See also:lover of the middle ages, whose name is inseparably associated with that of Iseult. Lancelot, son of See also:Ban king of Brittany, a creation of chivalrous romance, who only appears in Arthurian literature under French influence, known chiefly from his amour with Guinevere, perhaps in See also:imitation of the story of Tristan and Iseult. Gawain (Welwain, Welsh Gwalchmai), Arthur's nephew, who in medieval romance remains the type of knightly courage and chivalry, until his character is degraded in order to exalt that of Lancelot. Among less important, but still conspicuous, figures may be mentioned See also:Kay (the Kai of the Mabinogion), Arthur's See also:foster-See also:brother and sensechal, the type of the See also:bluff and boastful warrior, and Bedivere (Bedwyr), the type of brave See also:knight and faithful See also:retainer, who alone is with Arthur at his passing, and afterwards becomes " a See also:hermit and a See also:holy man." (See ARTHUR, MERLIN, PERCEVAL, TRISTAN, LANCELOT, GAWAIN.)
Heroes of Romance.
Another See also:series of heroes, forming the central figures of stories variously derived but developed in See also:Europe by the Latin-speaking peoples, may be conveniently grouped under the heading of " romance." Of these the most important are See also: Just as Arthur was eclipsed by his companions, so Charlemagne's See also:vassal nobles, except in the Chanson de See also:Roland, are exalted at the expense of the See also:emperor, probably the result of the changed relations between the later emperors and their barons. The character of Charlemagne himself undergoes a See also:change; in the Chanson de Roland he is a See also:venerable figure, mild and dignified, while later he appears as a cruel and typical tyrant (as is also the See also:case with Ermanaric). The basis of his legend is mainly historical, although the story of his journey to Constantinople and the East is mythical, and incidents have been transferred. from the reign of See also: It is not known whether he was an historical personage; many of the achievements attributed to him border on the miraculous. A much-discussed See also:work is the Tale of Igor, the oldest of the See also:Russian medieval epics. Igor was the leader of a See also:raid against the heathen Polovtsi in 1185; at first successful, he was afterwards defeated and taken prisoner, but finally managed to See also:escape. Although the Finns are not Slays, on topographical grounds mention may here be made of Wainamoinen, the great magician and hero of the Finnish epic Kalevala (" land of heroes "). The popular hero of the Servians and Bulgarians is Marko Kralyevich (q.v.), son of Vukashin, characterized by See also:Goethe as a counterpart of the Greek Heracles and the See also:Persian Rustem. For the Persian, See also:Indian, &c., heroes see the articles on the literature and religions of the various countries. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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