Heroes in Ancient Rome and 21st Century America

Heroism in Ancient Rome and Modern America

            In Disney’s The Incredibles, Mr. Incredible turns from his car to see a young boy on a tricycle staring. “What are you waiting for?” he asks, to which the boy responds, “I don’t know…something amazing, I guess” (Bird, et. al.). Heroes in Western culture represent the amazing and unattainable at every turn. They` lift buses and trains, they survive explosions and burning buildings, and they lead entire nations to safety. Though heroes have continually represented the good ideals for great men and women in society, differing collective ideals and interests in cultures lead to sometimes very different representations of the heroes of the time. Analyzing the differences between heroes in different cultures can help us to understand the values of those cultures.

            In the cultures of Ancient Rome and 21^st Century America, Roman heroes like Aeneas are patriotic and stoic in the face of moral dilemmas and lead entire nations to safety through their courage and exceptional feats. In contrast, modern American heroes like Batman and Iron Man, though still fighting for the public good, do not always choose the good of the many when faced with moral dilemmas, and they often fight for the public good as renegade vigilantes instead of as public figures. These differences in each culture’s heroes reveal a Roman focus on prioritization of the good of the many and trust in public leadership while they reveal a modern American focus on individualism and distrust of political power and authority.

            One defining characteristic of Roman heroes is their prioritization of their nation’s welfare above all else. In Vergil’s Aeneid, Rome’s foremost example of a hero, Aeneas, confronts a moral dilemma during his time in Carthage in that he and Carthage’s Dido fall in love. Dido falls in love to the point where she considers the relationship nearly a marriage, and Aeneas likewise feels some level of commitment to Dido. Nevertheless, when Jupiter tells Aeneas in a dream that he must leave Carthage to make the then Trojans great in their destined new home of Italy, Aeneas does not hesitate in breaking off his relationship with Dido for the good of the Romans, saying, “If the Fates would allow me to lead my own life/ And to order my priorities as I see fit,/ The welfare of Troy would be my first concern, . . .” (Vergil 4.388-390).  Even when presented with the choice between his love for Dido and his love for his country, Aeneas chooses his country. The heroic story of Horatius Cocles likewise gives an example of a Roman man that became a hero through his sacrificing himself to save his country. To save the Roman army, he “shouted to them to break down the bridge by sword or fire, or by whatever means they could, he would meet the enemies' attack so far as one man could keep them at bay” (Livy). Cocles sacrifices himself willingly even when he knows he will die for the good of his people. Both heroes point to the Roman ideal of prioritizing the nation above the self.

(Spoiler Alert: Skip this paragraph if you have not seen the end of The Dark Knight)

            In contrast, heroes in 21^st Century America often have internal conflicts where their society’s welfare is not necessarily their highest priority. In the example of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, the hero of the movie, Batman, is presented with a choice toward the end of the movie of either saving a woman he loves or one of the only good political leaders in the city. Batman saves the political leader, but the audience receives a surprise when Batman reveals later that he had been tricked and that he had intended to save the woman and not the political leader. Batman’s prioritization of his personal relationship over the leader is a major difference from Roman ideals. Other modern heroes like Iron Man and Ant-Man also downplay the importance of societal welfare by focusing on the internal conflict for the heroes between pursuing the societal welfare and their own personal goals of wealth and fame. Though ultimately many modern heroes do choose the good of society, they struggle to make that choice and often choose to pursue their own personal goal first.

            A second defining characteristic of Roman heroes is their leadership ability. In the Aeneid, Aeneas leads the entire remainder of the Trojan nation from country to country seeking a new home. Each time Aeneas makes a decision, his people follow him into journeys and battles and any other endeavor he decides to pursue. He describes himself as “Aeneas, duty-bound, and known/ Above high air of heaven by my fame,/ Carrying with me in my ships our gods/ Of hearth and home, saved from the enemy” (Vergil 1.519-522). He is never questioned by his subordinates, and he conquers whole nations with his own at his side. For example, when Aeneas fights against the Latins at the end of the Aeneid, his people fight together against the Latin nation, and only the idle and weak fall behind and are beaten by Turnus. Aeneas gives speeches as well that persuade and convince his people to follow him and fight well. As Vergil writes of Aeneas and his descendents in the Aeneid, “Your mission, Roman, is to rule the world./ These will be your arts: to establish peace,/ To spare the humbled, and to conquer the proud” (6.1016-1018). The focus on Aeneas’ political clout and his authority as a leader of the Trojans in the Aeneid points to another Roman ideal of having a nation led by the most influential and powerful with the others following without question.

            Though Roman heroes are defined by their power as public figures, American heroes act more as renegade vigilantes fighting for the good of society from the shadows. Heroes like Batman, Spider-Man, and Ant-Man remain anonymous to keep their personal lives safe. “Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man” portrays himself as the local enforcer of good behavior where no one else is able with his uncle’s advice, “With great power comes great responsibility” (Ziskin). In contrast with Roman heroes, Spider-Man works alone to keep social peace in the large New York City with its many criminals lurking in the shadows. Bat-Man even more explicitly acts as a peacekeeper where society has failed in his fictional Gotham city as "a silent guardian, a watchful protector, the dark knight.” These heroes act as individuals to protect the general welfare where the governments of their societies have failed. Even modern American superheroes like Super-Man and Captain America that do have political power in their societies are put at odds with their governments because of corruption or other factors that create a conflict between what is considered legal and what is considered right or good. This focus on each individuals’ pursuit of goodness reveals American distrust in authority and a focus on individual responsibility.

           Analyzing the differences between heroes like Aeneas and Horatius Cocles in Roman culture and ones like Spider-Man, Bat-Man, and Iron Man in modern American culture point to the prioritization of political solidarity and a prioritization of the public good in Roman culture and to a focus on individual responsibility and distrust in authority in modern American culture.Both Roman and 21st Century American cultures use heroes as examples of the good and the admirable from the perspective of each society. The differences between the heroes in each society help us to understand the larger picture of what was and is important in the different society. These differences fit with the political and social contexts of their respective societies as Roman society was a highly controlled society especially under Augustus while American culture is relatively free and individualistic. In both cases, though, we can see that heroes clearly play an important role in communicating values.

Works Cited

Bird, Brad, Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson, Jason Lee, Spencer Fox, Andrew Jimenez, Patrick Lin, Janet Lucroy, and Michael Giacchino. The Incredibles. United States: Walt Disney Home Entertainment, 2005.

Livy. Titus Livy, History of Rome from its Foundation (D. Spillane trans., 1906-1908).

Metaphysics, by Aristotle and Laura Maria Castelli, Clarendon Press, 2018.

Nolan, Christopher, Charles Roven, Emma Thomas, David S. Goyer, Jonathan Nolan, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, James N. Howard, Hans Zimmer, and Bob Kane. The Dark Knight. Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 2008.

The Essential Aeneid, by Virgil and Stanley Lombardo, Hackett Pub. Co., 2006, p. 131.

Ziskin, Laura, Ian Bryce, David Koepp, Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire, Willem Dafoe, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Cliff Robertson, Rosemary Harris, J K. Simmons, Don Burgess, Bob Murawski, Arthur Coburn, Danny Elfman, James Acheson, Neil Spisak, John Dykstra, Stan Lee, and Steve Ditko. Spider-man. , 2002.

Suicide Analysis

Analyzing Suicide in Classical Greek Tragedy and in 21^st Century America

Figure 1 - Suicide statistics from American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (About Suicide)

            Commenting on the topic of suicide, American novelist Tiffanie DeBartolo once asked, “Did you really want to die? No one commits suicide because they want to die. Then why do they do it? Because they want to stop the pain” (qtd. in Gopal). Though there are many reasons that individuals choose to commit suicide, many do follow patterns that are related to the values and priorities of their cultures. As the tenth leading cause of death in the United States today and as a major part of Greek literature and theater, suicide has had a major impact on both cultures (About Suicide). Statistics on modern suicides and analysis of suicides in major Classical works of literature and theater like the ones we have read this semester reveal that the cultures have many commonalities when it comes to suicide, but they also have important differences. Modern suicides contrast with suicides in Greek arts in that they often involve mental health issues and issues of social ostracization while the suicides in Greek arts focus more on an individual’s regret for mistakes, but the reasons for which individuals in both cultures commit suicide are similar because they both often involve feelings of failure to meet the unrealistically high expectations of the individual’s society and self.

"Mental health disorders affect nearly
one in five U.S. adults..."

           Thanks to increased awareness in recent years, a large body of research exists to help point to common reasons, such as mental health issues and social ostracization, for which individuals commit suicide in modern American culture. Mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder can lead to a lack of effective coping mechanisms for meeting life’s stressors and to an increased risk for committing suicide (About Suicide). Mental health disorders affect nearly one in five U.S. adults, but because they are still often seen as embarrassing and taboo in popular culture, millions of people suffer quietly and alone (“Mental Illness”). Many even reach a point where they choose to commit suicide (“Mental Illness”). As another example, prolonged stress due to social ostracization is a second leading risk factor in modern suicides (About Suicide). For example, one factor connected to social ostracization and suicide especially in Utah is sexual orientation (Hatch). In Utah’s socially conservative religious culture, many LGBTQ individuals experience identity crises or even interpersonal hostility. Social ostracization related to things like sexual orientation can cause stress in an individual’s life that can lead to suicide unless managed effectively (Hatch).

The modern focus on mental health issues and social ostracization as reasons for committing suicide reflect on American values of scientific understanding and social equality. As a product of Renaissance science and logic, American culture values scientific understanding much more than Greek culture, which helps explain a much greater focus on mental health in our culture. Increase social equality since the time of the Greeks has led to a larger focus on social ostracization as a source of stress that can lead to suicide. Both factors were likely also present in Greek culture, but modern American culture, through science as well as social progress, has put more of a focus on understanding these reasons for committing suicide.

In contrast with modern American culture, Greek tragedy focuses especially on regret’s role as a reason for committing suicide, which reflects Classical Greek views about fate. In the case of Oedipus’ wife Jocasta’s suicide in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, the chorus talks about fate, saying, “All-seeing time discovered you unwilling, it judged long ago your marriage that is no marriage” (Oedipus Rex 1245-1246). Jocasta recognizes her mistake at a time that feels too late, and in her passionate displeasure, she chooses to commit suicide. In Sophocles’ Women of Trachis, Deianera chooses to commit suicide for similar reasons after she unknowingly poisons her husband Heracles. Out of regret and a feeling of failure and loss, she chooses to commit suicide. Both women had been prophesied to make the mistakes they made, and as a result, they were victims of fate. This focus on regret for mistakes as a reason for suicide reflects on tragedy’s goal of persuading the audience to avoid the same mistakes, but it also reveals the Greek idea that fate could not be changed by an individual’s will; instead, individuals were to merely react.

The Suicide of Ajax by Exekias

Despite the differences between reasons for suicide in modern American and in Classical Greece, the two cultures share at least one common reason for committing suicide, which is a failure to meet personal and societal expectations. One manifestation of this in modern American culture is when middle-aged men feel they are not properly providing for their families. In fact, middle-aged men account for 40 percent of American suicides, and this can be attributed in large part to cultural expectations that these men be the “breadwinners” for their families (“Preventing Suicide” 5-8). In these and in other cases of suicide in the United States, feelings of inadequacy and failure to meet perceived expectations are a common reason for which individuals commit suicide. Similarly, Greek tragedy involves many examples of individuals who commit suicide after failing to meet expectations. Before his suicide, Ajax talks about the high expectations of men when he talks to his son, saying, “when you do grow up, you’ll have to demonstrate to your enemies just what sort of a man you are” (Ajax). Ajax, who is known for his strength and prowess in battle, has just lost to Odysseus in a competition of strength and prowess in battle, which leaves Ajax a failure who cannot even win a competition in his specialty and leads him to commit suicide in response. In Women of Trachis, Deianera’s suicide can be considered the product of failing to meet expectations in addition to being the result of regret. Deianera represents the best of women, but when she unintentionally kills her own husband, she falls short of that ideal. In addition, Deianera’s son Hyllus curses and rejects her as not worthy of the name of mother, saying, “How could she gain the grand name of mother, she who’s so unworthy of it? She does nothing to match that word. Mother!” (Women of Trachis). This failure leaves Deianera in ruins, and she then chooses to commit suicide.

The Greatest Showman: An example
of modern American idealized media

The shared emphasis on failure to meet perceived expectations as a reason for individuals to commit suicide reflects on the values of both modern American culture and Classical Greek culture in important ways. It shows that both cultures value the pursuit of perfection and greatness highly. Classical Greek culture consistently showed idealized versions of human life and mathematical perfection of form in works like Ictinus and Callicrates’ Parthenon and like Polykleitos’ “Spear-Bearer”, and modern American culture similarly shows idealized versions of family life, strength, leadership, success, and beauty in its artwork as in movies like The Blind Side or The Greatest Showman. Though Classical works focused on perfection in a more abstract sense and American works focus more on concrete examples of supposed excellence and leave out compromising details, both communicate ideals that are difficult to achieve. As these ideals are impossible to achieve, individuals in both societies inevitably fail to meet these expectations. Failure or even perceived failure can lead to disastrous results like suicide.

Through the similarities and differences in the reasons for which individuals commit suicide in modern American culture and in Classical Greek culture, we can recognize important cultural beliefs including American culture’s focus on scientific understanding and social equality, Greek culture’s focus on fate’s unchangeable path, and the two cultures’ shared focus on the pursuit of perfection. Understanding these factors especially in our own modern culture can hopefully help us to reach out to those who may feel that they are not meeting expectations, those that are struggling with mental illness, or those who are otherwise at risk for committing suicide. Suicide is unfortunate in all cases, and we should work to understand it better in order to better help prevent it.

Works Cited

About Suicide. American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 2018, www. afsp.org/about-suicide/. Accessed 1 October 2018.

Gopal, Leo. “Suicide, I tried it.” Medium, 15 March 2017, www.medium.com/invisible-illness/suicide-i-tried-it-help-me-help-others-3a1550cecb9e. Accessed 1 October 2018.

Hatch, Heidi. “Is Utah's youth suicide rate linked to Utah's culture surrounding LGBT?” KUTV, 6 July 2016, kutv.com/news/local/is-utahs-youth-suicide-rate-linked-to-utahs-culture-surrounding-lgbt. Accessed 1 October 2018.

“Mental Illness.” National Institute of Mental Health, November 2017, www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness.shtml. Accessed 1 October 2018.

“Preventing Suicide among Men in the Middle Years: Recommendations for Suicide Prevention Programs.” Suicide Prevention Resource Center, Waltham, MA: Education Development Center, Inc., 2016, http://www.sprc.org/sites/default/files/resource-program/SPRC_MiMYReportFinal_0.pdf. Accessed 2 October 2018.

Sophocles. Ajax. Translated by George Theodoridis, 2009, www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Greek/Ajax.php. Accessed 2 October 2018.

Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. Translated by J.E. Thomas, Clayton, Delaware, Prestwick House, 2005.

Sophocles. Women of Trachis. Translated by George Theodoridis, 2007, bacchicstage.wordpress.com/sophocles/women-of-trachis-aka-trachiniae/. Accessed 2 October 2018.

Epithet Intro

Logical Thinker

     I have enjoyed puzzles and logic since I was young, and I continue to enjoy problem-solving and puzzles to this day. I will be starting the Information Systems program's Junior Core this year, and I look forward to challenging myself with new and interesting problems in my major.

Newlywed Husband

     This summer I married my lovely wife Anna, and I look forward to a lifetime of experiences and adventures with her. We are excited to both be studying at BYU for the next few years before we both graduate. 

Recreational Reader

     I love reading novels in my free time. I enjoy thought-provoking books like The Good Earth  by Pearl S. Buck and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. It can be difficult to find time to read for fun during the school year, but I do my best to find the time to relax and enjoy a good book.

 Montana Mountain Man  

     I grew up in Montana, and I have loved the outdoors for as long as I can remember. I especially enjoy mountain biking, camping, backpacking, fishing and cross country skiing. As often as I can, I try to make trips to explore and have adventures with Anna.