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.