Most individuals have a conceived concept of the ideals in which one highly values or desires to acquire. These ideals generally make up the mannerisms of a person one considers a true champion, whom can be existent or imaginary. This relatively immaculate code of ethics is also accompanied by achievements one finds admirable. This person is usually goes through a series of tests or hardships that prove their importance. This is what one considers a hero. Giving the term hero such a definition, one's idea of a hero may completely differ with another's concept of such a person worthy of praise.
In today's eclectic society, everybody's heroes are different. One's hero may be a character in an action movie, surviving against all odds to finally get the bad-guy in the end. It may be a character with superhuman strength with no concern of death like the hero in the epic Beowulf. Others may desire more intellectual heroes such as the Wright Brothers, devoting years of effort to create a machine to make man fly, or Thomas Jefferson, risking his life by writing the Declaration of Independence. Some may call one with great moral value a hero such as Mother Teresa, Pope John Paul II, or even Jesus Christ who suffered and died so we humanity could enter the Kingdom of God.
During the era of Homer's, The Odyssey, the majority of the population in ancient Greece had the same basic ideas of the qualities a hero should have.
The Greeks valued a warrior with great physical strength as well as shrewdness. The emphasis on strength was based on the fact that battles were frequent from city-state to other city-states. A hero for those times would need to have a strategic way of thinking and wisdom to aid in achieving the numerous tasks placed before him. Heroes should also be eloquent in their manner of speaking, for it was a tool necessary so others could easily be convinced by the hero's speech. All the values necessary for a he...