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Before the advent of the printing press when the written word was accessible to a small minority of literate individuals - most of whom were cossetted away from the world as devoted members of various religious orders - stories were passed down by oral traditions such as ballads or poetry. Ballads and epic poems such as "Beowulf", Vergil's "Aeneid" and Homer's "Odyssey" were long and people were dedicated to the craft of storytelling. Charged with the responsibility of not just telling the stories but of passing the story on to an apprentice and ensuring that the tale remained true to the original form, those people would earn their livelihood from going around telling stories to paying audiences.

Anyone who has played the 'Telephone Game' knows how distorted the spoken word can become when relayed from one to another to another. This may account for why so many variations of the one tale came to be. It may also account for why heroes of a pedestrian nature progressively mutated through an act of apotheosis, into a godlike or divine nature.

Such acts of deification through reputation or storytelling that fostered a cult of personality, were particularly popular goals of ancient rulers from many different cultures. Examples of apotheosis from Antiquity include Homer (who was deified posthumously by Ptolemy IV Philopator - a Pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt), Alexander the Great (who was deified during his life) and a number of Roman Emperors who were attributed with divine status by their successors for political purposes. In the case of Roman Emperors, the honour of deification was often extended to loved ones such as Empresses or lovers and undoubtedly, in the hope of being the next in line for a similar privilege. Those who had been deified had the prefix Divus (or Diva if a female) added to their name posthumously. In ancient China - and across the region from Indonesia to Thailand - rulers were attributed a heavenly status, as had also been the case for Pharaohs in Ancient Egypt. However, the exploitation of the Hero archetype as a means of exerting power and control over others is surely a 'shadow' expression of this energy.

Certainly stories transform and mutate with each telling, however, the Hero archetype describes a pattern of behaviours, 'an instinctive trend', which suggests that no matter what the details are, a story of a Hero is effectively the one story. That concept is support by such commentators as Joseph Campbell, an American mythologist, who wrote extensively on the matter, including in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. In that text Campbell explores the archetype of the Hero in its myriad of representations which transcend human history and tribal borders.

Campbell describes a three-phase process elemental to the Hero's 'Journey'. The first phase is 'Separation' whereby the Hero awakens from the drudgery and despair of their lives to a 'Call to Adventure'. The next phase is 'Initiation', during which time the Hero encounters a series of tests known as 'The Road of Trials'. The final phase is the 'Return' when the Hero has finished his quest and returns to his home with his new-found knowledge of adventure to share with others, although sometimes the Hero decides that his home will not be able to comprehend his knowledge and so he decides to take refuge in his newfound world free from the burdens of mundane life.

This describes the common elements of the Hero's 'Journey' but what of the changing face of the Hero?

In times of antiquity, the Hero was epitomized as the strong, brave, and clever man, usually a knight or warrior. 'Hero' was definitely the domain of man which was in keeping with the cultural trend towards holding a greater reverence and regard for men than women, who only up until recent times were still classed as being goods and chattels. Additionally, a child might be a hero but only if he is a boy and an especially clever one such as Jack from 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. However, modern history storytelling shows a socially evolving concept of Hero.

A brief analysis of the portrayal of Heroes within popular movies of the West describes an interesting cultural shift towards a broader scope or inclusion within the Hero profile. Although each era is not discreet, the last six decades reveal a dramatically evolving trend as to who can be a Hero:


in the 1940s he was a war Hero, typically of the higher military rank such as officer or captain;

in the 1950s the Hero was an underdog of war either still at the frontline or a social misfit unable to adjust to the social changes that took place (including women entering the workforce during his absence at war);

in the 1960s, with the dust of war settling, the Hero was exemplified by the lethal secret agent who moved seamlessly through the upper social class in order to foil super villain plots to destroy the world, such as James Bond;

in the 1970s the Hero merged into the super cool street smart and righteous operator on the fringe such as Shaft or Dirty Harry - this was also the start of the tough female hero such as Ripley in Alien although it should be noted that women were still typically 'spraining their ankles' for a few decades yet;

in the 1980s Heroes emerged from nerdy guys who were sweet and sensitive to the needs of women - think Dead Poet's Society or Back to the Future;

in the 1990s the Hero had nominal social power but spoke with a social conscience aimed at rising up against the injustices of the dominant paradigm, such as the whistle-blower in The Insider or Sister Helen in Dead Man Walking; and

the 2000s saw a great re-emergence of the Superhero (no doubt facilitated by advances in CGI in the moviemaking industry), who was typically someone who was so great that he or she had to hide his or her special talents from the world with an alter identity, such as X-Men, Iron Man, Fantastic Four and Elektra - that alter ego trend is mirrored in real life by the fantasy personas that more and more people are taking up with their virtual reality lives facilitated by the internet and super-graphic computer games.

The culminative effect of this evolution is the possibility that almost anyone can be a Hero including the most unlikely of individuals: the girl-child as portrayed in movies such as Hit-Girl in Kick Ass; or, 'Hanna' in the movie Hanna. If we look into the future, as illustrated by modern movies, we see a post-apocalyptic wasteland populated by zombies and bands of marauding villains so maybe we all are being groomed to be Heroes for hard times to come.

Campbell's concept of the Hero's Journey creates a framework of transformation which defines the making of the hero - separation, initiation and return - and this lends a stable element to the concept.

In archetypal terms, the journey can be a literal journey like Jesus entering into the wilderness for forty days to return to the people to share the wisdom of his experience, Orpheus' descent and return from Hades whilst endeavouring to save Eurydice or Dante's fantasised travels through the Circles of Hell and Purgatory before being delivered to Paradise in his search for Beatrice.

The journey may also be figurative, like the descent into madness to reclaim one's sanity, as is told in the tale of Don Quixote (albeit that in this case, the return to sanity for Don Quixote was fleeting).

There remains, however, a disparity between what we commonly hold in our mind as being Heroic and it is still based upon stereotypes with masculine standards.

When a woman is portrayed in the popular media as being a Hero it is because she has taken on the traits of a man by acting in a clever and aggressive manner.Womanly pursuits such as motherhood are not typically afforded the Hero label despite quite clearly fitting in with the profile as outlined by Campbell's Hero's Journey.

Nevertheless, despite this archaic machismo hangover, people are opening up to more expansive views. Edgar Watson Howe writes, "A boy doesn't have to go to war to be a hero; he can say he doesn't like pie when he sees there isn't enough to go around".

We all can be Heroic in simple ways in our everyday lives but perhaps we continue to hold the concept of Hero on a pedestal as an excuse to say that acting Heroically is a rare event beyond the means of mere mortals, that is, it is too hard - or perhaps we are just too modest.

Interestingly, while the majority of the Western World still castigates feminine aspects of Heroism, Germany has a long history of the female Hero, although she's not exactly feminine by popular standards. 'Sigurd and Gudrun', and 'Siegfried and Kriemhild' are both early medieval epic poems describing legendary tales of the Pre-Christian Norse and Germanic oral tradition wherein the female hero, Gudrun (in the Norse tradition) - who becomes Kriemhild,in the German tradition - avenges the death of her husband through a bloody rampage and clever subterfuge. This may explain in part the cultural differences between Germany and the rest of the Western World with respect to feminine norms and archetypes.

To view the splendid illustrations depicting classic fairy tales, myths and legends from great artists of the Golden Age of Illustration, visit the Golden Age of Illustration Collection - an online display showing more than 5000 illustrations held by the 'Spirit of the Ages' Museum.

Rosemary is one of a number of contributors to the 'Spirit of the Ages' Museum project - a collection of antique art and artifacts. The online presentation for the Museum is focused on displaying artwork from the Medieval period and the Renaissance, in addition to illustrations from artists associated with what has been termed the Golden Age of Illustration. Various learning and research resources are incorporated into the Collection and future developments will include the cataloging of additional art and artifacts. Online sales of Fine Art Posters, Reproductions and Greeting and Note Cards provide important financial support for the project.