Many Greek heroes were the mongrel offspring of humans, minor deities, demigods, and even full Olympians. Some were born to prophetic curses that caused them to be outcast and raised by foster parents or even foster animals. A great many others would find their divine lineage a curse. Their heroism, perhaps, derived from their ability to bring their mix of the human and the divine to bear against the grinding pressures of fate. Well of course it did. That’s where all heroism comes from. I use the word “hero” shorn of gender. Hero was a reasonably common female first name in the ancient
...more
