Cleomedes Five Traits Of A Greek Hero

1) Yes, I believe Cleomedes’ actions map onto Maurizio’s “Five traits of Greek Heroes”. Maurizio’s first trait was that “a hero was understood to be a man who died.” (436) in Cleomedes’ case this maps onto the five traits because in the passage Cleomedes dies. Furthermore, his death is shrouded in mystery because no one knows how he died. The passage mentions “they broke open the boards of the chest, but found no Cleomedes” this incident adds ambiguity to his death. This ambiguity corresponds with another trait, mentioned by Maurizio, which states that “Heros die prematurely, violently or mysteriously.” (437) The third trait is that “Heroes perform extraordinary deeds that may or may not be moral” (436) Cleomedes illustrates this trait in

Firstly, there are numerous characteristics that they share, like losing their sanity. Losing their sanity plays a pivotal role in the stories of both these heroes. Maurizio mentions that Heracles “driving Heracles mad, Hera causes him to kill his wife, Megara, and their two sons” (442) this shows the enormous impact Heracles’ insanity has on his myth. This is very similar to Cleomedes story because in the story, “he became mad through grief …..he pulled down the pillar.. This fell upon the children”. The death of numerous kids by Cleomedes defines how his myth turns out. However, Heracles in his story is driven insane by Hera while Cleomedes is driven insane because of his grief and not because of a god. Furthermore, another thing common between these two heroes was that both of these characters try to repent for the crimes they committed. Heracles “performs various deeds as punishment” (Maurizio, 442) for his actions while Cleomedes hides in the chest to absolve himself from the crimes he committed. The wanting to absolve themselves from crimes they committed separates them from many Greek heroes. Although, there are many similarities between these 2 characters there is one stark difference between them. Upon Heracles’ death Maurizio mentions that “Heracles is allowed to enter Olympus” (444) on the other hand Cleomedes wasn’t “either alive or dead,” he simply disappears. This might have happened because Heracles’ plight was caused by Hera, an Olympian, and so it was fair to allow Heracles to enter Olympus. On the contrary Cleomedes’ problems originated from his grief and not due to god and so, like most of the Greek heroes, he probably died and went to the