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Hero facts for kids
A hero (Greek: ἣρως) in Greek mythology is a half-god/half-human being. Herakles, for example, was the son of the god Zeus and the mortal woman Alkmene. Heroes performed extraordinary feats and were worshipped in hero cults.
In the modern world, hero has lost its ancient meaning. It now means someone who is courageous ("The firefighter who saved my baby is a hero."). Heroes are "heroic", they have "heroism". They help in saving people or a society from bad people, villains, or natural disasters. A hero can also be someone who is helpful, polite, or helping people who need it. The word is used in the sports world to mean an extraordinary player or athlete ("football hero", "Olympic hero", etc.). The female equivalent of the male hero is the "heroine".
Sometimes, the protagonist (or main character) of a story is called the "hero" of the work (a book/movie/etc.).
Images for kids
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Joan of Arc is considered a heroine of France for her role in the Hundred Years' War, and was canonized as a Roman Catholic saint
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The four heroes from the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West
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Ivan Tsarevich, a hero of Russian folklore.
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Bust of Nelson Mandela erected on London's South Bank by the Greater London Council administration of Ken Livingstone in 1985
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The Swedish Diplomat Raoul Wallenberg saved the lives of tens of thousands of Jews in Budapest during World War II.