Hero facts for kids
A hero ([ἣρως] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)) 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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Achilles during the Trojan War, as depicted in an ancient Greek polychromatic pottery painting (dating to c. 300 BC).
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Joan of Arc is considered a medieval Christian heroine of France for her role in the Hundred Years' War, and was canonized as a Roman Catholic saint
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William Tell, a popular folk hero of Switzerland.
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Giuseppe Garibaldi is considered an Italian national hero for his role in the Italian unification, and is known as the "Hero of the Two Worlds" because of his military enterprises in South America and Europe.
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The four heroes from the 16th-century Chinese novel, Journey to the West
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Lemminkäinen and the Fiery Eagle, Robert Wilhelm Ekman, 1867
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Ivan Tsarevich, a hero of Russian folklore, by Viktor Vasnetsov (1880)
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Simo Häyhä, a Finnish military sniper during the Winter War, achieved the reputation of a pioneering war hero, despite his modest nature.
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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.
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See also
In Spanish: Héroe para niños
