Heroes and heroism overview: SQA Advanced Higher Classical Studies

The Heroes and heroism section studies what it meant to be a hero in the ancient world. Four strands run through it: the heroic code, the warrior hero in epic, the tragic hero, and the questioning of heroism. This guide maps them; the module dot points take each in detail.

The heroic code

The code prized honour, glory and lasting reputation: the hero strove to excel and be seen to excel, because honour was public, and a great name was the highest reward. Its flip side was shame, the dread of falling short, which drove the hero as much as the hope of glory.

The warrior hero in epic

Epic celebrates strength, courage and prowess in the duel and on the battlefield, but the greatest epics also count the cost of war, so the strand weighs the glorification of the warrior against the grief, waste and brutality the poems insist on.

The tragic hero

Tragedy brings a great figure low through a reversal of fortune, often by their own flaw or hubris, and steers the audience to pity and fear. The central question is responsibility: how far the hero authors their own fall against fate, the gods and circumstance.

The questioning of heroism

The texts count the cost of heroism through its victims, give heroes doubts about the worth of glory, and hold up alternative heroisms against the battlefield ideal. The greatest texts keep celebration and questioning in tension.

How to use this module

Read the texts your centre taught for these four strands, drawing evidence for ancient thinking on heroism. Drill the essay and the source questions, arguing how a text presents and questions the heroic ideal and attending to the techniques that build its effect.