Extract regarding mothers’ nurture of hero-sons

The primacy of mothers in fashioning heroes and their lifelong involvement in maternal vengeance and vindication are acknowledged in the Iliad, but in sanitized ways. Agamemnon grudgingly links Achilles’ preeminence in might, divine birth, and special favor among the gods: although Achilles is very strong and his mother is a goddess, to Agamemnon he is…

Extract regarding Socrates’ fundamentally misleading presentation of self

Even so, our analysis cautions against uncritical acceptance of what by Socrates’ time had become a traditional opposition between the defiant independence of the hero and the herd mentality of the mass of men. The Achillean hero who makes a show of fearlessly speaking his mind, even if it angers powerful authorities, may be trying…