I. Name

Heros (ἥρως) is a word of uncertain etymology, perhaps related to the name Hera (Augustine, CD 10, 2; Adams 1987). It has two main semantic fields: in Greek myth and epos, a heros is a human warrior of the heroic age; in religion, he is a (real or fictitious) dead person who remained powerful also in death, and who therefore received cult. Religious theorists defined heroes as intermediate beings between man and God (ἡμίθεοι, half-gods). In the Bible Heros occurs only in the toponym ‘City of …