The "excellence" (aretē) of protagonists of epic verse, like Homer and Hesiod, and the lyric of "polis poets" like Pindar and Simonides; human freedom; and the quest for immortality. ("Hero" in the sense used here is neither quite ours, nor the Ancient Greek sense of the word: for the Greek usage of herōs, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_h....