3 thinkers, books, and ideas connected to this field.
The greatest Greek warrior of the Trojan War — Homer's Iliad follows his withdrawal from battle after Agamemnon dishonors him and his return after Patroclus's death — embodying the Greek heroic ideal of timē (honor) and kleos (glory) and the tragic knowledge that glory and early death go together.
Homer's epic poem about the Trojan War — following Achilles's wrath, his withdrawal from battle after Agamemnon dishonors him, his return after Patroclus is killed by Hector, and his killing of Hector — the foundational text of Western literature and the supreme expression of the Greek heroic ideal.
Mythological founder-king of Athens — who killed the Minotaur in the Labyrinth of Crete, unified Attica under Athens, and instituted democratic reforms — and whom Machiavelli cited as one of the four great armed prophets alongside Moses, Romulus, and Cyrus.