1. Most Americans will probably agree that one of our most powerful contemporary images of heroism would be ordinary firemen and policemen selflessly ascending the burning twin towers on 9/11, or perhaps an image of our valiant volunteer service members hunting down Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Seal Team 6 taking out Osama bin Laden in his hideout in Pakistan, or battling Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan, or our Special Operations Forces going after ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Or even ordinary folks helping (and saving) one another during the horrible October massacre across from Mandalay Bay last year. How do these images or your own personal notion of heroism compare with the various “ancient” heroes we’ve encountered so far in our readings? Use at least three of the ancient heroes and details from their stories to illustrate your answer (Gilgamesh, Odysseus, Oedipus, etc.)

2. Greek tragedy developed, in part, as a way for the increasingly sophisticated Athenian (Greeks) to explain to their own satisfaction how it was that “bad things happen to good people.” Aristotle, the 5th century BC Greek philosopher wrote a famous “definition” of tragedy that claimed Oedipus was the “perfect” tragic hero. Explain how it is that Oedipus’s problems with fate and the gods can be seen as essentially his own “fault” or responsibility – since he didn’t know that he killed his own father or married and had children with his own mother. How does the play establish Oedipus’s own responsibility for his fate?