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How Do The Boxing Scenes In The Iliad And The Aeneid Fit In With The Ideal Of ...

How do the boxing scenes in The Iliad and The Aeneid fit in with the ideal of the Classical Hero?
CONTENTS
Introduction
The Ideal of the Classical Hero in Ancient Greek and Roman Culture
Boxing in the Ancient World
Homer
Virgil
Plato
Conclusion
Bibliography

Introduction
Ancient Greek and Roman literature was a vital tool in the construction of the ideal of the classical hero. Augmented by the classical architecture and sculpture, classical mythology and literature made sure that the fictional role of the hero became fixed during the pre-Christian and early Christian realms of the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas. In keeping with the dominant, malecentric vision of ancient society, the hero was always a male, always athletic and always skilled in the arts of fighting and warfare. This basic cultural fact is as true of Homer as it is of Virgil. In fact, all of the great classical writers saw the edification of the literary hero as the latest in a long line of succession beginning with Achilles and continuing in a linear fashion up to the heroes created by the late Roman Republic. In this way, a certain symbiosis is detectable between Greek and Roman cultures with the Romans being seen to have adopted and adapted a great many of the Greek ideals pertaining to civilisation.
This obsession with creating the perfect fictional male hero necessarily had consequences for the reallife political and military constitution of the ancient world with classical conquerors such as the Macedonian King Alexander the Great providing the political manifestation of the classical hero as idealised in The Iliad and The Aeneid. As with Alexander, separating the myth from the fact provides the historian with the greatest challenge when reading ancient literature (Worthington, 2004).
For the purpose of perspective, the following examination into the boxing scenes of a selection of landmark ancient literary works must adopt a chronological approach, tracing the work first of Homer before necessarily turning attention towards subsequent writers, including Virgil and Plato. Each book will be analysed in individual detail so as to form a synthesis as to the depiction of the classical hero in ancient culture, although the central focus will be on, first, The Iliad and, next, The Aeneid. A conclusion will be sought that attempts to highlight both the similarities and differences of the various accounts of boxing and heroism in ancient Greek and Roman society in relation to our own. First, however, a brief overview of the idealised hero in the ancient world must be ascertained in order to establish a conceptual framework for the remainder of the discussion.
The Ideal of the Classical Hero in Ancient Greek and Roman Culture
The ideal of the classical hero emerged in the archaic period that can be traced back to the tenth century BC.


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