Heroes

El Cid was Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, an eleventh-century Castilian military leader whose career crossed the shifting politics of Christian and Muslim-ruled Iberia. Later legend turned him into a simple national champion, but the historical record is less tidy. El Cid in the surviving tradition Rodrigo served Sancho II of Castile and later Alfonso VI. […]

Hiawatha is a figure in Haudenosaunee oral tradition associated with the Peacemaker and the formation of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. He should not be confused with the Ojibwe-inspired character in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s nineteenth-century poem. Hiawatha in the surviving tradition In Haudenosaunee tradition, Hiawatha suffers grief and is restored by the Peacemaker through words of condolence.

Spartacus was a Thracian gladiator who led a major slave revolt against the Roman Republic from 73 to 71 BCE. He is historical, but the surviving narratives were written by elite Greek and Roman authors and leave major gaps. Spartacus in the surviving tradition Spartacus escaped a gladiator school at Capua with a small group,

Lancelot is a knight of Arthurian romance, especially prominent in French literature from the twelfth century onward. He is not part of the earliest surviving Arthur material and was developed by courtly romance writers. Lancelot in the surviving tradition Chrétien de Troyes’s Knight of the Cart makes Lancelot the rescuer and lover of Queen Guinevere.

Bhima is one of the five Pandava brothers in the Mahabharata. He is famed for appetite, physical strength, loyalty, anger, and mace fighting, but the epic also shows his vulnerability to vows, family duty, and moral compromise. Bhima in the surviving tradition Bhima is the son of Kunti and the wind god Vayu. As a

William Tell is the legendary Swiss marksman who refuses submission to an official of Habsburg rule. The story became a national symbol, but historians have not verified Tell as a documented person. William Tell in the surviving tradition In the familiar account, the bailiff Gessler places a hat on a pole and demands that passersby

Fionn mac Cumhaill, often anglicized as Finn MacCool, is the leader of the Fianna in the Fenian Cycle of Irish and Scottish Gaelic tradition. His stories combine hunting, poetry, warfare, landscape, wisdom, and comedy. Fionn mac Cumhaill in the surviving tradition Fionn is the son of Cumhall and Muirne. After Cumhall’s death he is raised

Arjuna is a leading warrior of the Mahabharata and the listener addressed by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. He belongs to the five Pandava brothers and is famed for archery, discipline, uncertainty, and a demanding relation to duty. Arjuna in the surviving tradition Arjuna is the son of Kunti and the god Indra. He studies

Sigurd is the dragon-slayer of Old Norse Völsung tradition, closely related to Siegfried in Middle High German epic. The Norse and German narratives share core material but differ in names, relationships, and plot. Sigurd in the surviving tradition In the Völsunga saga and eddic poems, Sigurd is the son of Sigmund and Hjördís. The smith

Cú Chulainn is the leading warrior of the Ulster Cycle in medieval Irish literature. He defends Ulster in the Táin Bó Cúailnge and is marked by youth, extreme battle power, loyalty, tragic choices, and a short life. Cú Chulainn in the surviving tradition Born Sétanta, he gains the name Cú Chulainn after killing the hound