Introduction
A savior is someone who saves something or someone from danger. From the ancient times, human beings pursued to utilize stories to describe the world they live in. man in ancient times used stories of gods and monstrous villains to do the same. The myth of heroes and savior still exists in modern times in form of comic books and modern mythology. The myths are man’s way of describing the events around them through the unexplainable. At the heart of the mysteries of a savior were myths regarding a dying and resurrecting god. The Egypt the myth of a savior revolved around a godman called Osiris, In Greece, Dionysus and Theseus. Examples of major modern heroes include Wonder Woman, The Silver Surfer, The Hulk, Batman, and Superman. The idea of a hero has pervaded human culture, author Joseph Campbell believes it is an oedipal story about some archetypal character. The mythical heroes and saviors tackle nature of good and evil, anti-hero, savior and main cultural, philosophical and narrative concepts of man’s inner struggle.
Theseus as savior
Theseus is featured as a savior for the Athenians. The myth of Theseus describes how Theseus rescued the Athenians by ending the reign of the Minotaur in the Labyrinth and consequently fleeing from the monster’s pernicious maze. Theseus the hero became the inceptor of the well-known Athenian ritual when he celebrated his salvation and other young Athenians he saved (Thury & Devinney 2016). The festivity was conducted by making a sea journey to the island of Delos, where Theseus replayed his victory at the labyrinth by singing and dancing a chorus with the young Athenians he saved as a leader. The replay in myth is pursued in notion by the well-known Athenian ritual of dispatching the state ship to sail from the town Delos on theoria or sacred voyage. The ritual is viewed as occasional recurrence of attainment of a mysterious internal vision of salvation or death (Nagy 2018). Plato Socrates transformed the ritualized idea of the sacred voyage (theoria) as a replay of redemption of the Athenian States into the analytical perception of t heoria to be comprehended as sacred voyage and philosophical theorizing that will go on in prison where Socrates was waiting for execution (Fitch 2016). The period of the ritual theoria as dialogues focusing on perpetuity of the active word, that is always replayed when the engaging in a dialogue.
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The sacred voyage ( theoria) was correlated to the myth revealed about the rescue of the hero Theseus (Yar 2016). The idea of analytical thought is related with the ritual of t heoria and the myth of salvation. Plato Socrates actually believes that the myth is worthy of salvation. In insinuating so, Socrates is establishing the use of the word s ozein meaning save (Nagy 2018). Theseus is therefore regarded as a savior of the Athenians since he killed the Minotaur and ended his dominance in the land. Like many other mythical heroes, he overcame challenges; for instance, his step mother Madea tried to poison him since she felt that he threatened her power. Some scholars however argue that Theseus was a selfish hero; that is evidenced by the fact that he led Minos’s daughter Ariadne to believe that he loved her so that she could help kill the Minotaur and escape by giving him a ball of yarn. He later abandoned her on the island of Naxos as he travelled back to Athens.
Achilles as Savior
In the case of the myth of Achilles, he is considered as a saved hero and a savior hero. The god Dionysus is involved in the immortalization of Achilles as a hero and savior. The clear symbol is a golden amphora granted by a god to Thetis the mother of Achilles that holds the bones of a hero, which will rescue him by restoring him back to life after he died. The aforementioned salvation encourages Achilles to become a savior for people. To make the argument, a review of the golden amphora given by Dionysus is necessary. The golden amphora holding the bones Achilles and Patroklos’ bones is an implied symbol of the perpetuity that lies ahead for Achilles after his remains are stored in the golden vessel and reformed into a living human by the decree of the god Dionysus. Another reference in line 91-92 of the Illiad XXIII matches the information in the Odyssey lines 73-78; the spirit of Patroklos infers to a golden amphora, which hold his bones and those of Achilles (Nagy 2018). In the text from Odyssey xxiv (73-78) Achilles is not rescued by resurrection but also by being savior as additionally evidenced in lines 82-84 where the item that holds his bones is depicted as a lighthouse overseeing the sea and a guide of light for sailors waging the tumultuous waters in the sea. | 82 at a headland jutting out over the open Hellespont, | 83 so that it might be visible, shining forth from afar, for men at sea [ pontos ] | (Odyssey xxiv 82-83) (Nagy 2018) .
Achilles key role as a savior is to save sailors from the tumultuous sea. The location where the golden amphora is located is defined as a high-level land with the view of the sea at Hellespont. Hellespont is mentioned in line 82 of the Odyssey; as mentioned earlier the vessel containing the bones of Achilles flashes a light that symbolizes salvation for seafarers endangered by the tumultuous waters of the sea. In line 83 of Odyssey xxiv, the sea is referred to as pontos (Nagy 2018). The correlation between the two names Helles-pontos and pontos is important in the view of the derivation of pontos. The meaning of the word Helles-pontos is pertinent to the responsibility of Achilles as savior of Hellespont (Hamilton 2017)
Modern day Mythical Heroes/Saviors
It can be argued that the myth of savior or hero continues in the modern day. Wonder Woman is evidently the best example of a modern myth hero. The myth of Wonder Woman is deeply embedded in classical mythology. The woman was made as an ancient Greek Amazon created from a lump of clay and granted power from the gods (Mauss et al. 2016). Wonder Woman’s journey started when the Amazon’s held a competition to determine a worthy adversary to travel to a man’s world to end a plot established god of war for earth’s destruction (Leeming 2015). Since the first journey, she has remained a legendary foe. The myth of Wonder Woman portrays her as a savior of the World. Another modern mythology is that of Batman considered A man among gods. Batman rises from anguish to become one of the legendary forces for right in the world; hidden under his dark persona he presents to the world as a symbol of hope and light (Williams 2015). Superman is conceivably the most undisguised superhero. He is a creature beyond human understanding who came to earth for a divine purpose. He is sent from heaven to rescue humankind; despite all his godliness and inner strength, he is still very human since human parents raised him. In many ways, the myth of superman fulfills man’s vision of the best ideal; he saves humankind by demanding justice and fighting the rich.
Jesus as Savior
Some scholars argue that Jesus is a myth. Primitive, man looked at the stars, moon and sun and wanted to account for it; therefore, he created a myth of a being beyond human understanding that comes to save humankind. Majority of writers however believe that in all probability there was a man called Jesus gave wise wisdom, and led an exemplary life (Robertson 2016). To prove that Jesus is a myth, some scholars argue that the birthplace of Jesus is not known neither are his relatives nor parents. The darkening of the sun followed Jesus’ death and his resurrection related with the sun’s position is more reference that the birth death and resurrection of Jesus is an ancient Sun-myth rather than provable events (Alexander 2015). The old myth of ancient sun is the beginning of nearly all religions in the World from the times of Egypt to the twentieth century. the Story Matthew from the bible explains about a star pointing out when Jesus was born aids the identification of Jesus with the Sun. the belief that stars define human destinies in rooted in ancient myths. Scholars argue that Jesus is among the most common myths of a savior in recent times. Human beings believe that a being beyond humans came to earth to die so he could save humankind.
Conclusion
The central idea in the myth of a savior is a one who saves; Achilles, Theseus, Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman and Jesus all perpetrate that idea. Achilles is a savior of sailors while Theseus saves the Athenians. Wonder Woman goes to battle to save the earth while Batman hidden under his dark persona portrays in the World as a symbol of hope and light. Superman is a creature beyond human understanding sent to earth for a specific purpose. The myth of superman fulfills man’s vision of the ultimate ideal; he saves humankind by demanding justice and fighting the rich. Scholars argue that Jesus is among the most common myths of a savior in recent times. Human beings believe that a being beyond humans came to earth to die so he could save humankind.
References
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Hamilton, E. (2017). Mythology: Timeless tales of gods and heroes . Hachette UK.
Leeming, D. A. (2014). Modern Mythology. In Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion (pp. 1122-1124). Springer US.
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Thury, E. M., & Devinney, M. K. (2016). Introduction to mythology: contemporary approaches to classical and world myths . Oxford University Press.
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