Eithe Zeus ta enthauda legomena gnoe! The issue does not concern the origin of decision and/or the locus of action. The issue concerns where the society places the blame or praise for an action or outcome.
Who is blamed for Niobe's children being killed and her being turned into a rock? Is it the fault of Leto? No, it's Niobe's fault for fucking with Leto. Who gets the praise for winning the Trojan War? It's not the faceless mass of Achaean soldiers, who are long, long forgotten. It's Achilles, Agamemnon, and the rest of the small group of _individuals_. Her like to fight in single combat so they can show off how badass they are as _individuals_.
What makes Achilles a hero is not his ability to accept/meet his fate, which everybody has to do, including the gods. What makes Achilles, as opposed to Eukleides the anonymous shepherd, a hero is that is Achilles is really, really good at killing people. So much so that the war fell apart when he, the individual person, refrained from fighting. The point is not whether or not he decided not to fight because of existentialist free will or divine inspiration. The point is that the war depended upon him, Achilles, the Fleet-Footed Motherfuckin' Mankiller. Not on the collective social action of the Greeks.
--- On Wed, 8/5/09, Joanna <123hop at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> Indeed. Arnold Hauser put it well when he said that the
> classical hero is not a self-making individual; he chooses
> nothing. What makes him a hero is his ability to accept/meet
> his fate.
>
> Joanna
>
>
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