Moses as Epic Hero
Moses as Epic Hero
This chapter considers Moses as a great epic hero, particularly a Bronze Age hero roughly contemporary with Achilles. The difference between Moses and Achilles, however, is that Moses's story cannot begin in the middle of things due to its ties and relation to monotheism. In fact, Monotheism is at the center of Moses's life, and challenged it from every side—hence, monotheism must be established at the beginning. Moses, like a Homeric hero, dies immortal in fame at the end of the fifth book of the Pentateuch, Deuternomy, in a scene that is as emotionally moving as the deaths of Achilles and Hector. Two eminent scholars—Cyrus H. Gordon and Gary Rendsburg—have argued that the biblical and Homeric epics have common roots in the ancient Near East. This chapter analyzes the ways in which Moses can be viewed as an epic hero, especially when compared against Homeric heroes and epics.
Keywords: Moses, Bronze Age hero, Achilles, monotheism, Homeric hero, Pentateuch, Deuteronomy, Cyrus H. Gordon, Gary Rendsburg, Homeric epics
Yale Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
