The legends of Meleager and Orpheus show two heroes who become soft-headed over a woman and bring destruction upon themselves because of it. Meleager is a tough, skilled warrior; and although he is married, he falls passionately in love with the tomboyish Atalanta, killing his uncles because of her and thereby provoking his own death. Orpheus, on the other hand, is gentle, a dedicated musician who conceives a passion for Eurydice that lasts long after she dies, a love that calls the wrath of the Maenads down upon him. The Greeks regarded promiscuity in their heroes as permissible, but a headlong infatuation with one woman was dangerous, for it destroyed a man's prudence. Love was a form of intoxication that could ruin a hero.
A culture that stresses heroic values usually relegates women to an inferior position. To dedicate one's life to the memory of a woman, as Orpheus did, was considered unmanly. With Orpheus we see the end of the Greek heroic tradition, a poet-musician whom the Alexandrians elevated to the status of a hero. In contrast to him there are such ruthless, mannish heroines as Medea and Atalanta who seem to devour the men that lay claim to them. The soft man and the hard woman were generally unpleasant realities to the Greeks—the reverse image of their usual standards for the sexes.
The basic substance of the heroic legends is roughly the same material that our daily tabloids exploit: sex, violence, and wonders. Yet whereas these elements are presented randomly and without form in the tabloids, they have been given shape and meaning in the heroic legends. Frequently the hero is the man blessed by the gods to rid the world of some evil. He performs his feats without hesitation, and if he succumbs in the end his fame outlives him. Sex, violence, and wonders are his natural means of expression.
