Les héros et la mort dans l'Héroïkos de Philostrate

Abstract

In the Heroicus of Philostratus (early third century AD), it is possible to follow some basic elements which, throughout the history of ancient Greece, are related to the figure of the Greek hero -the hero of the myth, the hero of literature, but also the hero of religion and cult-, and with heroism: mortality, belle mort, heroization of historical figures from the past and the present -patrons, members of the family-, hero cult, cult of ancestors, and worship of the dead in general, heroes afterlife and intercourse with humans. The purpose of this paper is to analyze all these elements in the light of thought and literature in the Roman Empire.