An imperfect epic hero Every culture has heroes. A hero is an individual to be admired and cheered for exemplifying the greatest virtues of the culture he represents. In ancient Rome, the hero in Virgil's work, the Aeneid, is the result of both the culture from which the hero comes and the culture of the author. Roman heroic values ​​are reflected in both Aeneas's actions and his motivations. In today's society, we tend to think of a hero as someone who is courageous and valiant who achieves exceptional results. Reading the Aeneid we realize that Aeneas expresses many heroic virtues. Indeed, Aeneas is compassionate, encouraging, decisive, devoted to duty and peaceful. It's very common in the news to hear about people sacrificing their own comfort to make sure others are okay. Aeneas is one of these people. When the storm caused by Juno wrecked their boat, Aeneas, upon reaching the shore, went out to search for his missing crew members and also brought food to his men. Furthermore, before eating anything, he would also go and get more food. This shows how selfless and compassionate Aeneas is. This is one of the most important characteristics exhibited by contemporary heroes. On top of this Aeneas is very kind and faithful. Even during the difficult moment of the storm, Aeneas encourages his companions and cheers them up. This highlights his resilience and loyalty to his duty and also to his comrades. This shows us that Aeneas is not only a hero but also a great leader who leads by example. He is a type of leader who shows his followers that he is not afraid to do what he wants them to do. In the Aeneid, Virgil tries to connect the foundations to… middle of the paper… . are other significant authentications of his nature as an epic hero. Even if this is the case, some people may disagree that Aeneas was an epic hero simply because they don't like him. For example, some people may not like Aeneas because he leaves Dido, but in his destiny there was no possibility of one of the founders of Rome living happily ever after with the queen and founder of the kingdom of Carthage. Also, some other people may not like Aeneas because he doesn't seem to have the physical prowess of Achilles, but he certainly slaughters many enemies, as is shown through the Aeneid. All this in no way compromises Aeneas' heroic traits such as compassion, resolve, piety to name just a few. In all this they reinforce the fact that Aeneas is a human being and not divine; consequently he is not perfect but he is still an epic hero.