1. The Hero Cycle

2. UNUSUAL BIRTH
Usually this is in some kind of virgin birth, divine parentage, or a prophecy.
Aeneas
Herakles
Perseus

3. ESCAPE
The young hero is taken away from society or to another city that is not home.
Jason – raised by Chiron
Penelope – saved from the sea by ducks
Oedipus – sent to Corinth

4. COMING OF AGE
Usually this is aided by a teacher, surrogate parent, or helper goddess.
Arthur – Merlin
Jason – Chiron/Hera
Odysseus – Autolykos

5. JOURNEY/QUEST These begin with some kind of call to adventure.
The Trojan War
Jason is ordered by a king to get the golden fleece
Medea is made to fall in love with Jason

6. JOURNEY/QUEST
Often there is some kind of avoidance of adventure and consequence.
Odysseus pretends madness – stops to save his infant son
Oedipus goes to Thebes – unknowingly meets and kills his father along the way

7. JOURNEY/QUEST
Monsters and supernatural aid appear in most stories as part of the quest.
Divine aid throughout the Iliad
Odysseus throughout the Odyssey
Aeneas throughout the Aeneid

8. JOURNEY/QUEST
There is some kind of decent to the underworld, a turning point, and an emergence from it representing rebirth.
Odysseus goes to the underworld
Jonah goes into a whale
Achilles retreats within his tent until his closest friend dies

9. JOURNEY/QUEST
Then comes the journey home, nostos. They usually win the kingdom, become holy, and/or have some kind of atonement.
Odysseus – regains his kingdom and reconciles with his father
Oedipus – solves the Sphinx’s riddle and becomes king of Thebes
Theseus – succeeds his father as king of Athens after defeating the Minotaur

10. JOURNEY/QUEST
At home the hero has difficulty returning to normal life.
Odysseus – goes back to sea when Telemachus can hold his own and dies at in an accident
Oedipus – his kingdom is plagued because of him, he discovers the truth about his family
Theseus – the kingdom is unhappy with his rule

11. DEATH AND SACRIFICE
There is a death or sacrifice, a scapegoat, a sparagmos.
Prometheus – he is chained to a rock for his subversion
Abraham – he is ordered to sacrifice his son
Medea – kills her own sons for revenge, before becoming more than human

12. TRANSFIGURATION APOTHEOSIS
The hero becomes a god, demigod, or some other form of immortal.
Medea
Jesus
Herakles
Romulus
just about every Roman Emperor

13. TRANSFIGURATION APOTHEOSIS
Often the hero becomes associated with a constellation, star, or planet.
Perseus
Orion

14. TRANSFIGURATION APOTHEOSIS
Many heroes go on to be worshiped by a hero cult.
Pelops – worshiped at Olympia
Herakles – worshiped all over the Mediterranean
Asclepius – worshiped as a healing deity
just about every Roman Emperor