Heroes and antiheroes in history Cover Image

Героите и антигероите в историята
Heroes and antiheroes in history

Author(s): Stefan Minkov
Subject(s): History, Local History / Microhistory
Published by: Шуменски университет »Епископ Константин Преславски«
Keywords: hero; traitor; antihero; history; society; memory; myth

Summary/Abstract: The historical development of humankind offers many examples of heroes and anti-heroes. Turning a person into a hero and the historical definition of a person as an anti-hero (traitor) are related to the attitude of societies towards a specific historical fact or event. It is also dictated by the need to point out examples to imitate and their antipodes. This article presents historical examples of transformations of a hero into a traitor within social ideas (Marshal Petain), of how a historical person ini¬tially identified as a traitor actually turns out to be a hero (Staufenberg), of the creation of false heroes that the author identifies as “the case of Achilles”. This article also provides examples of unquestionable heroism (Stefan Tcherkezov, Plamen Petkov) and unquestionable antiheroism (Nenko Terziiski). Simultaneously, in history there have been conflicting personalities whose place has been defined in relation to the ideas dominant in a society (G. Dimitrov), or in relation to the level of development of historical research (father Krastyo). Heroism is a product of mythologization, but is required as an example and a historical base. For heroes can only exist if there are antiheroes.

  • Issue Year: 2013
  • Issue No: 13
  • Page Range: 9-22
  • Page Count: 14
  • Language: Bulgarian