Two heroes,two lives in the Grottaferrata Digenes Akrites

Abstract

The status of Digenes Akrites as hero needs to be reconsidered. For this purpose, a comparison with his father can serve as a starting-point. Father and son are compared in two contexts: the family and the married couple. The differences between them reveal a hero who is not uncontroversial when it comes to family ties: Digenes isolates himself from his family and fails his wife with regard to faithfulness, trust and inseparability. Consequently, he is punished with childlessness. It is only when the oppositions between father and son are considered to be instances of dramatic irony that their true meaning is revealed.