Heroism (redirected from valiancy)

Heroism

See also Bravery.

Achilles

Greek hero without whom Troy could not have been taken. [Gk. Lit.: Iliad]

Aeneas

Trojan hero; legendary founder of Roman race. [Rom. Lit.: Aeneid]

Argonauts

those accompanying Jason to fetch Golden Fleece. [Gk. Myth.: Parrinder, 26]

Arjuna

hero of the civil war between two royal houses of ancient India. [Hindu Lit.: Mahabharata]

Arthur

king and hero of Scotland, Wales, and England. [Arthurian Legend: Parrinder, 28]

Bagradian, Gabriel

leads heroic defense by a group of Armenians against the besieging Turks; is killed by a Turkish bullet. [Ger. Lit.: The Forty Days of Musa Dagh in Magill I, 291]

Bellerophon

rider of Pegasus; conquered monsters and Amazons. [Gk. Myth.: Parrinder, 42; Kravitz, 43]

Beowulf

saved Danes from monster Grendel. [Br. Lit.: Beowulf]

Cid

Spanish knight renowned for exploits against Moors. [Span. Hist.: EB, 4: 615–616]

Cuchulain

“the Achilles of the Gael.” [Irish Myth.: Benét, 239–240]

D’Artagnan

challenges horseman, rescues a lady, and earns fame as a doughty soldier. [Fr. Lit.: Dumas The Three Musketeers]

David

boy who slew Goliath. [O.T.: Samuel: 18:4–51]

Durward, Quentin

seeking his fortune abroad, he saves the life of King Louis XI, wards off attacks by the king’s enemies, and distinguishes himself in a seige. [Br. Lit.: Quentin Durward]

Edricson, Alleyne

knighted for chivalry by the Black Prince. [Br. Lit.: The White Company in Magill I, 1108]

Frithiof

kills proud sea-kings, saves a king and queen from death, and defeats her brothers in battle. [Nor. Lit.: Haydn & Fuller, 275]

Grettir the Strong

Viking adventurer whose exploits are related in The Grettisaga. [Icelandic Lit.: Magill I, 335]

Hanuman

monkey deity, conqueror of demons, builder of a stone bridge from India to Ceylon. [Hindu Myth.: Collier’s, IX, 214]

Harmodius

slew Hipparchus, brother of the tyrant Hippias. [Gk. Hist.: EB (1963) XI, 198]

Hector

King Priam’s son; dies fighting for Troy. [Gk. Lit.: Iliad]

Hercules

completed tasks requiring great bravery, strength, and ingenuity. [Gk. Myth.: Brewer Dictionary, 448]

Hereward the Wake

last of the English; dies defending home-land. [Br. Lit.: Hereward the Wake, Magill I, 367–370]

Hornblower, Captain Horatio

victorious captain of HMS Lydia and HMS Sutherland. [Br. Lit.: Captain Horatio Hornblower]

Jason

leader of the Argonauts. [Gk. Myth.: Payton, 347]

Judith

saved her city from the onslaught of Holofernes by beheading him during a drunken sleep. [Apocrypha: Judith 13:4-10]

Leonidas Spartan

king held off thousands of Persians at Thermopylae with a few hundred men. [Gk. Hist.: Bénet, 578]

Prometheus

stole divine fire for man’s sake. [Gk. Myth.: Espy, 33]

Richard the Lion-Hearted

(1157–1199) nicknamed the Black Knight; performer of valorous deeds. [Br. Hist: EB, VIII: 566; Br. Lit.: Ivanhoe]

Rogers, Buck

25th-century adventurer who combats menacing aliens and other villains in order to save the world. [Comics: Berger, 93]

Roland

chief paladin of Charlemagne; renowned for his prowess. [Fr. Lit.: NCE, 2344]

Samson

hero of Israel. [O.T.: Judges 13–16]

Siegfried

killed many great heroes, won the fabulous hoard of the Nibelungs, and was made invisible by the blood of a dragon he had slain. [Ger. Myth.: Nibelungenlied in Magill I, 653]

Tancred

crusader renowned for his fighting helps capture Jerusalem from the infidels. [Ital. Lit.: Jerusalem Delivered; Ital. Opera: Rossini Tancredi]

Theseus

hero of Attica who slew the Minotaur, conquered the Amazons, and helped drive off the Centaurs. [Gk. Myth.: Hamilton Mythology, 152]

Worthies,

the Nine nine heroes — three each from the Bible, from the classical period, and from medieval romance — who were frequently grouped together. [Pop. Culture: Brewer Dictionary, 694]