The Concept of Hero-Worship in Ancient Hellas
It is a long-held tradition for the ancients to venerate the spirits of the dead. Individuals who received such honor, often denoted by the words τιμή and γέρας, were called ἥρως or "hero." Although these mortal heroes were envisioned as figures from the remote past with immortal ancestry, they lived and died in ways that forever linked them to seasonality and to the present of those who remembered the hero. For instance, after death, heroes maintained their superhuman powers to influence the world of the living and therefore required propitiation and reverence, through proper worship or veneration. If the hero was honored correctly, this could be signified by community-wide prosperity and fertility among animals, plants and humans. If the hero did not receive appropriate honors, even on account of one person or action, the whole community could be plagued by grave cosmic sanctions. For these reasons, hero-worship is generally a localized tradition. In many ways, hero-worship was a primary means of creating group identity and solidarity within any given polis.
Originally, hero-worship was ancestor worship, but by the classical period these two traditions had become differentiated due to the evolution of the times.
… the Greek hero is a product of the polis, in that the cult of heroes is historically speaking a transformation of the worship of ancestors on the level of the polis. Furthermore, the Greek hero is a product also of Panhellenism, in that the epic of heroes as represented by Homeric poetry is an artistic and social synthesis on the level of Panhellenic diffusion. (Gregory Nagy 1990:143)
Now, while worship of the Olympian gods generally took place during the day, (and was directed towards the sky), hero worship was actually a night-based tradition associated with the local earth. As such, many of the Ancient Greeks often performed their rituals for heroes around the putative tomb of the hero. The immediate area around the tomb was usually separated from other burials or localities by a wall or monument.
Ritual activities for heroes were not much different than for the gods. These activities included: poetic performances, votive offerings, blood sacrifice, lamentation, athletic competitions and feasting. The blood offerings, which were poured into a pit in the ground, were understood to reanimate the soul of the hero, allowing him or her to appear to worshipers in an epiphany. This communion could be experienced both physically and intellectually.
What does this mean for those of us, today, who wish to contact heroes or incorporate them into our practice?
Meditation and visualizations seem to be a very (if not the most) prudent and powerful way to contact heroes. They appear very much drawn to this particular kind of communication. I would say that divination activities is also a good way to bond with them.
The offering of a thing's "life force" as the reanimation aspect is extremely important. (Though, the interpretation of this will be, of course, will depend on your level of comfort)
Shrines or altars to heroes may benefit from being lower to the ground if not directly upon the ground (or somehow rooted to the ground).
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