When telling stories of valiant heroes of history, a few stand out as some of the best known and most revered of all. While the two title characters aren't as famous as Superman or Spiderman, that doesn't make their story any less epic. Both Achilles and Beowulf brought a new style of hero to the table. The two heroes had their flaws, but they made up for them in spades with the courage shown in their respective epics. The interesting thing about these two heroes is that their stories were written in completely different time periods, by geographically extremely distant peoples. Beowulf was written around the beginning of the 8th century in Denmark, while the Iliad, the tale of Achilles, was written by Homer many millennia ago in ancient Greece. However both heroes exemplify the qualities that most heroes attempt to exhibit. The following are brief summaries of the stories of Beowulf and Achilles and their respective heroic traits. First I'll start with the story of Beowulf. The poem opens with a description of the genealogy of High King Hrothgar of Denmark. This king builds a great mead hall called Heorot, a place where warriors from all over the world can gather for a night of drinking and eating. This period of prosperity, however, soon ended. Grendel, a ferocious monster of imposing strength, began killing the Danes, a sort of complaint about the noise. Once word has spread of how these warriors are being ruthlessly killed without any successful attempt at retaliation against this demon, a Geatish warrior named Beowulf enters the scene. Once Beowulf arrives, he is warmly welcomed by King Hrothgar into his mead hall. Beowulf's men were given a banquet, but during the event, Beowulf was mocked... middle of paper... essentially, for protecting something they thought was worth giving one's life for. Although Beowulf has positive pride, Achilles has negative pride. Beowulf is proud of his accomplishments, but does not think highly of himself. Achilles thinks he is the best and is too proud for his own good. He endangers others in war for his pride. They lose many men and Patroclus due to his tragic flaw. They are both famous warriors, but Beowulf is justified in his killing while Achilles is not. Beowulf killed to protect and Achilles killed out of revenge and hatred. They are also both superhuman, both being unnaturally strong. Beowulf is loyal to those friends and people while Achilles abandons his fellow warriors and friends and lets them fight their own war. Beowulf is heroic and admirable, while Achilles is less heroic in most of his actions and quite repugnant..