Note 257 — Chapter IX · THE HEROIC AGE OF GREECE.
Reading edition
αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ καὶ τοῦτο γένος κατὰ γαῖα κάλυψεν, αὖτις ἔτ' ἄλλο τέταρτον ἐπὶ χθονὶ πουλυβοτείρῃ Ζεὺς Κρονίδης ποίησε δικαιότερον καὶ ἄρειον, ἀνδρῶν ἡρώων θεῖον γένος, οἳ καλέονται ἡμίθεοι, προτέρη γενέη κατ' ἀπείρονα γαῖαν. καὶ τοὺς μὲν πόλεμός τε κακὸς καὶ φύλοπις αἰνὴ τοὺς μὲν ὑφ' ἑπταπύλῳ Θήβῃ, Καδμηΐδι γαίῃ, ὤλεσε μαρναμένους μήλων ἕνεκ' Οἰδιπόδαο, τοὺς δὲ καὶ ἐν νήεσσιν ὑπὲρ μέγα λαῖτμα θαλάσσης ἐς Τροίην ἀγαγὼν Ἑλένης ἕνεκ' ἠϋκόμοιο. κ.τ.λ.
In this passage the word ἥρως seems to have already begun to acquire its later meaning, viz. a distinguished man of the past (generally of the Heroic Age) who was honoured with worship, though not as a god. For such worship Teutonic records naturally furnish few parallels, since most of the Teutonic peoples became Christian either during the Heroic Age itself or soon after. We may compare however what Jordanes (cap. 13) says of the Goths: proceres suos, quorum quasi fortuna uincebant, non puros homines sed semideos, id est Ansis, uocauerunt. In Old Norse the name æsir (*ansīz) is applied only to the gods (Othin, Thor, etc.); but we do hear occasionally of worship paid to heroes of the Heroic Age, as well as to distinguished persons of later times. An instance of the former (in the case of Hrólfr Kraki) occurs in Yngl. S. 41.