Newly hatched chicks, even when removed from their mothers, are terrified and run for cover when a hawk and falcon flies overhead, but will not run from other types of birds (Mythological). This type of behavior is intrinsic to them and is embedded in their instincts.The image of the hawk strikes at some very deep chord in the chick's psyche,? comments John Campbell.Just like chicks, humans have certain things which strike them at a very deep level and are intrinsic to their psyche? (qtd. in Mythological). .
The hero concept, which has been a part of human culture for nearly as long as human culture has existed, is one of those things that all human cultures share and, even though many differences exist, the heroes are remarkably similar (Bistrich). Modern heroes share many characteristics of ancient heroes in Greek, Roman, Asian and other ancient cultures, despite being separated by two or more millennia of human advancement and progress (Hero's). The hero archetype has survived remarkably intact, but there have been some changes and transitions in the basic idea of heroism and society's view of the hero (Hero's). This can be largely attributed to the massive changes in the basic morals, ideals and values of human society in the past two thousand years which created a new need for other, more compatible types of heroes (Bistrich). The UR-archetype scale shows the differences between the ancient and modern hero and provides a system for judging how close a hero conforms to this archetype, which was popular in ancient cultures (Kitaguchi). By observing culture, mythology and history, further differences can be found and explained by changes in ideals, processes and new knowledge which developed between the early and modern civilizations and the link between the hero and the culture can be shown.
The ancient archetypal hero is commonly measured by the UR-archetype scale, which was created by Lord Raglan in the 1930's (Kitaguchi).
