Heroes in ancient societies

Heroes in ancient societies, as viewed in different forms of literature (poems, novels, etc.), had different roles and were viewed differently as the kind of heroes today. The heroes in the past were the people who swooped in to save the day. Like the ones who defeat the huge intimidating foe like David vs Goliath. However, a classic hero that I always think of has to be Disney's Hercules. (SPOILER ALERT) In the movie, Hercules starts off as a scrawny little boy who can barely amount to anything. With him being a demigod, father being Zeus, you would expect him to be powerful and not scrawny; however, when he was little, his powers were stripped away by someone and so he has to live life as a mortal basically. Hercules strives to become powerful, so he can return to his father in a "proper" way, so in order to do this, Hercules trains under a satyr named Phil. Over time, Phil trains him to where Hercules is now not-so-scarwny (buff) and is fighting many monsters from the Underworld, which is ruled by Hades. Throughout all this, Hercules meets a girl named Meg. Long story short, Hades kidnaps her and (you know how the story goes) Hercules saves the damsel in distress, which in the process he regains his demigod-like powers. Finally after going through so many trials, Hercules can return to Mount Olympus where he can show his father his power. So, not only did he defeat many Underworld monsters, but he started off just as a scrawny little boy....like that's just awesome. I feel that Hercules is the epitome of an "old-fashioned" hero.