I originally wrote this under a seperate node, not realising that the information had already been entered here. I have edited it somewhat before reposting, though there is still some remaining information that might seem superfluous. Thanks to LaggedyAnne for teaching me to search thoroughly searching existing nodes.
The Hero was a 1936 book by Major FitzRoy Richard Somerset, 4th Baron Raglan (probably known as 'Dick' to his close friends) where he classifies the life-stories of mythical heroes and historical figures into twenty-two archetypal events.
Lord Raglan's thesis was that heroic figures of mythology had their origins in ritual drama, not historical fact. Indeed, elements of the monomyth are used in some initiation rites today, particularly the pattern of Separation, Transformation and Return.
The higher a particular hero scores, the closer he is to the Ur-archetype of the sacred hero-king of prehistoric religious ritual; a genuine historical hero is unlikely to match many of the mythical characteristics. Thus, Lord Raglan believed that the real people could be distinguished from the complete fabrications, and to a lesser extent that the true elements of the historical figures' biographies could be distinguished from the embellishments (i.e., the parts that match the archetype are less likely to be true.) His method wasn't perfect; for example, he surmised that Lief Ericson, the Viking discoverer of America, had never actually existed.
From various sources, I have compiled the following high score table, where 1 point is awarded for each "match". None are my own calculation. Numbers in brackets show an alternate score provided by a different source; where they exist, I have generally opted to use Raglan's as the main score.
- Oedipus scores 21
- Theseus scores 20
- Moses scores 20 (16)
- Dionysus scores 19
- Jesus scores 19 (15/18.5)
- Romulus scores 18 (19)
- Perseus scores 18
- Anakin Skywalker scores 18
- Krishna scores 17.5
- Hercules scores 17 (16)
- Llew Llaw Gyffes scores 17
- Bellerophon scores 16
- Jason scores 15
- Siddhartha Gautama (The Buddha) scores 15
- Mwindo scores 14
- Robin Hood scores 13
- Pelops scores 13
- Apollo scores 11
- Sigurd scores 11
- Alexander the Great scores 7
- Luke Skywalker scores 6
- Mohammed scores 5 (14)
- John Fitzgerald Kennedy scores 4.5
As I said, none of the above are my own calculation. I really don't have the time or knowledge to node an analysis of these stories, especially where there is a lot of dispute (Jesus' score is particularly contested, and Raglan himself avoided looking at him). If anyone else has the time or inclination to analyse the above figures, or others, feel free to node them, and msg me so I can add their scores to the table.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FitzRoy_Somerset%2C_4th_Baron_Raglan
http://faculty.dbcc.edu/eaton/Hero/Raglan.htm
http://homepage.mac.com/lpetrich/www/writings/Mythic_Hero.html
http://thesciencepundit.blogspot.com/2006/07/raglans-scale-and-hero-of-star-wars.html