noble birth

• essential - heroes often referred to by a patronymic
• hero views his family as part of his heroic status
• Achilles asks about his father, whom he feels he should be protecting, and is concerned that his son is gaining the glory due to a hero
• Odysseus' status is affected by the actions of his son
• when Athene sends Telemachus to visit Pylos and Sparta, it is partially to begin his own kleos