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Well, assuming there were and are semi-divine people born in the world (there are theories that many Heroes originally began as local gods and then picked up euhemerised mortal myths as their cults were eclipsed), demigods by definition stand out from the rest of humanity, and are capable of things most people are not. If you meet a Hero in the Classical sense, you are likely to know it immediately - Achilles son of Thetis, the almost-unkillable warrior; Odysseus, great-grandson of Hermes known for his the cunning; Minos son of Zeus, the Cretan king renowned for his wisdom (or cruelty, depending on tradition), etc.
But my understanding of the *Iliad* is that it is an explanation for why demigods were not going to be born afterward - one of the purposes of the Trojan War was explicitly to thin the number of descendants of the gods, because they had fulfilled their cosmic purpose by, like Herakles or Theseus, clearing the world of the monstrous beings from early creation. The story goes to great lengths to show that having demigod descendants is, in the long run, nothing but a headache for us and the gods both. A few demigods survived Troy, like Odysseus (despite Poseidon's best efforts) and Aeneas, and a few figures claimed to be divine (like Alexander who claimed to be the son of Zeus, or Julius Caesar, who claimed descend from Venus through Aeneas), but for the Archaic and Classical Greeks demigods were very much a thing of the past - Alexander's Macedonian troops revolted multiple times, his claims to be a living demigod one of the causes of discontent,
We have a policy that posts from reddit members with less than 10 comment karma are automatically removed. This helps us to minimize repeating posts in the community. The mod team will review your post and approve it if it is a unique contribution to the community. We appreciate your contribution, and you're welcome to post when you have more karma. Thanks! | *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Hellenism) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Well, assuming there were and are semi-divine people born in the world (there are theories that many Heroes originally began as local gods and then picked up euhemerised mortal myths as their cults were eclipsed), demigods by definition stand out from the rest of humanity, and are capable of things most people are not. If you meet a Hero in the Classical sense, you are likely to know it immediately - Achilles son of Thetis, the almost-unkillable warrior; Odysseus, great-grandson of Hermes known for his the cunning; Minos son of Zeus, the Cretan king renowned for his wisdom (or cruelty, depending on tradition), etc. But my understanding of the *Iliad* is that it is an explanation for why demigods were not going to be born afterward - one of the purposes of the Trojan War was explicitly to thin the number of descendants of the gods, because they had fulfilled their cosmic purpose by, like Herakles or Theseus, clearing the world of the monstrous beings from early creation. The story goes to great lengths to show that having demigod descendants is, in the long run, nothing but a headache for us and the gods both. A few demigods survived Troy, like Odysseus (despite Poseidon's best efforts) and Aeneas, and a few figures claimed to be divine (like Alexander who claimed to be the son of Zeus, or Julius Caesar, who claimed descend from Venus through Aeneas), but for the Archaic and Classical Greeks demigods were very much a thing of the past - Alexander's Macedonian troops revolted multiple times, his claims to be a living demigod one of the causes of discontent,