As mentioned in Part 1, ancient cultures recognized dozens of male archetypes – as showcased in the example of Greek gods where each mythological character is presented as a carefully differentiated expression of masculinity.

Despite our tendency to think of Zeus as the single Alpha male of the pack, it’s more accurate to say that each god, each archetype, demonstrates alpha qualities in a specific domain; each demonstrating a different kind of power.

Zeus was Alpha in his political leadership, Ares in martial skill, Hephaestus in labour consciousness and artisan mastery, Apollo on intellectual pursuits, and so on. Conversely each of these characters are Beta, if not Sigma in the areas outside of their specialities, as demonstrated in the instances where each god was subjected to moments of dominance by another deity.

Looked at in this polytheistic way, modern descriptions of Alpha, Beta, Sigma etc. appear not only reductionistic as applied to real men (men who may excel in one area and not another), but also frankly gynocentric in the way each ranking is defined by an overriding criteria of whether a man is pleasing to, or useful for women. Is gynocentric appeal the only way to assess Alpha value?

By way of contrast none of the classic male gods (archetypes) described by the Greeks were based on what women want, which Alpha, Beta, Sigma etc. designations have unfortunately come to be defined today. Instead, they was based on special areas of male competency.

To summarize, humans are not like bears or wolves who become Alpha based on simple formulae like strength and bite force. Alpha masculinity in humans can demonstrate superiority via a plurality of competencies, a fact not lost on the makers of Marvel movies which showcase a shifting mantle of ‘Alpha’ based on the individual skillsets called for in a given (and always changing) situation. The sooner we jettison our singular notions of Alpha, the sooner we can get down to appreciating the rich diversity of masculine potentials.

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Further Reading: The One True Masculinity