The Greek hero never cared for justice
Justice is not a fact. It is a cultural truth that shaped Middle Eastern cultures. It meant repayment of debt.
In ancient times, even before the rise of monotheistic religions that now dominate the world, it meant repaying what was owed to gods by working in the fields and markets owned by temples that dotted the Fertile Crescent of Mesopotamia. Accountants kept a careful note of what was due to the gods and what was repaid. Lawyers kept contracts of what was promised to the gods.
Those who kept their word were promised a full stomach in the heavenly afterlife. The rest starved in hell.
The idea of contracts and debts emerged from prosperous river valleys, surrounded by harsh terrain by deserts and mountains.
Where agriculture thrived, lawyers and accountants thrived and they established the myth of fairness and justice, which still shapes the Middle East, where brutal wars are still fought and either side argues passionately that they are on the side of justice.
But Greeks — whose philosophy shaped European Renaissance and humanistic philosophy — did not belong to such an ecosystem. They lived on islands, so were fiercely independent.
They herded goats and sheep, and feared pirates. They had nothing worthwhile to trade. Raiding was often the only option.
What mattered was winning or losing, and surviving, not being fair or repaying debts. This becomes obvious from the Greek understanding of what happens after death.
Those who irritated the Greek gods were cast in Tartarus and doomed forever to perform endless meaningless chores. Those who impressed the gods with a heroic deed, went to Elysium, the heaven of extraordinary beings, or even joined the banquet of the gods on Olympus.
