I'm not sure if I agree about the issues of hero and legend. There's an emotional force to Oedipus in the plays of Sophocles that transcends the "legend" of Oedipus. Similarly, what makes The Iliad so powerful, even today, is that it isn't just a story or myth of the Trojan War. It is the story of the hubris of Achilles told in wonderously beautiful verse. As a result, I tend to think that Eco's point is valid about antiquity as well as modernity.