Aretology

An aretology or aretalogy^[1]^[2] (from ancient Greek aretê, "excellence, virtue") in the strictest sense is a narrative about a divine figure's miraculous deeds.^[3] There is no evidence that these narratives constituted a clearly defined genre but there exists a body of literature that contained praise for divine miracles.^[4] These literary works were usually associated with eastern cults.^[4]

In the Greco-Roman world, aretologies represent a religious branch of rhetoric and are a prose development of the hymn as praise poetry. Asclepius, Isis, and Serapis are among the deities with surviving aretologies in the form of inscriptions and papyri.^[5] The earliest records of divine acts emerged from cultic hymns for these deities, were inscribed in stones, and displayed in temples.^[1] The Greek aretologos (ἀρετολόγος, "virtue-speaker") was a temple official who recounted aretologies and may have also interpreted dreams.^[6]

By extension, an aretology is also a "catalogue of virtues" belonging to a person; for example, Cicero's list and description of the virtues of Pompeius Magnus ("Pompey the Great") in the speech Pro Lege Manilia.^[7] Aretology became part of the Christian rhetorical tradition of hagiography.^[8]

In an even more expanded sense, aretology is moral philosophy which deals with virtue, its nature, and the means of arriving at it.^{[citation needed]} It is the title of an ethical tract by Robert Boyle published in the 1640s.^[9] Other scholars also consider literature that involve the praise of wisdom as aretology.^[2]

References[]

^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Koester, Helmut (1995). History, Culture, and Religion of the Hellenistic Age, Second Edition. New York: Walter de Gruyter. p. 131. ISBN 3110146932.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Tenney, Merrill C. (2010). The Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible, Volume 1: Revised Full-Color Edition. Zondervan Academic. ISBN 9780310876960.
^ Fortna, Robert (2004). The Fourth Gospel and Its Predecessor. London: T&T Clark International. p. 53. ISBN 9780567080691.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b King, Daniel (2018). Experiencing Pain in Imperial Greek Culture. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 138. ISBN 9780198810513.
^ Laurent Pernot, Rhetoric in Antiquity, translated by W.E. Higgins (Catholic University of America Press, 2005), p. 80
^ Christopher Walter, The Warrior Saints in Byzantine Art and Tradition (Ashgate, 2003), p. 17.
^ Roger Rees, "Panegyric," in "A Companion to Roman Rhetoric (Blackwell, 2007), p. 140.
^ Walter, The Warrior Saints, p. 17; Alistair Stewart-Sykes, From Prophecy to Preaching: A Search for the Origins of the Christian Homily (Brill, 2001), p. 75.
^ John T. Harwood, The Early Essays and Ethics of Robert Boyle (Southern Illinois University Press, 1991), p. xvii.

External links[]

Detailed look at Aretology from the Universal Encyclopedia of Philosophy

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[:0-1] Jump up to: ^a ^b Koester, Helmut (1995). History, Culture, and Religion of the Hellenistic Age, Second Edition. New York: Walter de Gruyter. p. 131. ISBN 3110146932.

[:1-2] Jump up to: ^a ^b Tenney, Merrill C. (2010). The Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible, Volume 1: Revised Full-Color Edition. Zondervan Academic. ISBN 9780310876960.

[3] Fortna, Robert (2004). The Fourth Gospel and Its Predecessor. London: T&T Clark International. p. 53. ISBN 9780567080691.

[:2-4] Jump up to: ^a ^b King, Daniel (2018). Experiencing Pain in Imperial Greek Culture. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 138. ISBN 9780198810513.

[5] Laurent Pernot, Rhetoric in Antiquity, translated by W.E. Higgins (Catholic University of America Press, 2005), p. 80

[6] Christopher Walter, The Warrior Saints in Byzantine Art and Tradition (Ashgate, 2003), p. 17.

[7] Roger Rees, "Panegyric," in "A Companion to Roman Rhetoric (Blackwell, 2007), p. 140.

[8] Walter, The Warrior Saints, p. 17; Alistair Stewart-Sykes, From Prophecy to Preaching: A Search for the Origins of the Christian Homily (Brill, 2001), p. 75.

[9] John T. Harwood, The Early Essays and Ethics of Robert Boyle (Southern Illinois University Press, 1991), p. xvii.

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Aretology

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