kleos
{{Short description|Theme in Ancient Greek literature}}
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Kleos ({{Langx|grc|κλέος}}) is the Greek word often translated to "renown" or "glory". It is related to the English word "loud" and carries the implied meaning of "what others hear about you". A Greek hero earns kleos through accomplishing great deeds.
According to Gregory Nagy, besides the meaning of "glory", kleos can also be used as the medium (in this case, the ancient Greek poetry or song) which conveys glory.The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press. p. 26. Gregory Nagy. {{ISBN|978-0674241688}}
Kleos is invariably transferred from father to son; the son is responsible for carrying on and building upon the "glory" of the father. This is a reason for Penelope putting off her suitors for so long, and one justification for Medea's murder of her own children was to cut short Jason's kleos.
Kleos is a common theme in Homer's epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the main example in the latter being that of Odysseus and his son Telemachus, who is concerned that his father may have died a pathetic and pitiable death at sea rather than a reputable and gracious one in battle. The Iliad is about gaining ultimate kleos on the battlefields of Troy while the Odyssey is the ten-year quest of Odysseus' nostos (or return journey). Telemachus fears that he has been deprived of kleos. This links to hereditary kleos, as heroes obtain immortality through eternal fame of their actions and lineage.
Etymology
According to Nagy, kleos is a noun, derived from the verb kluein, which means 'hear'.Gregory Nagy. The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press. pp 51.
From other source, the Greek term kleos is derived from the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) term *ḱléwos, which expressed a similar concept in PIE society. As the PIE people had no concept of the continuation of the individual after life, one could only hope to achieve *ḱléwos *n̥dhgwhitóm, or "the fame that does not decay."Schmitt, Rüdiger. Dichtung und Dichtersprache in indogermanischer Zeit. Weisbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. pp 61-102. As Bruce Lincoln notes, "In a universe where impersonal matter endured forever but the personal self was extinguished at death, the most which could survive of that self was a rumor, a reputation. For this, the person craving immortality—a condition proper only to the gods and antithetical to human existence—was totally reliant on poets and poetry."Lincoln, Bruce. Death, War, And Sacrifice: Studies in Ideology and Practice. Chicago UP. 1991. pp 15.{{cite web |url=https://classicalwisdom.com/culture/traditions/kleos-death-glory/ |title=Kleos: Death and Glory |work=Classical Wisdom Weekly |publisher=Classical Wisdom |date=September 22, 2015}}
Cognates include Sanskrit, श्रवस् (śravas); Avestan, 𐬯𐬭𐬀𐬬𐬀𐬵; Armenian, լու (low); Old Church Slavonic slava, and Old Irish, clú. Compare to the Greek: κλύω (klúō - I hear'').{{cite web |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/Clio |title=Clio: Etymology of Clio |publisher=Etymonline}}
See also
References
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Further reading
- Barbantani, Silvia. "Models of Virtue, Models of Poetry: The Quest for "Everlasting Fame" in Hellenistic Military Epitaphs." In Celebrity, Fame, and Infamy in the Hellenistic World, edited by FABER RIEMER A., 37-69. Toronto; Buffalo; London: University of Toronto Press, 2020. Accessed May 19, 2020. {{JSTOR|10.3138/j.ctv102bjkd.8}}.
- Finkelberg, Margalit. "More on "Kleos Aphtiton"." The Classical Quarterly 57, no. 2 (2007): 341-50. {{JSTOR|27564082}}.
- Floyd, Edwin D. "Kleos Aphthiton: An Indo-European Perspective on Early Greek Poetry." Glotta 58, no. 3/4 (1980): 133–57. {{JSTOR|40266513}}.
- Meltzer, Gary S. ""Where Is the Glory of Troy?" "Kleos" in Euripides' "Helen"." Classical Antiquity 13, no. 2 (1994): 234-55. {{doi|10.2307/25011015}}.
- Segal, Charles. "KLEOS AND ITS IRONIES IN THE ODYSSEY." L'Antiquité Classique 52 (1983): 22–47. {{JSTOR|41653211}}.
- Segal, Charles. "Kleos and Its Ironies." In Singers, Heroes, and Gods in the "Odyssey", 85–110. ITHACA; LONDON: Cornell University Press, 1994. {{JSTOR|10.7591/j.ctv3s8rff.9}}.
Category:Culture of ancient Greece