[4] He did so on Nausicaa and Athena’s instructions, the goddess having described Arete thus: Her Alcinous made his wife, and honored her as no other woman on earth is honored, of all those who in these days direct their households in subjection to their husbands; so heartily is she honored, and has ever been, by her children and by Alcinous himself and by the people, who look upon her as upon a goddess, and greet her as she goes through the city. This way of thinking comes first from Plato, where it can be seen in the Allegory of the Cave. In the Homeric poems, Arete is frequently associated with bravery, but more often with effectiveness. In some contexts, Arete is explicitly linked with human knowledge, where the expressions "virtue is knowledge" and "Arete is knowledge" are used interchangeably. As a result, the Colchian army had to return back to their land without Medea, while Jason and the rest went onwards to their journey. Her Roman name was Virtus. Arete (Greek: ἀρετή), in its basic sense, means "excellence" of any kind. When Alcinous compromised with the declaration, “If she be yet a maid I decree that they carry her back to her father; but if she shares a husband's bed, I will not separate her from her lord; nor, if she bear a child beneath her breast, will I give it up to an enemy,”[2] Arete went to Jason and Medea in the night and told them to marry so that Medea's life would be spared. Aristotle is quoted as deliberating between education towards arete "...or those that are theoretical". The concept was a complex one in the Greek world, combining personal fulfilment with status and reputation. When Odysseus arrived in the island, he met Nausicaa initially, who, wanting to help him, told him to appeal to her mother for protection. She is not to be confused with the mythological Queen Arete mentioned in the Argonautica and the Odyssey, whose name in Greek is spelled Ἀρήτη (with a different vowel in the second syllable). [citation needed]. She was a descendant of Poseidon, who, making love to Periboea, begot Nausithous, who in turn had two sons, Rhexenor, her father and Alcinous, her uncle and later on, her husband. In its earliest appearance in Greek, this notion of excellence was ultimately bound up with the notion of the fulfillment of purpose or function: the act of living up to one's full potential. Arete was the queen of the island of Scheria in Greek mythology, wife of Alcinous, and mother of Nausicaa and Laodamas. Her opposite number was the daimon Kakia, lady of vice. The best known story of Arete is when Arete and Kakia approached Herakles and offered him a life of valour or a life of luxury. Arete was occasionally personified as a goddess, the sister of Homonoia (not to be confused with Harmonia), and the daughter of the goddess of justice, Praxidike. If Arete is knowledge and study, the highest human knowledge is knowledge about knowledge itself; in this light, the theoretical study of human knowledge, which Aristotle called "contemplation", is the highest human ability and happiness. Debra Hawhee points out that the norms and practices of Athenian virtuosity “operate within the politics of reputation, whose normative poles are honor and shame” (187). She was also the niece of her husband, as Alcinous and Rhexenor, Arete's father, were brothers, descendants of the god Poseidon. He says, "Nor is there even an agreement about what constitutes arete, something that leads logically to a disagreement about the appropriate training for arete. G.B. In ancient Greek, the word arete meant virtue or excellence. She was also the niece of her husband, as Alcinous and Rhexenor, Arete's father, were brothers, descendants of the god Poseidon.. In ancient Greek culture, Arete was what all people aspired. She was depicted as a fair woman of high bearing, dressed in white. 03 Feb. 2014. 1996, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Greek Philosophy: The Allegory of the Cave, The Divided Line, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arete&oldid=968409922, Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text, Articles lacking in-text citations from January 2009, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2012, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence (, "O father Zeus, give honor to this hymn for a victor at Olympia, and to his now famous, Arete is the name of a key protagonist in. "Praxidike." trans. [2], The Ancient Greeks applied the term to anything: for example, the excellence of a chimney, the excellence of a bull for breeding, and the excellence of a man. Penguin Classics Deluxe Ed, London. Kerferd, "Arete/Agathon/Kakon", in Paul Edwards [ed.-in-chief], Stephen G. Miller, "Ancient Greek Athletics", New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2004*. Arete was the daughter of Rhexenor. See Also: Alcinous, Nausicaa, Poseidon, Odysseus, Athena, Jason, Argonauts, Medea, Arete: GreekMythology.com - Nov 03, 2020, Greek Mythology iOS Volume Purchase Program VPP for Education App. It was courage and strength in the face of adversity. This article is about the philosophical concept. [citation needed], This story was later used by Christian writers, such as Methodius of Olympus, Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, and Basil of Caesarea. Arete (Ancient Greek: ἀρετή), alternately Areté, is defined as excellence of any kind. This means Arete functions as an external phenomenon depending on outside reception and acknowledgement for its instantiation (188). Penelope's arete, for example, relates to co-operation, for which she is praised by Agamemnon.

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