Arete (Greek: ἀρετή) in its basic sense means "goodness" or "excellence" of any kind, especially "manly" qualities. In its earliest appearance in Greek this notion of excellence was bound up with the notion of the fulfillment of purpose or function. The moral excellence or arete of a man was then ηθικη, αρετη or virtue. For the philosophical concept of goodness see Goodness and value theory. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ... Virtue (Greek αρετη; Latin virtus) is the habitual, well-established, readiness or disposition of mans powers directing them to some goodness of act. ...

"The root of the word is the same as 'aristos', the word which shows superlative ability and superiority, and 'aristos' was constantly used in the plural to denote the nobility." ¹ (see Aristocracy) The Ancient Greeks applied the term to anything: for example, the excellence of a horse, the excellence of a bull to be bred, and the excellence of a man. The meaning of the word changes depending on what it describes, since everything has its own particular excellence; the arete of a man is different from the arete of a horse. Superior has various meanings: A superior is a person who has the authority to command another, as in a superior officer. See: Superior (function) In a hierarchical structure of any kind, a superior is higher in the hierarchy and thus closer to the apex than the subordinate ones. ... The Lords and Barons prove their Nobility by hanging their Banners and exposing their Coats-of-arms at the Windows of the Lodge of the Heralds. ... The Ancient Greek term aristocracy meant a system of government with rule by the best. This is the first definition given in most dictionaries. ... Ancient Greece is the term used to describe the Greek_speaking world in ancient times. ... Horses: the meat of kings!!! ... Bull or bull has various meanings: Look up bull in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Breeding has several meanings related to procreation: In animal husbandry and in horticulture the selection of stock for propagation and the act of insemination by natural or artificial means is called breeding. ... Image of a man on the Pioneer plaque sent to interstellar space A man is a male human adult, in contrast to an adult female, which is a woman. ...

By the fourth and fifth centuries B.C.E., arete as applied to men had developed to include quieter virtues, such as dikaiosyne (justice) and sophrosyne (self-restraint). Plato attempted to produce a moral philosophy that incorporated this new usage (and in doing so developed ideas that played a central part in later Christian thought), but it was in the work of Aristotle that the doctrine of arete found its fullest flowering. (5th century BC - 4th century BC - 3rd century BC - other centuries) (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium AD) Events Invasion of the Celts into Ireland Kingdom of Macedon conquers Persian empire Romans build first aqueduct Chinese use bellows The Scythians are beginning to be absorbed into the Sarmatian... (6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC - other centuries) (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium AD) Events Demotic becomes the dominant script of ancient Egypt Persians invade Greece twice (Persian Wars) Battle of Marathon (490) Battle of Salamis (480) Athenian empire formed and falls Peloponnesian War... Lady Justice - allegory of Justice as woman with sword and with book - statue at court building. ... Sophrosyne (σοφροσύνη) is a Greek philosophical term etymologically meaning moral sanity and from there self control or moderation. Greeks upheld the ideal of sophresyne, which means wisdom and moderation. ... Plato (Greek: Πλάτων Plátōn) (ca. ... Ethics is a general term for what is often described as the science (study) of morality. In philosophy, ethical behavior is that which is good or right. ... As a noun, Christian is an appellation and moniker deriving from the appellation Christ, which many people associate exclusively with Jesus of Nazareth. ... Aristotle, marble copy of bronze by Lysippos. ...

Homer

In Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, arete is mainly used of heroes and nobles, with especial reference to strength and courage, but it isn't limited to this. Penelope's arete, for example, relates to co-operation, for which she's praised by Agamemnon. The excellence of the gods included their power, whereas in the Odyssey (13.42) the gods can grant excellence to a life, which is understood from the context to mean prosperity. Bust of Homer in the British Museum For other uses, see Homer (disambiguation). ... The Iliad (Greek Ιλιάς, Ilias) tells part of the story of the siege of the city of Ilium, i. ... Odysseus and Nausicaä - by Charles Gleyre The Odyssey (Greek Οδύσσεια) is the second of the two great Greek epic poems ascribed to Homer, the first of which is the Iliad. ... Sir Galahad, a hero of Arthurian legend In mythology and folklore, a hero (male) or heroine (female) is an eminent character who quintessentially embodies key traits valued by its originating culture. ... Noble is the guitarist of British Sea Power. ... Strength may refer to Physical strength of organisms means (especially the muscles of most metazoa) of locomotion and movement Strength of materials in physics, engineering and materials science Strength is a rap compilation presented by Asiatic Warriors Strength (VIII) is a Major Arcana card in Tarot. ... You know what courage is. ... Penelope represented as a statue in the Vatican, Rome Penélopê (Πηνελοπεια) is a character of the Odyssey, one of the two great epic poems (the other being the Iliad; both are attributed to Homer) of ancient Greek literature. ... Co-operation refers to the practice of people or greater entities working in common with commonly agreed-upon goals and possibly methods, instead of working separately in competition. ... The so-called Mask of Agamemnon. Discovered by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876 at Mycenae. ...

Personification

Arete was occasionally personified as a goddess, the sister of Homonoia (a personification of concord). Arete (Greek ) was a minor Ancient Greek goddess of virtue, daughter of the goddess of justice Praxidike. ... Type species Homonoia riparia Lour. ...

Paideia

Arete is a significant part of the paideia of ancient Greeks: the training of the boy to manhood. This training in arete included: physical training, for which the Greeks developed the gymnasion, mental training, which included oratory, rhetoric, and basic sciences, and spiritual training, which included music and what is called virtue. To the ancient Greeks, Paideia was the process of educating man into his true form, the real and genuine human nature. ... In most educational systems, physical education (PE), also called physical training (PT) or gym, is a course in the curriculum which utilizes the learning medium of large-muscle activities in a play or movement exploration setting. ... The gymnasium of the Greeks originally functioned as the school where competitors in the public games received their training, and was so named from the circumstance that these competitors exercised naked (gymnos). ... Oratory is the art of eloquent speech. ... Rhetoric (from Greek ρήτωρ, rhêtôr, orator) is one of the three original liberal arts or trivium (the other members are dialectic and grammar) in Western culture. ... See: Spirituality Spiritual music Spiritual dance The Age of Spiritual Machines Spiritual possession This is a disambiguation page, a list of pages that otherwise might share the same title. ... Wikibooks Wikiversity has more about this subject: School of Music Look up Music in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Wikisource, as part of the 1911 Encyclopedia Wikiproject, has original text related to this article: Music Meta has a page about this at: Music markup MusicNovatory: the science of music encyclopedia The... Virtue (Greek αρετη; Latin virtus) is the habitual, well-established, readiness or disposition of mans powers directing them to some goodness of act. ...

Examples of usage

• "Virtue (arete) then is a settled disposition of the mind determining the choice of actions and emotions, consisting essentially in the observance of the mean relative to us, this being determined by principle, that is, as the prudent man would determine it." Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, II vi 15, translated H. Rackham (1934: Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press)
• "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 (arete), if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." New Testament, Philippians 4.8.

References

1. Paideia; the Ideals of Greek Culture, Werner Jaeger, Oxford University Press, NY, 1945. Vol. I, pg 5.
2. Paideia, Vol. I, pg. 15.

Werner Jaeger Werner Jaeger (July 30, 1888 - October 9, 1961) was a classicist of the 20th century. ...

Sources and reading

• Greek-English Lexicon, Liddell & Scott (1883: Oxford, Oxford University Press)
• Paideia: The Ideals of Greek Culture, Werner Jaeger, trans. Gilbert Highet (1945: New York, Oxford University Press)
• "Arete/Agathon/Kakon", G.B. Kerferd (in Paul Edwards [ed.-in-chief] The Encyclopedia of Philosophy (1967: New York, Macmillan & The Free Press)