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The Gendering of Virtue: Cultural Influence on the Semantic Development of Aretē and Virtus
Rogers, Jack Joseph
Rogers, Jack Joseph
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Abstract
The centrality of aretē and virtus in the value systems of the Greeks and Romans has been examined by many scholars, yet the lack of a comprehensive study directly comparing the semantic development of each term within their individual historical and cultural contexts represents a major gap in our understanding of these familiar yet elusive words. The present study represents a first step towards filling this gap by examining each word in a selection of authors to tease out nuances in meaning particular to their contexts. Chapter 1 analyzes the use of aretē in sources ranging from the eighth to the fourth centuries B.C.E., focusing on passages from Homer, Pindar, Plato, and Aristotle. Chapter 2 applies a similar analysis to virtus in authors from the third century B.C.E. through the first century C.E., concentrating on Plautus, Cicero’s philosophical corpus, Valerius Maximus, and several early imperial epicists. These close readings demonstrate how three important dichotomies – male vs. female, young vs. old, and free vs. slave – are frequently employed to to clarify the meaning of achieving “excellence” or “manliness” for the default norm of an adult, male citizen. This reveals the role of the Other which has currently been underappreciated by scholars. This study also suggests a similar trend in the semantic development of each word, with an initial meaning focused heavily though by no means exclusively on excellence in martial contexts, a gradual expansion towards broader moral and ethical connotations (whence the modern proclivity to translate both words as “virtue”), and the eventual restriction of acquisition to an elite group of individuals. Differences are accounted for with reference to specific cultural and historical factors, such as the reduction in accessibility of virtus occurring more quickly due to co-option by the imperial family.
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Date
2020-08-31
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University of Kansas
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Keywords
Classical studies, Philosophy, aretē, virtus