An aretalogy (), from ἀρετή (aretḗ, “virtue”) + - logy,or aretology (from ancient Greek aretê, "excellence, virtue") in the strictest sense is a narrative about a divine figure's miraculous deeds where a

deity A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...

's attributes are listed, in the form of poem or text, in the first person. The equivalent term in Sanskrit is ''ātmastuti''. 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. These literary works were usually associated with eastern

cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...

Usage

Often each line starts with the standard "I am …". Usually, aretalogies are self praising. They are found in the sacred texts of later

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

and in Greco- Roman times. Aretalogies of

Isis Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

would be recited every day by an aretalogist who would have to memorise a huge list of attributes which they would have to recite (Priests and priestesses of Isis had equal rank in the temple). The aretalogies of ancient Egypt provide some the most complete information extant about their deities. Aretalogies are found as early as the Coffin Texts. In a Ptolemaic aretalogy,

says about herself: In the

Greco-Roman world The Greco-Roman world , also Greco-Roman civilization, Greco-Roman culture or Greco-Latin culture (spelled Græco-Roman or Graeco-Roman in British English), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and co ...

, aretologies represent a religious branch of

rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...

and are a prose development of the

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' d ...

as praise poetry.

Asclepius Asclepius (; ''Asklēpiós'' ; ) is a hero and god of medicine in ancient Religion in ancient Greece, Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology. He is the son of Apollo and Coronis (lover of Apollo), Coronis, or Arsinoe (Greek myth), Ars ...

, and

Serapis Serapis or Sarapis is a Egyptian Greeks, Graeco-Egyptian god. A Religious syncretism, syncretic deity derived from the worship of the Egyptian Osiris and Apis (deity), Apis, Serapis was extensively popularized in the third century BC on the ord ...

are among the deities with surviving aretologies in the form of inscriptions and

papyri Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can ...

. The earliest records of divine acts emerged from cultic hymns for these deities, were inscribed in stones, and displayed in temples. The Greek ''aretologos'' (ἀρετολόγος, "virtue-speaker") was a temple official who recounted aretologies and may have also interpreted dreams. By extension, an aretology is also a "catalogue of virtues" belonging to a person; for example,

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

's list and description of the virtues of Pompeius Magnus ("Pompey the Great") in the speech '' Pro Lege Manilia''. Aretology became part of the Christian rhetorical tradition of

hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian ...

. In an even more expanded sense, aretology is

moral philosophy Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied et ...

which deals with

virtue A virtue () is a trait of excellence, including traits that may be morality, moral, social, or intellectual. The cultivation and refinement of virtue is held to be the "good of humanity" and thus is Value (ethics), valued as an Telos, end purpos ...

, its nature, and the means of arriving at it. It is the title of an ethical tract by Robert Boyle published in the 1640s.John T. Harwood, ''The Early Essays and Ethics of Robert Boyle'' (Southern Illinois University Press, 1991), p. xvii. Other scholars also consider literature that involve the praise of wisdom as aretology.

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External links

{{wiktionary, aretology, aretalogy
Detailed look at Aretology
from the Universal Encyclopedia of Philosophy Virtue Rhetoric Ancient Greek religion Ancient Roman religion Ancient Semitic religions Hellenistic religion Ptolemaic Kingdom

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