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{{Short description|Greek philosophical concept}}
{{About|the philosophical concept|the thin ridge of rock formed by glaciers|Arête|5=Arete (mythology)|the mythological figure|7=Arete (disambiguation)}}
{{italic title}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| member_of = The [[Praxidicae]]
| name = Arete
| image = Arete - Areté- Éfeso.jpg
| caption = Statue of Arete in [[Library of Celsus|Celsus' Library]] in [[Ephesus]], 2nd century AD
| god_of = Goddess of excellence and virtue
| symbol =
| parents = [[Praxidice]] and [[Soter (daimon)|Soter]]
| siblings = [[Homonoia (mythology)|Homonoia]]
| gender = Female
| equivalent1 = [[Virtus (deity)|Virtus]]
| equivalent1_type = Roman
}}

'''{{Transliteration|grc|Arete}}''' ({{Langx|grc|{{Linktext|ἀρετή}}|translit=aretḗ}}) is a [[concept]] in [[ancient Greek thought]] that refers to "excellence" of any kind<ref name="LSJ">{{cite book|editor-link1=Henry Liddell|editor-last1=Liddell|editor-first1=H. G.|editor-link2=Robert Scott (philologist)|editor-last2=Scott|editor-first2=R.|title-link=A Greek–English Lexicon|title=A Greek–English Lexicon|edition=9th|location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=1940|chapter-url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=LSJ%20a)reth/&lang=original|chapter=ἀρετή }}</ref>—especially a person or thing's "full realization of potential or inherent function."<ref>{{cite web | title=Arete: definition and meaning | website=Collins English Dictionary | date=5 July 2023 | url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/arete | ref={{sfnref | Collins English Dictionary | 2023}} | access-date=5 July 2023}}</ref> The term may also refer to excellence in "[[Virtue|moral virtue]]."<ref name="LSJ" />

The concept was also occasionally personified as a minor goddess, '''Arete''' (not to be confused with the mythological Queen [[Arete (mythology)|Arete]]), who, together with sister [[Homonoia (mythology)|Homonoia]], formed the {{lang|grc|[[Praxidikai]]}} ("Exacters of Justice").

In its earliest appearance in [[Greek language|Greek]], this notion of excellence was bound up with the notion of the [[telos|fulfillment of purpose]] or function: living up to one's potential. A person of {{transliteration|grc|arete}} is of the highest effectiveness; such a person uses all of their faculties—[[Self-control|strength]], [[bravery]], and [[wit]]—to achieve real results. In the [[Homeric]] world, {{Transliteration|grc|arete}} involves all of the abilities and potentialities available to humans. Though particularly associated with "manly" qualities,<ref name="LSJ" /> the Homeric usage of the term was not necessarily gender-specific, as Homer applied the term to both the [[Greek Heroic Age|Greek]] and [[Trojan War|Trojan]] heroes as well as major female figures, such as [[Penelope]], the wife of Greek hero [[Odysseus]]. In the [[Homeric poems]], {{transliteration|grc|arete}} is frequently associated with bravery, but more often with effectiveness.

In some contexts, {{Transliteration|grc|arete}} is explicitly linked with human knowledge, where the expressions "[[virtue is knowledge]]" and "{{Transliteration|grc|arete}} is knowledge" are used interchangeably. In this sense, the highest human potential is knowledge, and all other human abilities derive from this central capacity. If {{Transliteration|grc|arete}} is knowledge, 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.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Aristotle |author-link=Aristotle |chapter=X: Conclusion |chapter-url=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/aristotle/nicomachean-ethics/f-h-peters/text/book-10#chapter-10-2-7 |title=Nicomachean Ethics |title-link=Nicomachean Ethics}}</ref>

==History==
The [[ancient Greeks]] applied the term {{transliteration|grc|arete}} ({{Langx|grc|{{Linktext|ἀρετή}}|translit=|label=none}}) to anything: for example, the excellence of a chimney, the excellence of a bull for breeding, and the excellence of a man. The meaning of the word changes depending on what it describes since everything has its own excellence; the {{transliteration|grc|arete}} of a man is different from the {{transliteration|grc|arete}} of a horse. This way of thinking originates from [[Plato]], where it can be seen in the [[Allegory of the Cave]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Plato, Republic, Book 6|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plat.+Rep.+6&fromdoc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0168|access-date=2021-11-30|website=Perseus Digital Library}}</ref> In particular, the [[aristocracy|aristocratic class]] was presumed, essentially by definition, to be exemplary of {{transliteration|grc|arete}}:<blockquote>The root of the word is the same as {{transliteration|grc|aristos}}, the word which shows superlative ability and superiority, and {{transliteration|grc|aristos}} was constantly used in the plural to denote the [[nobility]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Paideia; the Ideals of Greek Culture|first=Werner|last=Jaeger|author-link=Werner Jaeger|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|year=1945|volume=I|page=5}}</ref></blockquote>By {{BCE|the 5th and 4th centuries}}, {{transliteration|grc|arete}} as applied to men had developed to include quieter virtues, such as {{transliteration|grc|[[dikaiosyne]]}} ([[justice]]) and {{transliteration|grc|[[sophrosyne]]}} ([[self-restraint]]). Though Plato tried to produce a [[moral philosophy]] that incorporated this new usage, it was in the [[Nicomachean Ethics]] of [[Aristotle]] that the doctrine of {{transliteration|grc|arete}} found its fullest flowering. Aristotle's [[Golden mean (philosophy)|Doctrine of the Mean]] is a paradigm example of his thinking.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Bekker page 1094a|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Aristot.+Nic.+Eth.&fromdoc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0054|access-date=2021-11-30|website=Perseus Digital Library}}</ref>

Aristotle deliberated on the various goals of education: including practical skills, {{transliteration|grc|arete}}, and theory.<ref>{{cite book|author=Aristotle|author-link=Aristotle|title=Politics|title-link=Politics (Aristotle)|at=VIII}}</ref><ref name=Miller>{{cite book |url = https://archive.org/details/aretegreeksports0000unse_j0h6 |title = Ancient Greek Athletics |first = Stephen G. |last = Miller |date= 2004|author-link=Stephen G. Miller |publisher = University of California Press |isbn = 978-0300115291|edition=3rd }}</ref>{{rp|[https://archive.org/details/aretegreeksports0000unse_j0h6/page/149/mode/1up 149]–152}} Educating towards {{transliteration|grc|arete}} means boys would be educated towards things that are useful in life. However, there is no agreement about what constitutes {{transliteration|grc|arete}}, which leads to disagreement about how to train students for {{transliteration|grc|arete}}.{{r|Miller|page=[https://archive.org/details/aretegreeksports0000unse_j0h6/page/150/mode/1up 150]}} To say that {{transliteration|grc|arete}} has a common definition of excellence or fulfillment may be an overstatement simply because it was very difficult to pinpoint {{transliteration|grc|arete}}, much less the proper ways to go about obtaining it.

=== Homer ===
In [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'' and ''[[Odyssey]]'', {{transliteration|grc|arete}} mainly describes heroes and nobles and their mobile dexterity, with special reference to [[Physical strength|strength]] and [[courage]], though it is not limited to this.<ref name="LSJ" /> For instance, the excellence of the gods generally included their power, but, in the ''Odyssey'' (13.42), [[Odysseus]] asked the gods to grant the [[Phaeacians]] {{transliteration|grc|arete}}, which here is generally translated as prosperity.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Homer, Odyssey|at=Book 13, line 1|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0136:book=13:card=1|access-date=2021-11-30|website=Perseus Digital Library}}</ref> [[Penelope]]'s {{transliteration|grc|arete}}, as another example, relates to [[co-operation]], for which she is praised by [[Agamemnon]]. Though associated with "manly" qualities,<ref name="LSJ" /> the Homeric usage of the term was not necessarily gender-specific, as Homer applied the term to major female figures as well as the [[Greek Heroic Age|Greek]] and [[Trojan War|Trojan]] heroes.

The ''Odyssey'' states that "far-sounding Zeus takes away half the arete of a man, when the day of slavery takes hold of him."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Powell |first1=Anton |title=The Greek World |date=11 September 2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-69864-6 |page=53 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dsOEAgAAQBAJ&dq=slave+arete&pg=PA53 |language=en}}</ref>

In the ''Iliad'', the way Homer describes [[Achilles]] is an example of {{transliteration|grc|arete}}. {{transliteration|grc|Arete}} is associated with the goodness and prowess of a warrior. Debra Hawhee points out that the norms and practices of [[Athens|Athenian]] virtuosity "operate within the politics of reputation, whose normative poles are honor and shame."<ref name=":1">{{cite journal | last=Hawhee | first=Debra | title=Agonism and Arete | journal=Philosophy and Rhetoric | publisher=The Pennsylvania State University Press | volume=35 | issue=3 | year=2002 | issn=1527-2079 | doi=10.1353/par.2003.0004 | pages=185–207| s2cid=143802236 }}</ref> Dying in battle or securing a victory in the [[Ancient Olympic Games|Olympic Games]] were considered {{Transliteration|grc|agathos}} ("good") and, hence, deserving of {{Transliteration|grc|[[timê]]}} ("honor"). So, not only is Achilles a brave and brilliant warrior but also, from the outset, he is destined to die in battle at [[Troy]] with the utmost glory—a guarantor of {{transliteration|grc|arete}}.<ref name=":1" />

According to [[Bernard Knox]]'s notes in the [[Robert Fagles]]' translation of ''The Odyssey'', "{{transliteration|grc|arete}}" is also associated with {{Transliteration|grc|araomai}}, the Greek word for "pray".<ref>{{cite book|title=The Odyssey|translator-first=Robert|translator-last=Fagles|chapter=Introduction and notes|first=Bernard|last=Knox|publisher=Penguin Classics Deluxe Ed|location=London|date=1996}}</ref>

==<!-- [[Arete (goddess)]] links here -->Personification==
{{Hatnote|For the Roman equivalent deity, see [[Virtus (deity)|Virtus]]}}
{{Greek myth (personified)}}
[[File:Annibale Carracci - The Choice of Heracles - WGA4416.jpg|thumb|''The [[The Choice of Hercules (Carracci)|Choice of Hercules]]'' by Carracci, 1596. Depicts Hercules deciding between Vice (right) and Virtue, or Arete (left)]]
Arete was occasionally personified as a goddess, the sister of [[Homonoia (mythology)|Homonoia]] (goddess of concord, unanimity, and oneness of mind), and the daughter of [[Praxidike]] (goddess of justice). Arete and Homonoia were known jointly as the {{transliteration|grc|[[Praxidikai]]}} ("Exacters of Justice"). As with many minor Greek deities, there is little or no real mythical background to Arete, who is used at most as a personification of [[Virtus (deity)|virtue]].

The only surviving story involving Arete was told in {{BCE|the 5th century}} by the [[sophist]] [[Prodicus]]. Known as "[[Hercules at the crossroads]]", it concerns the early life of the [[hero]] [[Heracles]]. At a crossroads, Arete appeared to Heracles as a young maiden and offered him glory and a life of struggle against evil; her counterpart [[Kakia]] ({{Langx|el|κακία|lit=badness|label=none}}) offered him wealth and pleasure. Heracles chose to follow the path of Arete.<ref>{{Citation|last=Xenophon|title=The Memorabilia Recollections of Socrates|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1177/1177-h/1177-h.htm#link2H_4_0004|work=Book II|year=1897|publisher=Macmillan and Co.|access-date=2021-06-11|translator-last=Dakyns}}</ref>

This story was later used by [[Christianity|Christian]] writers, such as [[Methodius of Olympus]], [[Justin Martyr]], [[Clement of Alexandria]], and [[Basil of Caesarea]].

==Examples of usage==
* In Aristotle's ''[[Nicomachean Ethics]]'', Book 2, chapter 6: "Virtue ({{transliteration|grc|arete}}), then, is a habit or trained faculty of choice, the characteristic of which lies in moderation or observance of the mean relatively to the persons concerned, as determined by reason, i.e., by the reason by which the prudent man would determine it."<ref>{{cite book|author=Aristotle|author-link=Aristotle|title=Nicomachean Ethics|title-link=Nicomachean Ethics|translator-first=F.H.|translator-last=Peters|chapter=II. Moral Virtue|chapter-url=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/aristotle/nicomachean-ethics/f-h-peters/text/book-2#chapter-2-1-6|date=1906}}</ref>
* In the Admonition of [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] in {{bibleverse|Philippians|4:8}}: "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence ({{transliteration|grc|arete}}) and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."
* [[Robert Pirsig]] uses "{{transliteration|grc|arete}}" as a synonym for "quality" in his book ''[[Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance]]'', which includes an extensive discussion of Plato's ''[[Phaedrus (dialogue)|Phaedrus]]'' and the historical contrast between [[Dialectic]] and [[Rhetoric]]: "And what is good, Phaedrus, And what is not good—Need we ask anyone to tell us these things?"<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Robert M. Pirsig|last=Pirsig|first=Robert M.|year=1974|title=Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance|title-link=Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance}}</ref> Pirsig's line plays off a line in the Platonic dialogue ''The Phaedrus'' which reads: "And what is well and what is badly—need we ask Lysias, or any other poet or orator, who ever wrote or will write either a political or any other work, in metre or out of metre, poet or prose writer, to teach us this?"<ref>{{cite book|author=Plato|author-link=Plato|title-link=Phaedrus (dialogue)|title=Phaedrus|translator-link=Benjamin Jowett|translator-first=Benjamin|translator-last=Jowett}}</ref>
* In a [[Pindar]]ian ode inscribed on the base of an Olympian victor's statue for the boxer [[Diagoras of Rhodes]]: "O father Zeus, give honor to this hymn for a victor at Olympia, and to his now famous {{transliteration|grc|arete}} in boxing."<ref name="Miller" />
* Arete is the name of a key protagonist in [[The Philosopher Kings (novel)|''The Philosopher Kings'']], the second book of [[Jo Walton]]'s [[The Just City|''Thessaly trilogy'']] in which a group of people gathered by the [[time-traveling]] [[goddess]] [[Athena]] work to achieve the ideal society as described in [[Republic (Plato)|Plato's ''Republic'']]. She is a precocious teenager who also appears in the sequel. Arete's name and its meaning ("excellence") is a small but important plot point in the book—as well as a general theme of the series as a whole.

=== Athletics ===
{{transliteration|grc|Arete}} was also used by [[Plato]] in his discussion of athletic training and the education of young boys.<ref name=Miller /> It was commonly believed that the mind, body, and soul each had to be developed for a man to live a life of {{transliteration|grc|arete}}. This led to the thought that athletics had to be present in order to obtain {{transliteration|grc|arete}}. Athletics did not need to occupy one's life, but could be used to exercise the body into the right condition for {{transliteration|grc|arete}}, just as the mind and soul would be exercised by other means.<ref name="Miller" />

=== Paideia ===
{{transliteration|grc|Arete}} is a significant part of the {{transliteration|grc|[[paideia]]}} of ancient Greeks: the training of the boy to manhood. This training in {{transliteration|grc|arete}} included [[physical training]], for which the Greeks developed the {{transliteration|grc|[[Gymnasium (ancient Greece)|gymnasion]]}}; mental training, which included [[Public speaking|oratory]], [[rhetoric]], and [[basic science]]s; and [[spirituality|spiritual]] training, which included [[music]] and what is called [[virtue]].

==See also==
* {{annotated link|[[Aretaic turn]]}}
* {{annotated link|[[Aretology]]}}
* {{annotated link|[[Maturity (psychological)]]}}
* {{annotated link|[[Mens sana in corpore sano]]}} ("a healthy mind in a healthy body")
* {{annotated link|[[Pirsig's metaphysics of Quality]]}}
* {{annotated link|[[Virtue ethics]]}}
* {{annotated link|[[Virtus]]}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

===Further reading===
* {{cite book|last=Kerferd|first=G.B.|date=1967|chapter=Arete/Agathon/Kakon|title=The Encyclopedia of Philosophy|title-link=The Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor-first=P.|editor-last=Edwards|location=New York|publisher=Macmillan & The Free Press}}
* [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/173495434-aret Areté: Activate Your Heroic Potential by Brian Johnson | Goodreads]
{{Ancient Greek philosophical concepts}}
{{Virtues}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Concepts in ancient Greek ethics]]
[[Category:Hellenistic deities]]
[[Category:Virtue]]