Aretalogy

An aretalogy (Greek: Αρεταλογία), from ἀρετή (aretḗ, “virtue”) + -logy,or aretology[1][2] (from ancient Greek aretê, "excellence, virtue") in the strictest sense is a narrative about a divine figure's miraculous deeds[3] where a deity's attributes are listed, in the form of poem or text, in the first person. The equivalent term in Sanskrit is ātmastuti.[4] 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.[5] These literary works were usually associated with eastern cults.[5]

  1. ^ Koester, Helmut (1995). History, Culture, and Religion of the Hellenistic Age, Second Edition. New York: Walter de Gruyter. p. 131. ISBN 3110146932.
  2. ^ Tenney, Merrill C. (2010). The Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible, Volume 1: Revised Full-Color Edition. Zondervan Academic. ISBN 9780310876960.
  3. ^ Fortna, Robert (2004). The Fourth Gospel and Its Predecessor. London: T&T Clark International. p. 53. ISBN 9780567080691.
  4. ^ Thompson, George (1997). "Ahaṃkāra and Ātmastuti: Self-Assertion and Impersonation in the Ṛgveda". History of Religions. 37 (2): 141–171. doi:10.1086/463494. JSTOR 3176343. S2CID 162074159.
  5. ^ a b King, Daniel (2018). Experiencing Pain in Imperial Greek Culture. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 138. ISBN 9780198810513.