Greek Wisdom Literature

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Nikolaos Lazaridis (Sacramento City College)

Ed. by Vaios Liapis, Open University of Cyprus
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.1.1: Greek Writing and Culture: Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Imperial, -800--100.
Vol. editors: Jonathan Burgess (University of Toronto), Anca Dan (École Practique de Hautes Études PSL), Martine Diepenbroek (University of Johannesburg), Giacomo Fedeli (University of Exeter), Victoria Fendel (University of Oxford), Emily Kneebone (University of Nottingham), Vaios Liapis (Open University of Cyprus), Elodie Paillard (University of Sydney), Mali Skotheim (Ashoka University), Laura Swift (The Open University), Guendalina Daniela Maria Taietti (University of Liverpool)

Domains

Literature Topic

Dates

Date of occurrence c.-800-400

Places

Ancient Greece (Location)

Genres and Modes

Aphorisms/ Maxims/ Proverbs

Resources

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I. Definitions

By wisdom literature we mean works or compilations offering instruction upon moral or practical issues of life within a community of people. In the context of Greek literature, wisdom material includes mainly proverbs (Greek: paroimiai), maxims (Greek: gnomai), or longer apophthegms and anecdotes (Greek: apophthegmata and chreiai).

wisdom literature

we mean works or compilations offering instruction upon moral or practical issues of life within a community of people. In the context of Greek literature, wisdom material includes mainly proverbs (Greek:

paroimiai

), maxims (Greek:

gnomai

), or longer apophthegms and anecdotes (Greek:

apophthegmata

and

chreiai

Distinction between these types of wisdom material is often blurry, and has given considerable trouble to scholars

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1277 words

Citation: Lazaridis, Nikolaos. "Greek Wisdom Literature". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 September 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=5546, accessed 22 November 2024.]