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Aidos

Theme in Ancient Greek literature

Aidos or Aedos (; Greek: Αἰδώς, ) was the Greek personification of either shame or modesty. Aidos, as a quality, was that feeling of reverence or shame which restrains men from wrong. It also encompassed the emotion that a rich person might feel in the presence of the impoverished, that their disparity of wealth, whether a matter of luck or merit, was ultimately undeserved. Ancient and Christian humility share common themes: they both reject egotism, self-centeredness, arrogance, and excessive pride; they also recognize human limitations. Aristotle defined it as a middle ground between vanity and cowardice.

Mythology

She was the last goddess to leave the earth after the Golden Age. She was a close companion of the goddess of vengeance Nemesis. One source calls her daughter of Prometheus. Mythologically, she is often considered to be more of a personification than a physical deity.

There are references to her in various early Greek plays, such as Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus, Iphigenia at Aulis by Euripides, and Oedipus Rex by Sophocles.

There were altars to Aidos in Athens and in Sparta. Icarius, a Spartan king, tried to persuade his daughter Penelope to stay in Sparta after her marriage to Odysseus. When Odysseus made Penelope choose between her father and her husband, she modestly covered her face with a veil, signaling her decision to leave with Odysseus. Understanding her choice, Icarius let them go and commemorated the moment by erecting a statue of Aidos at the spot.

Some sources mention Aeschyne (Ancient Greek: Αἰσχύνη) as a personification of shame and reverence.

Notes

References

Aeschylus, translated in two volumes. 1. Seven Against Thebes by Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1926. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
Bell, Robert E., Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary. ABC-Clio. 1991. .
Douglas L. Cairns, Aidos: The Psychology and Ethics of Honour and Shame in Ancient Greek Literature, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1992.
Hesiod, Works and Days from The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
Mythology by Edith Hamilton
Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Pindar, Odes translated by Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1990. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Pindar, The Odes of Pindar including the Principal Fragments with an Introduction and an English Translation by Sir John Sandys, Litt.D., FBA. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1937. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.

References

Zimmerman, J. E.. (1964). "Dictionary of Classical Mythology". Harper & Row.
Bell, Robert E.. (1991). "Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary". ABC-CLIO.
[[Hesiod]], ''Works and Days'' 170 ff.
[[Pindar]], ''Olympian Ode'' 7.44 ff.
[[Pausanias (geographer). Pausanias]], ''Graeciae Descriptio'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.17.1 1.17.1].
Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.20.10 3.20.10–11].
Pausanias, 3.20.10-11
[[Aeschylus]], ''[[Seven Against Thebes]]'' 409 ff.; [[Aesop]], ''Fables'' 528

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