Greek Mythology: Arête, Timê, Kleos

This report examines the concepts of Arête (excellence), Timê (honor), and Kleos (glory) within the context of Greek mythology. It defines each term, exploring their symbolic meanings and providing examples from Greek literature and legends. The report discusses Arête as a virtue representing moral excellence and its connection to knowledge and balance. Timê is presented as honor bestowed upon gods and heroes, often through rituals and sacrifices. Finally, Kleos is described as glory earned through heroic deeds and wisdom, sometimes associated with death as the ultimate achievement. The report uses examples from various sources, including the Odyssey and works by Euripides, to illustrate these concepts and their interconnectedness within the framework of ancient Greek culture.

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Table of Contents
Introduction..............................................................................................................................1
Arête..........................................................................................................................................1
Timê...........................................................................................................................................2
Kleos..........................................................................................................................................2
Bibliography.............................................................................................................................3

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Introduction
Greek mythology has been an integral part of the history of the world. This civilization was
established in early times as much as 1000 years ago. Greek mythology has been famous for
its literature and religion and has been the building blocks of the civilization for years to
come.
In this report we will be discussing the concept of arete (excellence), timê (honor), and kleos
(glory) in Greek mythology and discussing their roles in Greek Mythology.
Arête
Arête is the term related to excellence or knowledge in Greek mythology. It finds its path
again deep rooted in the Greek gods somewhere.
Arête, was the goddess of excellence. Popularly known as Queen Arête was the wife of
Alcinous, who was the king of Phaeacians and mothered two children: Nausicaa and
Laodamas. They both are said to be the decedents of Posedon (Asedopholis, A study of Arete
in Greek Mythology)
Not much is known about Arête as she was a minor Greek goddess. It has been depicted in
“the Odyssey” that she was the queen of Scheria and is closely associated to knowledge and
excellence.
Symbolically speaking, Arête refers to the knowledge possessed by some one or his virtue of
excellence, which is unique to everyone and not common. For example, the excellence
possessed by a man is different than the excellence possessed by a dog. It actually refers to
the “moral virtue” one possesses.
This has a clear mention in Palto’s Allegory where its deep meaning with the application has
been explained quite nicely. According to Greek mythology, Arête is the highest virtue
possessed by a being (DeMichele)

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Arête has been placed at the highest pedestals of the god things and considers to be the true to
its form of moderation, justice, happiness, equality, morality and duty. It points in a way to
all the higher status that a man wishes to achieve by his virtue. Every girl wishes to marry a
man who possess these virtues and lives by them in the society, for he is not only righteous in
nature, but also Equanimeous and just.
We are or possess Arête is us when:
 We are being our true selves and adhering to all rules of being excellent ie, only a a
perfect seed can grow into a perfect plant
 If we can offer happiness to people alike
 If our soul is in perfect balance
Arête is something which every complete individual wishes to achieve.
Timê
Timê is referred to as honour in Greek Mythology. It refers to the honour paid to all the gods
and hero’s in Greek mythology. It is however not only restricted to certain oral practices, but
can also take form of rituals and sacrifices as well.
As mentioned in the Euripide’s Herakle’s (1328-1337), king Theseus of Athens announces
all the honour and glory that Herakle’s will get once he is back from war. It signifies his
virtues as a warrior and how he is befitted to this timeless glory and honour, or better timê
(Ann)
This honour calls for his worship even after he dies and the city will remember him to bring
him back. So basically, time is based on the background of a tragic hero of Greek mythology
Herakle and how he was honoured and glorified by sacrifices and ritual to bring back to life.
When one looks at its symbolicall meaning, we can realise that time refers to the person’s
accumulation of all honour and glory which they possess by their Arête or by their virtue.
This focuses on the part of attaining it and then eventually maintaining it as well. Since it is
said that honour, pride, respect and ego are just a matter of few minutes. They come and go

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and in order ot be retained they are to be well kept, preserved and even feared for they are
nobody’s constant companion.
The legends have many description and reasoning behind the term Timê and how it came into
existence. It refers to a lot of sacrifices, bloodshed and battles with the self.
Kleos
Kleos is ancient Greek mythology refers to Glory, again can be considered to be a subset of
Timê. It refers to a lifetime full of glory achieved by the virtue of heroic acts and wisdom.
The glory and its notion however isn’t that simple. The glory comes to those who achieve
what they seek. It is hard earned in nature unlike Timê. It calls for complete dedication
leaving everyone and everything behind, executing complete focus and accomplishing great
deeds on and off the battlefield (Langois).
It is said that someone who isa hero will only achieve Kleos as he won’t ever give up his
dream, but might give up his family, wife, children or anything which stops him from
achieving his dream.
On a subtle deeper level. This calls for an in-depth analysis of human character of their wants
and needs and how sometime can we leave everything and everyone for that one thing we
have sod desired for. Kleos is our true self.
However some section og Greek myth also connects Kleos with death, which again is a glory
attained after the battle called life (Bryan)
Bibliography
Asedopholis, Achia. Arete in Greek Mythology: Definition & Explanation. 2016.
<https://study.com/academy/lesson/arete-in-greek-mythology-definition-lesson-
quiz.html>.

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—. Arete in Greek Mythology: Definition & Explanation. 2017.
<https://study.com/academy/lesson/arete-in-greek-mythology-definition-lesson-
quiz.html>.
—. A study of Arete in Greek Mythology. 2017. <https://study.com/academy/lesson/arete-in-
greek-mythology-definition-lesson-quiz.html>.
DeMichele, Thomas. Arete Explained. 2016. <http://factmyth.com/arete-explained/>.
Ann, Marry. Timé- a description . 2015. <http://www.uh.edu/~cldue/3307/time.html>.
Langois, Krista. Kleos in Ancient Greek Culture & Beliefs. 2016.
<https://study.com/academy/lesson/kleos-in-ancient-greek-culture-beliefs.html>.
Bryan, Van. Kleos: Death and Glory. 2015. <https://classicalwisdom.com/kleos-death-
glory/>.