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AREOPAGUS (Ἀρήιος πάγος)

      DAVID YATES

       Millsaps College

      The Areopagus is a rocky outcropping located west of the Athenian ACROPOLIS. Herodotus mentions the hill once as the place from which the Persians began their assault on the Acropolis in 480 BCE (8.52.1). The AMAZONS were later thought to have anticipated the Persians by using this same hill as a base for their earlier attack on the Acropolis (Aesch. Eum. 685–90). Herodotus makes no mention of the Areopagus council, even though ARISTOTLE later believed that its patriotic actions during the evacuation of Attica did much to ensure victory ([Arist.] Ath. pol. 23.1).

      SEE ALSO: Athens; Salamis (island and battle)

      FURTHER READING

      1 Boardman, John. 1982. “Herakles, Theseus and Amazons.” In The Eye of Greece: Studies in the Art of Athens, edited by Donna Kurtz and Brian Sparkes, 1–28. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

      2 Wallace, Robert W. 1989. The Areopagos Council to 307 B.C., 77–83. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

ARES ( Ἄρης, ὁ)

      GIAN FRANCO CHIAI

       Freie Universität Berlin

      Ares, the god of war, was the son of HERA and ZEUS. In Greek literature, he represents the physical and violent aspect of war (Burkert 2011, 259–61). We find such a metaphoric use of Ares in a Delphic ORACLE quoted by Herodotus (7.140). Describing Egyptian religion, Herodotus mentions the FESTIVAL celebrated in the city of PAPREMIS in honor of Ares, probably the Greek interpretatio of the Egyptian god HORUS or Onuris, said to be the sixth‐most important in EGYPT (2.59.3). During the procession of the Ares cult statue, the celebrants attack each other with wooden clubs, staging a fight (2.63; see Lloyd in ALC, 279–80).

      Ares is said by Herodotus to be particularly worshipped by the SCYTHIANS; it is their practice to make images and ALTARS and shrines for Ares, but for no other god (4.59). According to Herodotus, each district in Scythia has an Ares temple, built by piling up bundles of sticks. On this sacred pile, three‐eighths of a mile wide and long, they set up a short IRON sword (akinakes) that represents the cult image (agalma) of the god. The Scythians sacrifice sheep, goats, and HORSES in honor of this sword; furthermore, they sacrifice one man in every hundred from among the enemies that they take alive, in a gruesome procedure described at some length (4.62; see Corcella in ALC, 623–28).

      Herodotus reports (5.7) that the THRACIANS worship only Ares, DIONYSUS, and ARTEMIS (Asheri 1990); he also mentions an Ares oracle sanctuary among a people serving in XERXES’ Persian invasion force, whose name has dropped out of our MANUSCRIPTS (7.76; Vannicelli and Corcella 2017, 387–88).

      SEE ALSO: Ethnography; Human Sacrifice; Religion, Greek; Ritual; Temples and Sanctuaries

      REFERENCES

      1 Asheri, David. 1990. “Herodotus on Thracian Society and History.” In Hérodote et les peuples non grecs, edited by Giuseppe Nenci, 131–69. Geneva: Fondation Hardt.

      2 Burkert, Walter. 2011. Griechische Religion der archaischen und klassischen Epoche. 2nd edition. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.

      3 Vannicelli, Pietro, and Aldo Corcella, eds. 2017. Erodoto. Le Storie, libro VII: Serse e Leonida. Milan: Mondadori.

ARETĒ (ἀρετή, ἡ)

      JESSICA M. ROMNEY

       MacEwan University

      Aretē (ἀρετή) is a competitive value often translated as “excellence” or “virtue.” For HOMER and HESIOD there are many different types of aretē (cf. Tyrtaeus F12 West, IEG ²), and Herodotus similarly uses aretē to cover a range of “excellence,” though he focuses on martial excellence. Plato and ARISTOTLE use aretē to denote virtue more broadly (for a discussion of how aretē evolves from Homer onwards, see Adkins 1960, esp. 70–85).

      In Herodotus’ narrative, there are three categories of aretē. The first is aretē as general excellence (1.134; 3.88, 106; 4.198; 7.5, 237; 8.144). The inscription on DARIUS I’s statue, for example, states that he gained the crown “through the prowess (ἀρετή) of his horse” (3.88). Likewise, the quality of a region’s soil is indicated by its aretē; LIBYA’s is “too poor” (οὐδ’ ἀρετήν (4.198)), while MARDONIUS comments on the fertility of EUROPE’s soil (7.5.3).

The second type of aretē is that won or recognized through COMPETITION (3.82, 120; 8.26). In this regard, Herodotus’ use of aretē is similar to that of Homeric EPIC, where HEROES compete to win aretē on and off the battlefield. Negative competition over aretē includes the example of oligarchic strife given by Darius in the CONSTITUTIONAL DEBATE (3.82) and MITROBATES’ and OROETES’ comparison of their achievements (κρινομένων περὶ ἀρετῆς) which becomes the catalyst for the fall of POLYCRATES. A potential positive example appears when the Persians deride the Greek practice of competing for aretē in the Olympic Games instead of for MONEY (8.26; on athletic aretē, see Golden 2004, 15).

      The final type of aretē is that displayed during combat (1.52, 176; 5.49; 7.102, 154, 181, 225; 8.1, 92; 9.21, 28, 40, 70, 71). This form is defined by DEMARATUS as he asserts that the Greeks have an aretē learned from wisdom and strong LAWS to keep poverty and absolute rule at bay (7.102). Most displays of martial aretē are by Greek individuals or forces; the Xanthians against HARPAGUS (1.176) and the Persians in the skirmishes leading up to PLATAEA (9.40) are the two exceptions. PYTHEAS SON OF ISCHENOUS is twice singled out for his aretē (7.181; 8.92); he and GELON (7.154) are the only historical individuals whose aretē is remarked upon. The majority of instances of martial aretē occur in Books 7–9, primarily in connection with the major battles of THERMOPYLAE, SALAMIS, and Plataea. Martial aretē can also take the form of a prize; in 9.71 Herodotus ranks the two sides and their contingents, awarding the “prize of valor” (ἀρετή) to the Lacedaemonians.

      SEE ALSO: Athletes and Athletic Games; Courage; Honor; Warfare; Xanthus

      REFERENCES

      1 Adkins, A. W. H. 1960. Merit and Responsibility: A Study in Greek Values. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

      2 Golden, Mark. 2004. Sport in the Ancient World from A to Z. London: Routledge.

      FURTHER READING

      1 Finkelberg, Margalit. 1998. “Τιμή and ἀρετή in Homer.” CQ 48.1: 14–28.

      2 Jaeger, Werner Wilhelm. 1966. “Tyrtaeus on True Aretē.” In Five Essays, translated by Adele M. Fiske, 103–42. Montreal: Mario Casalini.

      ARGADES, see ION

      ARGAEUS (Ἀργαῖος, ὁ)

      CHRISTOPHER BARON

       University of Notre Dame

      Argaeus appears in the list of Macedonian rulers given by Herodotus (8.139), descendants of PERDICCAS, the legendary founder of the kingship. The list presents the “pedigree” of ALEXANDER SON OF AMYNTAS; Herodotus tends to introduce such lists at key moments in the narrative (Bowie 2007, 219). Here, Alexander is about to address the Athenians as an envoy of the Persian general MARDONIUS in the winter of 481/0 BCE. The royal house of MACEDONIA traced its ancestry to the Greek city of ARGOS.

      SEE

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