An Origin of a Theory: A Comparison of Ethos in the Homeric Iliad with that Found in Aristotle's Rhetoric (original) (raw)

is an epic story about human character, which predates the Aristotelian lectures by some four hundred years. While classical scholars have always valued Aristotle's notion of ethos as a primary factor in persuasion, few have traced this concept to this earlier period. Following a close analysis of speeches in the Iliad, this examination attempts to reconstruct what Homer's theory of character might have looked like. While Aristotle seems to have understood character much differently than did Homer, enough evidence exists to suggest that Aristotle may have embraced Homer's Iliad and the story it tells about the importance of age, social convention, and the heroic. Homer's works are vital not only as literary masterpieces but also as cornerstones for much of Western philosophy. 1 It is widely accepted that the Homeric epics were valued as guides for future writers, rhapsodes, and thinkers, but the extent to which they inspired later philosophies of rhetoric needs to be reassessed. Homer's conception of character, for example, is largely overlooked when rhetoric scholars focus on persuasion in ancient Greece. This essay reveals that the focus on character in the Iliad is an anchor for the more advanced notion of ethos found centuries later in Aristotle. Although Kennedy has argued that "we cannot trace the development of artistic ethos in early human rhetoric" we can, based upon an interpretation of speeches in the Iliad, cull out an implicit "Homeric" theory of character (Comparative 43). Although the concept itself is rarely explicit in the Iliad, it is not the case that character was not important. "Homer," as Vivante has written, "plunges us into the very essence of character" (45). Indeed, Homer discussed qualities that are essential to our modern ethical theories, including the virtues of excellence, eloquence, and goodness. These are frequently attributed, for example, to King Nestor. In fact, when Zeus sent the dream to Agamemnon, it was Nestor whose image appeared because it was he "whom above all the elders Agamemnon held in honor" (Iliad 2.20-21).