Kleos (Ancient Greek:κλέος) is theGreek word often translated to "renown" or "glory". It is related to the English word "loud" and carries the implied meaning of "what others hear about you". A Greekhero earnskleos through accomplishing great deeds.
According toGregory Nagy, besides the meaning of "glory",kleos can also be used as the medium (in this case, the ancient Greek poetry or song) which conveys glory.[1]
Kleos is invariably transferred from father to son; the son is responsible for carrying on and building upon the "glory" of the father. This is a reason forPenelope putting off her suitors for so long, and one justification forMedea's murder of her own children was to cut shortJason's kleos.
Kleos is a common theme inHomer's epics, theIliad and theOdyssey, the main example in the latter being that ofOdysseus and his son Telemachus, who is concerned that his father may have died a pathetic and pitiable death at sea rather than a reputable and gracious one in battle. TheIliad is about gaining ultimatekleos on the battlefields of Troy while theOdyssey is the ten-year quest of Odysseus'nostos (or return journey). Telemachus fears that he has been deprived ofkleos. This links to hereditarykleos, as heroes obtainimmortality through eternal fame of their actions and lineage.
According to Nagy,kleos is a noun, derived from the verbkluein, which means 'hear'.[2]
From other sources, the Greek term kleos is derived from theProto-Indo-European (PIE) term*ḱléwos, which expressed a similar concept in PIE society. As the PIE people had no concept of the continuation of the individual after life, one could only hope to achieve*ḱléwos *n̥dhgwhitóm, or "the fame that does not decay."[3] As Bruce Lincoln notes, "In a universe where impersonal matter endured forever but the personal self was extinguished at death, the most which could survive of that self was a rumor, a reputation. For this, the person craving immortality—a condition proper only to the gods and antithetical to human existence—was totally reliant on poets and poetry."[4][5]
Cognates includeSanskrit, श्रवस् (śravas);Avestan, 𐬯𐬭𐬀𐬬𐬀𐬵;Armenian, լու (low);Old Church Slavonicslava, andOld Irish, clú. Compare to the Greek: κλύω (klúō - I hear).[6]
The Greek philosopher Plato, in his dialogSymposium devoted to discussing love, digresses into the subject of fame and glory. This comes in the section that concerns the dialog betweenSocrates andDiotima. She is explaining that men search for some kind of immortality, for instance by means of physical and intellectual procreation. She then asserts that the love for fame and glory is very strong, and in fact to obtain them, men are ready to engage in great efforts, and also run risks and sacrifices, even of their lives (self-sacrifice), and will sacrifice still more for this than for their children. She then referencesAlcestis (who died to saveAdmetus),Achilles (to avengePatroclus), andCodrus, as examples of heroes in search of fame and immortal renown.[7]
Plato believed "There's a victory, and defeat; the first and best of victories, the lowest and worst of defeats which each man gains or sustains at the hands not of another, but of himself."[citation needed] Plato emphasized thatvictory is self-motivated, while glory is to benefit future victory.
Plato's specific commentary about life's glories that"The first and best victory is to conquer self. To be conquered by self is, of all things, the most shameful and vile." has been later referenced by magazines and newspapers such as theAmerican news publicationForbes (in June 1928).[8]