The Unmentionable Apophthegm : An Overview of the Pagan Greek Tradition

Early usage of the noun ἀπόφθεγμα and the corresponding verb are examined and discussed. The verb is consistently used to underline an authoritative speech act, calling attention to a particular individual’s dramatic statement. The noun “apophthegm” denote’s someone’s pointed utterance, often, but not necessarily, in response to a question. Overlappings of apophthegm with gnōmē, apomnēmoneuma, paroimia and chreia are also discussed. Apophthegms labeled as such in Xenophon, Aristotle, Plutarch, Diogenes Laertius, Stobaeus and other sources, are shown to be practically indistinguishable from chreia. Evidence for early collections of pagan apophthegms is summarized: apophthegmata occurs as a title for collections or as a header introducing lists of sayings in biographies from Hellenistic to medieval times. The collecting of anecdotes and apophthegms of famous people was related to growing biographical interests in character studies as well as a reflection of an increasingly literate society, or at least of the literary habits of an educated elite with cosmopolitan tastes. Pagan Greek apophthegms attributed to Greek celebrities, usually making a moral point, sometimes only a witty one, were ubiquitous in Greek and Roman society by the time the Christians got around to compiling their own collections of the apophthegms of the desert Fathers