Apophthegma - Encyclopedia Article

Apophthegma


A. Definition

Greek ἀπόφθεγμα (apóphthegma), Latin facete dictum, also sententia: with reference to a certain situation, often a difficult one, these have a claim to authenticity; they are usually short, often enigmatically formulated expressions -- as already in the earliest apophthegms that have survived from Theramenes (Xen. Hell. 2,3,56), Anaxagoras (Aristot. Metaph. 1009b 26), Pittacus (Aristot. Rh. 1389a 14-16), Stesichorus (Aristot. Rh. 1395a 1-2). In this way the apophthegma differs from the related chreia , the aphorism and the (conceptually broader) gnome.

Gärtner, Hans Armin (Heidelberg)


B. Antiquity

In Greek literature there are collections of apophthegms only from specific groups of people and epochs [3], thus from the Seven Sages, Socrates and the Socratics, other philosophers up to Chrysippus, politicians, orators and artists of the 4th cent. BC, Greek kings and military commanders, especially Alexander. After the end of the 3rd cent. BC, nearly all are only from Romans such as Cato, Cicero and Augustus. Three collections of apophthegmata have been handed down to posterity in Plutarch: those of kings and military commanders, of Spartans and of Spartan women (Plut. Mor. 172-208a, 208b-240b, 240c-242d). Representative of the many great collections of apophthegms which are similar to each other and which have been preserved is the Gnomologicum Vaticanum. In the 4th and 5th cents. AD, the Greek Apophthegmata patrum were created by Egyptian monks; these offer religious guidance from their own experience and are partly alphabetically arranged according to the speakers, partly systematically according to the behaviour addressed in them; they were often translated into Latin [1].

Gärtner, Hans Armin (Heidelberg)


C. Later reception

In humanism the tradition of antiquity is continued in the loci-communes-books [4. 824], thus in the Adagiorum Chiliades (1500, 1515), a collection of maxims from antiquity and Christian-Biblical sources, and the Apophthegmaton opus (1532) of Erasmus of Rotterdam. In F. Bacon's Apophthegms new and old (1624) the original situation-dependency of the apophthegm reappears. In Germany the apophthegm lived on in the Commentarius of E. S. Piccolomini (1456) with Latin sayings of German emperors, princes and politicians, as well as in the text written by J. W. Zincgref ‘Der Teutschen scharpfsinnige, kluge Sprüch, Apophthegmata genant’ (1626-1631). In the baroque period G. P. Harsdörfer applied himself to the Artis apophthegmaticae continuatio (1655/6) [4. 824]; this contained epigrams, anecdotes and aphorisms (in the modern sense); the original character of the apophthegma receded. In modern NT research ἀπόφθεγμα is used as a designation for words of Jesus, which are concerned with current problems in the community [5].

Gärtner, Hans Armin (Heidelberg)

Bibliography

1. k. s. frank, s. v. A.ta Patrum, LThK 31, 849
2. e. gemoll, Das A., 1924
3. o. gigon, k. rupprecht, s. v. A., LAW 222-223
4. f. h. robling, c. strosetzki, s. v. A., HWdR 1, 823-825
5. th. söding, s. v. A., LThk 31, 848
6. t. verweyen, A. und die Scherzrede, 1970.

Cite this page: "Apophthegma." Brill’s New Pauly. Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and , Helmuth Schneider. Brill Online, 2013. Reference. University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). 14 October 2013 <http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/apophthegma-e128810>