Concept in Definition ABC

The origin of the word panegyric is in the Greek, as it comes from pan, which means everything, and from gyrikos, which comes from the word agyris, which means all the people. Thus, for the Greeks a eulogy was a type of speech intended for all the people. It was not just any kind of speech but had a specific purpose: to praise or extol a person, a god or a popular hero.

Usually the words of praise or commendation were pronounced in the context of situations of certain social importance, such as festivals, weddings or posthumous tributes. The eulogy in the tradition Greek was taken over by Roman culture. Today we continue to use the eulogy in those contexts in which words of praise or praise are spoken. gratitude.

Today the term panegyric is used to refer to a text or a spoken speech in which a person is publicly praised. There is no single Format in which he presents the eulogy, since it can be done in the form of a farewell letter, in a newspaper article or with a short speech at a funeral.

Different ways of honoring someone in Greco-Latin culture

The eulogy in Greek culture was more than a few words of praise, as it must be understood as a rhetorical exercise in which the speaker shows others his skill with the words. It is worth emphasizing that in Greek culture there were different rhetorical exercises, also known by the term progymnasmata (such as the narration, the fable, the accusation and other types of speech).

In the Greek tradition there were several ways of paying homage: in the form of an epitaph or epigram, in verse through a elegy, an ode or a dithyramb, erecting a statue to honor someone's memory or with a character funeral speech appreciative. On the opposite side to words of praise were disqualifying speeches or critical proposals, such as satire or vituperation.

The importance of the word in classical Greece

A panegyric is an illustrative example of the importance that the Greeks attached to the oratory and rhetorical exercises. We could say that the Greeks placed great value on words. We can appreciate this aspect through various manifestations: the theater, the philosophical dialogues, the dialectical disputes in the agora or the teachings of the masters of oratory, the sophists. Somehow the Greeks realized the force words, because with them it is possible to tell stories with beauty or to convince the people.

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