Kleos

This article is about the Greek term. For the rock album see Kleos (album).

Kleos (Greek: κλέος) is the Greek word often translated to "renown", or "glory". It is related to the word "to hear" and carries the implied meaning of "what others hear about you". A Greek hero earns kleos through accomplishing great deeds, often through his own death.

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 for Penelope putting off her suitors for so long, and one justification for Medea's murder of her own children was to cut short Jason's Kleos.

Kleos is considered one of the 'poles of happiness' while its opposite or counterpart is nostos. Kleos is a common theme in Homer's epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, [1] the main example in the latter being that of Odysseus 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. The Iliad is about gaining ultimate kleos on the battlefields of Troy while the Odyssey is the ten-year quest of Odysseus to regain his lost nostos. Telemachus fears that he has been deprived of kleos. This links to hereditary kleos.

As the polis emerged during the classical period of Greek history after the so-called "Dark Age" of 1000-750 BC, the Homeric warrior ethic transformed into an ethos with the city-state replacing the individual at the top. Shifting emphasis away from individualism, the goal for a polis hoplite became to win kleos for his home city, reflecting honor onto his family in the process.