The ''chreia'' or ''chria'' ( el,
χρεία) was, in
antiquity and the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
, both a genre of literature and one of the
progymnasmata
Progymnasmata (Greek προγυμνάσματα "fore-exercises"; Latin ''praeexercitamina'') are a series of preliminary rhetorical exercises that began in ancient Greece and continued during the Roman Empire. These exercises were implemented by s ...
.
Definition
A chreia was a brief, useful (χρεία means "use") anecdote about a particular character. That is, a chreia was shorter than a narration—often as short as a single sentence—but unlike a maxim, it was attributed to a character. Usually it conformed to one of a few patterns, the most common being "On seeing..." (ιδών or ''cum vidisset''), "On being asked..." (ἐρωτηθείς or ''interrogatus''), and "He said..." (ἔφη or ''dixit''). This is similar to the use of
koans
A (; , ; ko, 화두, ; vi, công án) is a story, dialogue, question, or statement which is used in Zen practice to provoke the "great doubt" and to practice or test a student's progress in Zen.
Etymology
The Japanese term is the Sino-Ja ...
by zen buddhists.
Examples
The following chreia, the most common in ancient sources,
[E.g. it is found in the ''Progymnasmata'' attributed to Hermogenes, in Libanius, and in Aphthonius, whose ''progymnasmata'' were extensively commented by John of Sardis in the 9th century. It is also quoted in Olympiodorus' commentary on ]Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
's ''Gorgias
Gorgias (; grc-gre, Γοργίας; 483–375 BC) was an ancient Greek sophist, pre-Socratic philosopher, and rhetorician who was a native of Leontinoi in Sicily. Along with Protagoras, he forms the first generation of Sophists. Several doxogr ...
''. is illustrative:
Chreiai could be silly:
Or solemn
Wise:
Or witty:
Or all of these:
As a literary genre the chreia was a subject of collection. Scholars such as
Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''P ...
or
Seneca
Seneca may refer to:
People and language
* Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname
* Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America
** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people
Places Extrat ...
kept their own private collections of chreiai. Published collections were also available. The chreia is primarily known, however, for its role in education. Students were introduced to simple chreiai almost as soon as they could read. Later they practiced the complex grammar of Greek by putting these chreiai through changes of
voice
The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production in ...
and
tense. As one of the last stages in their preparation for rhetoric—this is where chreiai serve as one of the progymnasmata—they would elaborate the theme of a chreiai into a formal eight-paragraph essay. The student would praise, paraphrase, explain, contrast, compare, provide an example, make a judgment, and, in conclusion, exhort the reader.
Chreiai are also common in the
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
, mainly in the
Gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
s. An example is:
This famous passage in
Luke
People
*Luke (given name), a masculine given name (including a list of people and characters with the name)
*Luke (surname) (including a list of people and characters with the name)
*Luke the Evangelist, author of the Gospel of Luke. Also known as ...
also has the typical structure of a chreia, though its length is somewhat unusual:
{{Quotation, And they asked him, saying, Master, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, neither acceptest thou the person of any, but teachest the way of God truly: Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar, or no? But he perceived their craftiness, and said unto them, Why tempt ye me? Shew me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it? They answered and said, Caesar's. And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's., title=''Luke'', source=20:21-25 (KJV)
Notes
References
*Hock, Ronald F., Edward N. O'Neil. 1986. ''The Chreia in Ancient Rhetoric.'' Vol. 1. Atlanta: Scholars Press.
*Hock, Ronald F., Edward N. O'Neil. 2002. ''The Chreia in Ancient Rhetoric.'' Vol. 2. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature.
*Hock, Ronald F. 2012. ''The Chreia in Ancient Rhetoric.'' Vol. 3. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature.
Rhetoric
Narrative techniques
Cynicism
Ancient Greek literature