Notes On Askēsis (Part 1 of 2)
Notes On Askēsis (Part 1 of 2)
Or, the itinerary of a word through the Ancient world, its various contexts and meanings
1.
In its earliest appearance in Homer and Hesiod, the verb askeo denotes an activity, from working raw materials to worshipping a divinity in an artistic manner. It involves technical skill, to work, to build, to adorn, to fashion or to make. The adjectival form denotes artistically, skilfully wrought, cleverly or craftily made. In all contexts it involves expending energy to form raw material in a particular way. These meanings are made more explicit if the historical background is briefly surveyed.
The collapse of Mycenaen society (1200-1100 BC) brought with it a rapid depopulation and relaxing of centralised control of large areas. Power fell to those clans who owned the most land and had the largest herds of cattle and horses; those who had the capacity to defend their territories as well as raid neighbouring territories. These vast landed estates occupied most of the available flatlands in an otherwise mainly mountainous and hilly countryside, with rocky soils and poor water supply. But during the period 1100-800 BC incremental changes occurred in land tenure, farming techniques and labour practices.
The inability of large landholders to oversee their estates brought about a limited degree of autonomy of serfs and slaves on isolated estates and marginal areas. This eventuated new lease arrangements that allowed for occupants to keep surplus food produced on that land. This newfound autonomy also enabled previously unused land – on the hills and mountains and in the gullies – to be freely claimed without fear of reprisals, and the native wild-grown olive vines to be cultivated.
New farming techniques led to a shift from cattle and horse-trading to the cultivation of vines, fruit trees and cereals, and the development of new varieties of each. This necessitated changes in labour practices which saw the emergence of the class of georgoi (farmers). The planting and cultivation of permanent crops required ongoing and long-term occupation of the land. During this period the importance of the oikos (referring not simply to the household, but the land upon which the family dwells and works) became fore-grounded. 10 acre plots were most common, which is enough to feed a family and workers and allow for some surplus food for trade. From this developed the need for hereditary leases (in perpetuity), allowing generations of farming families to live and work the same plot. What emerged from this was an intensive human integration into the land: humans intervene into the land, to cultivate its potentiality, but the land imposes limits of actuality, which, in turn, act upon the humans and their behaviour in dramatic ways. A new ethos is thus forged.
Vagaries of the agrarian lifestyle – plant diseases, climate changes, indeterminate seasons, poor soil and water supplies – and variables in rapidly changing fortunes – economic, military and social – led to notions of physis (nature) and fate, respectively. The workable sizes of plots (10 acres) led to notions of limits, and working within those limits. Co-operation and individuality led to necessary practices of balance and moderation, self-responsibility and a value in work (ergon); virtues not known to previous aristocratic landowners or to serfs and slaves working the land. Significantly, during this period the term ousia emerged, originally meaning landed property, that which is owned and worked by the same person – later the basis for notions of ‘being’ or ‘essence’in philosophical dsicourse – here to ‘cultivate being’ means quite literally to both working the land and how the land works or forms the person in that very process.
This gradual shift in outlook is traceable in Homer, from the Iliad, concerned with heroes and warfare and epic struggles, to the Odyssey, concerned with the return to home and family (oikos), ending with the final visit to Laertes’ farm (Odysseus’ father and family farm); a theme taken up by Hesiod, especially Works and Days, a poetic tract on farming and ethics. Against this background, the use of askeo, and its adjectival counterpart, in contexts involving expending energy to form raw material, come into sharper focus. It denotes an activity, from working raw materials to worshipping a divinity in an artistic manner. It involves technical skill, to work, to build, to adorn, to fashion or to make. And it describes some formation as being artistically, skilfully wrought, cleverly or craftily made. In Hesiod, the connection between farming and poetry is established, with poesis meaning making, in the same sense as askeo means to make or work; the poetic tradition thus giving shape to the ethos emerging from the land.
2.
The collapse of Mycenaen society bought with it a rapid depopulation which only turned around with the stability associated with the rise of the agrarian society (800-600BC). Population increases necessitated more food production, which in turn led to further improvement of farming techniques, land tenure and labour practices. The surplus food production led to the development of trade, supported also by the population growth, which eventually led to the formation of the polis (cities).
Social, political and military structures reflected the new developments which emerged from this agrarian basis. Solon (c.600BC), for example, introduced legislation to reflect these new developments: outlawing debts (mainly from farmers to aristocracy), restoring lands to family-owners, opening up the assembly to the participation of farmers: basically, imposing limits on aristocracy. And the farmers brought into the polis and the assembly the same ethos they brought to their work on the farms. The georgoi (farmers) of the fields became the mesos (middle men) of the city.
This ethos was translated into certain civic virtues which were disseminated and refined in the development of tragedy. Agrarian uses of askeo were extended, via poetic traditions following Hesiod and Pindar, to the population at large and made more inclusive. One of the most significant developments in this period was the emergence of the noun form of the term, askēsis (of which there is no evidence prior to the 5th century). The first extant instance is by Simonides (556-468BC), a poet, who attributes a variation of the noun in an epigram to a sculptor as being skilled or artistic, as being a master at his craft. This is also the first instance where this term is applied to a human being.
Thespis (who in 535-533 won a prize in one of the first tragedy competitions at the Dionysia at Athens) is attributed by 4th century Academician, Heraclides Ponticus, with developing a fresh usage, in relation to Zeus, arguing that the god holds his foremost position because he does not practice, pursue or indulge in deceit and boasting. Here energy is exerted, but not on a material object (as it is performed by a god), and it is directed negatively, that is, toward not practicing, pursuing or indulging unethical behaviour. Aeschylus (525-456BC) continues earlier (Homeric) usages of the verbal form; but in line with the Thespis attribution, Aeschylus uses the term in an ethical context, but again negatively, as in to pursue a course of wickedness. But this time it is directed at humans and not at gods.
Other significant developments occur within the realm of tragedy. For example, Sophocles (496-406) introduces the idea of askeo as self-discipline or training oneself (Electra is exhorted to train herself, or to strive for, a method for achieving maturity). Sophocles also uses the term in the sense of to pursue or to practice to the extent that a habit or custom is formed, referring to those who are accustomed to or in the habit of. Euripides (485-406) uses the term in Pindar’s sense of honouring or venerating the gods, in an artistic manner. But also in the (by now most common) sense of to practice, to devote oneself to, or to pursue, to the extent that one becomes accustomed to or being in the habit of. But although it is used in ethical contexts, it is not necessarily a positive ethical term, as one can pursue or practice wickedness. Throughout, the context remains one of doing something in an artistic manner or else to work, adorn, or fashion.
Achaeus (484-405), a lessor tragedian and contemporary of Sophocles and Euripides, introduced forms of askeo relating to athletic training, within the context of athletic contests. This led, in turn, to the Hippocratic Corpus eventually using askēsis in terms of physical exercise. In this way, the term extends beyond the realm of tragedy, albeit in different contexts. Protagoras (485-415), for example, a sophist, is the first to use askēsis in terms of education. Meanwhile, Herodotus, for perhaps the first time, uses the term to denote achieving something other than material ends, that is, toward working toward some higher value, such as practicing justice (as in the story of Deioces), or practicing medicine better than everyone else (as in the case of Demodeces), or to practice truthfulness (as in the story of Xerxes seeking advice), or those who devote themselves to stories of the past (as in the Egyptians).
Herodotus also (following Euripides) uses askeo in the more broadly defined context of simply to live. But he also uses the term in a more narrow sense, linking askeo, in the sense of to practice, to devote oneself to, or to pursue, to athletics and military pursuits. But Thucydides (460-400) first uses askēsis in strict terms of military training, and more generally of a particular way of life (as in to live a military way of life, the life of a soldier). And as most of the soldiers during this period were drawn from the ranks of the meson, of those connected to the class of georgoi, the farmers, it may be seen how the terms askeo and askēsis, so central to the development of democracy and the ethos of the citizen, remains consistent with the agrarian soil from which it first emerged.
But also present during this period are the seeds of discontent. Democritus, though adding no new dimension to the term, notes that his contemporaries tend to practice or pursue an excellent speech, while in fact doing shameful deeds. Aristophanes (457-385) uses the term to further explore the satirical elements of Democritus’ observation, regarding those who practice fine speech, but live wicked lives. (He also uses the noun form to denote an athlete.) Eupolis (contemporary of Aristophanes) developed Sophocles’ usage of training oneself: he extends the noun to denote the trainer, marking a significant shift from training oneself to training something else – but in this instance the playwright is referring to the training of a horse.
3.
Operating in the context of democracy and tragedy is a certain dissident strain of aristocratic thinkers who attempt to co-opt the usages of askeo and askēsis for their own ends anti-democratic ends. The most significant shifts in meaning and usage in this period derive from Isocrates (436-338) and Xenophon (428-354). But it is not just a matter of the new connotations these two figures gave to this term, but to the absence (or avoidance) of earlier Homeric connotations (working raw materials, worshipping a divinity in an artistic manner, or to work, to build, to adorn, to fashion, to make). This, of course, amounts to suppressing the agrarian and non-aristocratic basis of this term.
Isocrates, following Herodotus, links askeo with warlike pursuits. In distinguishing himself from other sophists, he berates Athenians for paying attention to, or to listening to, deprived men (as in the sense of devoting oneself to). Following Protagoras’ usage of askēsis in terms of education, Isocrates adds an ethical context, arguing that his school is a place where students can pursue or practice higher virtues (such as justice or temperance). To praise virtue is easy, he argues, it is difficult to practice it (criticism of the sophists, recalling Democritus’ observation and Aristophanes satiric jibes). Although first used in Sophocles, Isocrates marks the first prevalent usage of askeo as training oneself, or self-discipline. So, at this stage, askēsis is used to cover physical exercise, military training, and the pursuit of wisdom.
Xenophon follows Isocrates in most of this, adding the sense of persistently practicing in order to form a habit or custom (as in to make a practice of or was in the habit of). The most significant development is the linking of askeo and enkraetia in the Memorabilia, in the sense of practicing self-control. The term is also used to denote the trainer or master, in the sense of to train or to exercise someone else (taking Eupolis’ reference to the trainer of horses and applying it to the training of men). Xenophon uses the term also in the sense of certain traits of character being the result of training (or practice or self-discipline), contrasted with those who are untrained or unpractised and thus lacking in virtue. Askēsis is also used to denote a method or practice.
Isocrates uses askēsis in a religious (pagan) context for the first time, in the sense of practicing ritual or religious observances. This is linked, for the first time, with subordinating oneself to the authority of someone in command: to accustom oneself to abiding by orders, to some external authority, and conformity to the status quo.
For Xenophon, askēsis is linked to practice, in the sense that one who trains must also put into practice what they have trained to do (a soldier must go to war, an athlete must compete). For the first time askēsis is used to denote an expert or a specialist, a master (outside the artistic field); that is, as a figure in authority that one must subordinate oneself to.
It is interesting to note that most of the radical changes to the term during this period derive from Isocrates and Xenophon, and not from Plato, as one may expect. Where Plato accords with the view of these figures, it is likely that he took the usage from them. For example, Plato also uses the terms in the sense of training or practicing under a master. But where he differs is in the way he does, unlike Isocrates and Xenophon, retain the more common Homeric usages, pressing these into the service of his development of the new genre of ‘philosophy’. Here, although he uses the common context of physical training or working raw material, he also uses it in terms of pursuing values separate from physical or material, as in pursuing wisdom or philosophy. Plato also uses the verbal adjective variation to denote something as the result of practice, or an arduous mode of life (as in the distinction between that which is imparted by instruction and that which is the result of practice or achieved through some arduous experience)
Aristotle (384-322) offers no new meanings, but uses the term increasingly more in the context of practicing virtue. He carries on Plato’s distinction between knowledge gained by instruction and that acquired by practice, favouring the latter.
4.
To train someone else, that is, by a figure in authority to which one must subordinate oneself, is found in Aristotle, Isaeus (420-350) and Demosthenes (384-322). Aristoxenus of Tarentum (375-335), Aristotle’s student, uses askeo in the sense of to instruct or to train (the distinction between instruction and acquiring by experience is beginning to blur). Crates of Thebes (365-285) uses askeo in an ethical context, to pursue or practice righteous conduct and to devote oneself to the virtues.
In the period following the collapse of democracy, and the demise of Alexander the Great, many of the earlier (Homeric) uses of askeo became lost or used in contexts subordinate to the latter usages appended by Isocrates, Xenophon, and continued by Plato and Aristotle. In the Hellenic period, this ‘aristocratic’ usage was developed most fully by the Stoics. Cleanthes of Assos (301-232), Zeno’s successor (332-262), uses askeo in the sense of to practice, to pay attention to, to expend one’s energy upon, to pursue. But, significantly (and in following Aristotle’s contemplative life), he makes a distinct break with the past, when people’s energy was spent on or their attention was centred upon action, whereas now it is focused on talking and reasoning (and not action). Here the earlier distinction between instruction and acquiring through practice has collapsed. Strabo (64BC to 21AD), a late Stoic, attributes to Megasthenes (350-290) a use of askēsis to mean to be ready for death. Strabo also reports on two Brachmanes, using askēsis to mean training or discipline or even a mode of life (if accurate, then this meaning goes back to 285-282).
During the Roman period, usages of askeo and its cognates drew mainly from those aspects most dominant in Roman culture: to practice, to devote oneself to, usually warlike pursuits, to train or exercise the body. In this period, meanings of askeo revert briefly to more physical contexts. Posidonius (135-50 BC), for example, praises the Romans for pursuing agriculture. Philodemus of Gadara (110-40BC) uses a variation to describe a skill which has been acquired by practice or is the result of practice, distinguished from someone who is untrained or inexperienced. Meanwhile, Dionysius of Halicarnassus (60BC-7BC), Roman rhetor and historian, argues that Isocrates, Plato and Demosthenes are models for imitation, figures that one should devote themselves to or pay particular attention to: but in these instances it to their rhetorical strategies found in their texts which one must imitate, and not the actual lives of their authors.
5.
Continuation of uses of askeo in ethical contexts at the end of this period are to be found in the intersection of the Jewish and declining Greek traditions. In the Second Book of Machabees (written 162 BC-70AD) askeo is used to denote cultivation, to cultivate. In the Fourth Book of Machabees (1st Century AD, before the destruction of Jerusalem), askēsis is used to denote an expert or specialist, to be specially trained in the Law of God. But perhaps the most significant change is located in the work of Philo of Alexandria (20BC-30AD). Philo uses askeo exclusively in religious and moral contexts, but also adds new meanings to the term, endowing it, for the first time, with spiritual significance. The traditional meanings persist, but these are added to in the following ways: to train in doctrines of wisdom and the Law; practice and training associated with specifically religious education, but linked with specialists, experts or those specially trained in wisdom and knowledge and the doctrines of Moses. Some are specialists or experts in truth and virtue (and not just in the pursuit of truth and virtue). The adjectival form is used to denote laborious, strenuous, or arduous. Practicing self-control (enkrateia) is used, along with askēsis, as being specifically a discipline.
Added to this, especially in his De Vita Contemplativa, are new usages of askeo and its cognates. Here askēsis is used for the first time in the sense of spiritual exercise, religious practice or religious life. Here askēsis is conflated with virtue and becomes one who practices virtue or a specialist in virtue. Here the model is the life of Moses and the fresh cognates became practicing virtue, a life of practicing virtue.
This context is consolidated by Flavius Josephus (37AD-100), wielding a more ethical tone, in which he speaks of men who have trained their souls to be rewarded by God, and how men trained in virtue shall rule in each Jewish city. He uses askēsis to describe the origin of the Jewish race as being its practice in virtue. Later he uses askēsis to mean a mode of life. In other words, in this final iteration askēsis comes close to what we would now be familiar with as being a form of asceticism.
Bibliography
Hermigild Dressler, The usage of askeo and its cognates in Greek documents to 100AD, 1947
Victor Davis Hanson, The Other Greeks: The Family Farm and the Agrarian Roots of Western Civilization, 1999
Werner Jaeger, Paideia: The Ideals of Greek Culture (3 Vols), 1939
Liddell and Scott's Greek-English Lexicon, 1909
Loeb Classical Library, various texts
Helen North, Sophrosyne: Self-Knowledge and Self-Restraint in Greek Literature, 1966
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