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The verb form of the word "agape" goes as far back as Homer. In a christian context, agape means "love: esp. unconditional love, charity; the love of God for person and of person for God". [3] Agape is also used to refer to a love feast. [4] The christian priest and philosopher Thomas Aquinas describe agape as "to will the good of another". [5]
The ancient Greeks came up with seven different words for the types of love. Experts break down what they mean and how to foster the types of love in your life. Yup, There Are A Total Of *Seven ...
Himeros (desire) and Philotes (affection) were bestowed upon the world by Aphrodite initiating sexual encounter; [4] they spoke words of love and winning talk that affected the minds and hearts of mortals and gods alike. [5] Himeros is closely associated with Pothos, the personification of passionate longing.
The word "love" can have a variety of related but distinct meanings in different contexts. Many other languages use multiple words to express some of the different concepts that in English are denoted as "love"; one example is the plurality of Greek concepts for "love" (agape, eros, philia, storge). [8]
In the classical world, erotic love was generally described as a kind of madness or theia mania ("madness from the gods"). [5] This erotic love was described through an elaborate metaphoric and mythological schema involving "love's arrows" or "love darts", the source of which was often the personified figure of Eros (or his Latin counterpart, Cupid), [6] or another deity (such as Rumor). [7]
As Gerard Hughes points out, in Books VIII and IX of his Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle gives examples of philia including: . young lovers (1156b2), lifelong friends (1156b12), cities with one another (1157a26), political or business contacts (1158a28), parents and children (1158b20), fellow-voyagers and fellow-soldiers (1159b28), members of the same religious society (1160a19), or of the same ...
As a phrase in Modern English [4]: 72 and other modern European languages, "Greek love" refers to various (mostly homoerotic) practices as part of the Hellenic heritage reinterpreted by adherents such as Lytton Strachey; [5]: 20–23 quotation marks are often placed on either or both words ("Greek" love, Greek "love", or "Greek love") to indicate that usage of the phrase is determined by context.
The word agape received a broader usage under later Christian writers as the word that specifically denoted Christian love or charity (1 Corinthians 13:1–8), or even God himself. The expression "God is love" (ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν) occurs twice in the New Testament: 1 John 4:8;16.