# Echthroi

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{{Short description|Greek word for hate and hostility}}
'''Echthroi''' (ἐχθροί) is a Greek plural meaning "the enemy" (literally "enemies"). The singular form of the word, '''echthros''' (ἐχθρός), is used in many versions and translations of the [Bible](/source/Bible) for "enemy".

The words echthros and echthroi occur mainly in connection with biblical studies and in [literary criticism](/source/literary_criticism) of classical literature, specifically [Greek tragedy](/source/Greek_tragedy). [Aristotle](/source/Aristotle) and others classified people encountered by characters in tragedy into "[philoi](/source/philoi)" (friends and loved ones), "echthroi" (enemies), and "medetoeroi" (neither enemy or friend), with the characters and their audience seeking a positive outcome for the first group and the downfall of the second.<ref name="classical">{{cite book
  | last = Lowe
  | first = N. J.
  |author2=S
  | title =  The Classical Plot and the Invention of Western Narrative
  | publisher =  Cambridge University Press
  | year = 2000
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pzhS0wQNvNoC&q=Echthroi&pg=RA1-PA178
  | isbn = 0-521-60445-1
  | page = 178 }}</ref> 

The term also appears in Canto XII of the little-known epic ''The Purple Island'' by seventeenth-century poet and [rector](/source/rector_(ecclesiastical)) [Phineas Fletcher](/source/Phineas_Fletcher), apparently in the general meaning of enemies.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=KW44AAAAIAAJ&dq=Echthros&pg=PA322 The Poems of Phineas Fletcher]. Google Books. Retrieved 2008-03-01.</ref>

==See also==
*''[A Wind in the Door](/source/A_Wind_in_the_Door)'' and ''[A Swiftly Tilting Planet](/source/A_Swiftly_Tilting_Planet)'', novels by [Madeleine L'Engle](/source/Madeleine_L'Engle) featuring antagonists called Echthroi

==References==
<references/>

Category:Greek words and phrases

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Echthroi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echthroi) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echthroi?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.