# Panegyric

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A **panegyric** (/ˌpænɪˈdʒɪrɪk/ or /ˌpænɪˈdʒaɪrɪk/) or **praise poem** is a formal public [speech](/source/Speech_(public_address)) or written verse, delivered in [high praise](/source/Epideictic) of a [person](/source/Person) or [thing](/source/Object_(philosophy)).[1] The original panegyrics were speeches delivered at public events in ancient Athens.

## Etymology

The word originated as a compound of Ancient Greek: παν- 'all' (the form taken by the word πᾶν, neuter of πᾶς 'all', when that is used as a prefix) and the word Ancient Greek: ἄγυρις 'assembly' (an [Aeolic](/source/Aeolic_Greek) dialect form, corresponding to the [Attic](/source/Attic_Greek) or [Ionic](/source/Ionic_Greek) form Ancient Greek: ἀγορά). Compounded, these gave Ancient Greek: πανήγυρις 'general or national assembly, especially a festival in honour of a god' and the derived adjective Ancient Greek: πανηγυρικός 'of or for a public assembly or festival'. In [Hellenistic Greek](/source/Hellenistic_Greek) the noun came also to mean 'a festal oration, laudatory speech', and the adjective 'of or relating to a eulogy, flattering'. The noun Ancient Greek: πανήγυρις had been borrowed into [Classical Latin](/source/Classical_Latin) by around the second century CE, as *panēgyris* 'festival' (in post-Classical usage also 'general assembly'). Correspondingly, Classical Latin also included the adjective *panēgyricus*, which appears meaning 'laudatory', but also came to function as a noun, meaning 'public eulogy'. These words inspired similar formations in European languages in the early modern period, such as French *panégyrique*, attested by 1512. The English noun and adjective *panegyric* seems to have been borrowed from the French word, but no doubt with cognisance of its Latin and Greek origins.[2]

## Classical Greece

In [Athens](/source/Athens) such speeches were delivered at national [festivals](/source/Festival) or [games](/source/Game), with the object of rousing the [citizens](/source/Citizen) to emulate the glorious deeds of their [ancestors](/source/Ancestor). The most famous are the *Olympiacus* of [Gorgias](/source/Gorgias), the *Olympiacus* of [Lysias](/source/Lysias), and the *Panegyricus* and *Panathenaicus* (neither of them, however, actually delivered) of [Isocrates](/source/Isocrates).[1] Funeral orations, such as the [famous speech](/source/Pericles'_Funeral_Oration) of [Pericles](/source/Pericles) in [Thucydides](/source/Thucydides), also partook of the nature of panegyrics.[1]

## Roman Empire

Further information: [Panegyrici Latini](/source/Panegyrici_Latini)

The [Romans](/source/Ancient_Rome) generally confined the panegyric to the living—with the deceased receiving funeral orations instead.[1] The most celebrated example of a [Latin](/source/Latin) panegyric, however, is that delivered by the younger [Pliny](/source/Pliny_the_Younger) (AD 100) in the [Roman Senate](/source/Roman_Senate) on the occasion of his assumption of the [consulship](/source/Consulship), which contained a [eulogy](/source/Eulogy) of [Trajan](/source/Trajan).[1] Towards the end of the 3rd and during the 4th century, as a result of the orientalizing of the Imperial court by [Diocletian](/source/Diocletian), it became customary to celebrate as a matter of course the superhuman virtues and achievements of the reigning [emperor](/source/Emperor),[1] in a formally staged literary event. In 336, [Eusebius of Caesarea](/source/Eusebius_of_Caesarea) gave a panegyric of [Constantine the Great](/source/Constantine_the_Great) on the 30th year of his reign, in which he broke from tradition by celebrating the piety of the emperor, rather than his secular achievements. A well-delivered, elegant and witty panegyric became a vehicle for an educated but inexperienced young man to attract desirable attention in a competitive sphere. The poet [Claudian](/source/Claudian) came to Rome from Alexandria before about 395 and made his first reputation with a panegyric; he became court poet to [Stilicho](/source/Stilicho).

[Cassiodorus](/source/Cassiodorus), *[magister officiorum](/source/Magister_officiorum)* of [Theodoric the Great](/source/Theodoric_the_Great), left a book of panegyrics, the *Laudes*. One of his biographers, James O'Donnell, has described the genre thus: "It was to be expected that the praise contained in the speech would be excessive; the intellectual point of the exercise (and very likely an important criterion in judging it) was to see how excessive the praise could be made while remaining within boundaries of decorum and restraint, how much high praise could be made to seem the grudging testimony of simple honesty".[3]

In the [Byzantine Empire](/source/Byzantine_Empire), the *[basilikos logos](/source/Basilikos_logos)* was a formal panegyric for an emperor delivered on an important occasion.[4]

## Arabic

Panegyric poems were a major literary form among the Arabs. Writing in the Arabic language, [Al-Mutanabbi](/source/Al-Mutanabbi) wrote about [Sayf al-Dawla](/source/Sayf_al-Dawla)'s celebrated [campaign](/source/Arab%E2%80%93Byzantine_wars) against the Byzantine Empire.[5]

## Persia

[Persian language](/source/Persian_language) panegyric poems from the Middle Ages contain details on the life of court poets and their patrons, and shed light on contemporary attitudes and matters of political and military interest such as [Farrukhi Sistani](/source/Farrukhi_Sistani)'s *[qasida](/source/Qasida)* on [Ghaznavid](/source/Ghaznavid) ruler [Mahmud of Ghazni](/source/Mahmud_of_Ghazni)'s incursion against the [Somnath temple](/source/Somnath_temple). Poems were composed for festivals like [Eid al-Fitr](/source/Eid_al-Fitr), [Nowruz](/source/Nowruz) and [Mihragan](/source/Mihragan). Some poems depicted the patron as a hero in a battle between [Islam](/source/Islam) and [infidels](/source/Infidels). Wars against Muslims required additional explanations and some poems by Farrukhi and [Mu'izzi](/source/Mu'izzi) advocated in favor of Mahmud's capture of [Rayy](/source/Rayy) and [Ahmad Sanjar](/source/Ahmad_Sanjar)'s attacks against the Ghaznavid ruler [Arslan-Shah](/source/Arslan-Shah_of_Ghazna) in 1117. These poems are important sources for the [Great Seljuq](/source/Great_Seljuq) period from which few records survive.[5]

In a panegyric poem address to Mahmud of Ghazna, [Firdausi](/source/Firdausi) said: "Noble buildings are ruined by rain and by the heat of the sun./I have laid the foundations of a high palace of poetry which will not be damaged by wind and rain." This is similar to the grandiose claims of the Roman poet [Horace](/source/Horace) who says, in an address to the [Emperor Augustus](/source/Emperor_Augustus), that his poetry was more lasting than [bronze](/source/Bronze) and grander than the [pyramids](/source/Pyramids).[6]

## Africa

African [oral tradition](/source/Oral_tradition) includes panegyric customs such as [praise names](/source/Praise_names) and praise poetry. Often these customs serve [mnemonic](/source/Mnemonic) and [genealogical](/source/Genealogical) functions within the continent's numerous ethnic groups, and are usually also tied to [tribal spirituality](/source/Ancestor_veneration).

Examples include [Oriki](/source/Oriki) amongst the [Yoruba people](/source/Yoruba_people),[7] [Isibongo](/source/Isibongo) amongst the [Zulu people](/source/Zulu_people),[8] and [Iziduko](/source/Iziduko) amongst the [Xhosa people](/source/Xhosa_people).[9]

## Modern revival

The custom of panegyrics addressed to monarchs was revived in the [Baroque period](/source/Baroque_period), though there do exist Renaissance examples such as [Bruni's](/source/Leonardo_Bruni) *[Laudatio florentinae urbis](/source/Laudatio_florentinae_urbis)* to [Florence](/source/Florence) of 1403, and [Erasmus](/source/Erasmus)'s *Panegyricus*, first published in 1504. Thus, [in 1660](/source/1660_in_poetry), several panegyrics were published by English poets in honour of [Charles II of England](/source/Charles_II_of_England) coming to power. Another significant work includes the "Panegyric for the [Duke of Lerma](/source/Francisco_G%C3%B3mez_de_Sandoval,_1st_Duke_of_Lerma)", written by the Spanish poet [Luis de Góngora](/source/Luis_de_G%C3%B3ngora) in 1617. Russian poets of the eighteenth century, most notably [Mikhail Lomonosov](/source/Mikhail_Lomonosov), adopted the panegyric form to celebrate the achievements of Russian emperors and empresses.[citation needed]

## References

1. Vol. 20. pp. 676–677.

1. "pan-, comb. form", "panegyris, n.", "panegyric, n. and adj.", *OED Online*. Oxford University Press, March 2017. Web. 19 March 2017.

1. O'Donnell, James J. (1979). ["2"](https://archive.org/details/cassiodorus0000odon). *Cassiodorus*. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03646-8.

1. G.E. Tetley. *The Ghaznavid and Seljuk Turks: Poetry as a Source for Iranian History*. Taylor & Francis. p. 2.

1. G. E. Tetley. *The Ghaznavid and Seljuk Turks: Poetry as a Source for Iranian History*. Taylor & Francis. p. 1.

1. Johnson, Samuel (1921), *The History of the Yorubas from the earliest times to the beginning of the British protectorate*, p. 85

1. Turner, Noleen (1994). "A brief overview of Zulu oral traditions" (PDF). Alternation. 1 (1): 58–67. Retrieved 19 February 2022.

1. ["African Voices"](https://archive.today/20120717161605/http://www.africanvoices.co.za/xhosa/xhosatop.htm). Archived from [the original](http://www.africanvoices.co.za/xhosa/xhosatop.htm) on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 19 February 2022.

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