Kleos (Ancient Greek: κλέος) is the Greek word often translated to "renown", or "glory". It is related to the English word "loud" and carries the implied meaning of "what others hear about you". A Greek hero earns kleos through accomplishing great deeds.
Kleos is invariably transferred from father to son; the son is responsible for carrying on and building upon the "glory" of the father. This is a reason for Penelope putting off her suitors for so long, and one justification for Medea's murder of her own children was to cut short Jason's kleos.
Kleos is a common theme in Homer's epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the main example in the latter being that of Odysseus and his son Telemachus, who is concerned that his father may have died a pathetic and pitiable death at sea rather than a reputable and gracious one in battle. The Iliad is about gaining ultimate kleos on the battlefields of Troy while the Odyssey is the ten-year quest of Odysseus' nostos (or return journey). Telemachus fears that he has been deprived of kleos. This links to hereditary kleos, as heroes obtain immortality through eternal fame of their actions and lineage.
Plato's birth name, Aristocles (Ἀριστοκλῆς),[7] contains kleos as a suffix in the -kles form present in some masculine given names in Ancient Greece (some other notable examples include Heracles and Pericles); combined with the morpheme the former half of the name comprises, aristos, the meaning of the name on the whole translates roughly to "great reputation". In his dialogue The Symposium relating a discussion about love, makes a digression into the subject of fame and glory. It is in the section that deals with the dialog between Socrates and Diotima. Diotima explains that men search for ways to reach some kind of immortality, for instance by means of physical and intellectual procreation. Diotima then asserts that the love for fame and glory is very strong, and in fact to obtain them, men are ready to engage in the greatest effort, and to take risks and make sacrifices, even at the cost of their lives. Diotima makes specific references to Alcestis (who died to save Admetus), Achilles (to avenge Patroclus), and Codrus, as examples of heroes in search of fame and immortal renown.[8]
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The ancient Greeks honoured the concept of kleos (κλέος) aphthiton, eternal renown. An ancient Greek hero earned kleos through great deeds, up to and including his own death. However, the Greeks also believed that kleos could be earned through feats of intellectual procreation. Publication is thus the modern avenue for an academic to earn kleos. The young academic must perforce make an Achillean choice, to go with the mainstream flow and pragmatically publish only that which is needed or required for career advancement - the more facile path - or to strive to produce respectable papers over and above that which is strictly required. The latter is a much more onerous path, but one that is ultimately satisfying and eventually even becomes pour le sport: for fun.