Encomium (: encomia) is a Latin language word deriving from the Ancient Greek enkomion (ἐγκώμιον), meaning "the praise of a person or thing."
Originally it was the song sung by the Greek chorus at the κῶμος, or festal procession, held at the Panhellenic Games in honour of the victor, either on the day of his victory or on its anniversary. The word came afterwards to denote any song written in celebration of distinguished persons, and in later times any spoken or written panegyric whatever.[Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Encomion]
Encomium also refers to several distinct aspects of rhetoric:
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A general category of public speaking
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A method within rhetorical pedagogy
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A figure of speech praising a person or thing, but occurring on a smaller scale than an entire speech
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The eighth exercise in the progymnasmata series
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A literary genre that included five elements: prologue, birth and upbringing, acts of the person'
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- *The basilikos logos (imperial encomium), a formal genre in the Byzantine empire
Examples
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Gorgias' famous Encomium of Helen offers several justifications for excusing Helen of Troy's adultery
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In Erasmus' In Praise of Folly, Folly composes an encomium to herself
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De Pippini regis Victoria Avarica is a medieval encomium of the victory of Pepin of Italy over the Avars
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Encomium Emmae Reginae is a medieval encomium of Queen Emma of Normandy
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Laudes Mediolanensis civitatis or Versum de Mediolano civitate is a medieval encomium of Milan
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Versus de Verona is a medieval encomium of Verona
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Polychronion is chanted in the liturgy of Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite
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Paul the Apostle uses a kind of encomium in his praise of love, in 1 Corinthians 13; the prologue is verses 1–3, acts are v. 4–7, comparison is v. 8–12, and epilogue is 13:13–14:1.
[David E. Garland, Baker Exegetical Commentary, 1 Corinthians, 606, based on the work of Sigountos.]
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