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Banausos(Redirected from Vanavsos)
Athenian usageThus, the existence of banausos follows an economic transition in Greece: the use of coinage, the invention of the trireme and of hoplite armor, the prevalence of chattel slavery permitted the rise of a new hoplite class, who used the term to divide themselves from the artisans. Banausos was used as a term of invective, meaning 'cramped in body' (Politics 1341 a 7) and 'vulgar in taste'(1337 b 7) 2, by the extreme oligarchs in Athens in the 5th century BC, who were led by Critias. These were the men who yearned for the good old times when there was none of this "equality" nonsense, and you could beat your neighbor's slave in the street (see Ps.-Xenophon : Constitution of Athens). In this usage, it refers to the laboring class as a whole; i.e. the artisans, such as potters, stone masons, carpenters, etc; professional singers; artists; musicians; and all persons engaged in trade or retail. It makes no distinction between slave or free. These extreme oligarchs were opposed both to the moderate oligarchs, such as Theramenes, and to the democrats, such as Pericles, Cleon, and Thrasybulus. They held power at Athens for less than a year, with the assistance of a Spartan army; and, because of their employment of exile, purges, midnight arrests, and judicial murder, are remembered as the Thirty Tyrants. But while they vanished from the political scene, the term remained. PhilosophersPlato, the philosopher, was Critias's nephew, and used banausos in much the same sense; although he prefered the installation of philosophers, such as himself, above the hoplites, who were in turn above the artisan. It was also current among the first generation of his pupils, such as Aristotle, who writes, "Those who provide necessaries for an individual are slaves, and those who provide them for society are handicraftsmen and day-laborers." After the time of Alexander the Great, however, philosophers largely avoided practical politics. Thereafter banausos mostly appears in glossaries to Plato and Aristotle. Later philosophic schools had different politics. For example Cassius Dio defined democracy:(dēmocrateía) thus "when every man gets the honor that is his due." In Early Modern English the term was rendered as "mechanical" (as used in e.g. Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream) but in Greek it is an epithet of contempt; it is not a complimentary term. "It is used of people who spend money with vulgar ostentation, of accomplishments inconsistent with a perception of the true purpose of life, and it is constantly coupled with the word “aneleutheros”, ‘illiberal’, ‘unworthy of a free man’ (or, as it was said in Victorian England 'unworthy of a gentleman'." 1 In ancient Athens, this derision heaped upon retailers and artisans was so overpowering that a law had to be passed to protect those in the agora.4 "Even where the marketplace was allowed to intrude upon the political life, the merchant and craftsmen were generally objects of contempt, ridiculed on the stage, if not banished from respectable society." 5 The ancient Greek polities were "brotherhoods of peasant warriors". 6 They saw that commerce had a corrupting influence in communities and acquisition of wealth destroyed their homónoia (like-mindedness) and was the principle cause of stásis (faction). Furthermore, "merchants and craftsmen would be less willing to defend the civic territory than farmers would" and saw that commerce and mercantilism had a morally corrupting influence. 7 Βαναυσος is a word that describes the "prejudice" of the warrior class for the "values" of the commercial class. Moreover, it was a psycological device to train their people to turn away from the commercial fields of endeavor by it being a word of contempt. Many Greek states implemented steps to exclude those engaged in trade and industry from participation in politics.5 The Doric states of ancient Crete, Sparta, and non-Doric Thebes set up their constitutions to take this into account.3 In political philosophy, the Greeks are concerned with the "best" state and the best state requires citizens who are the best and in consequence practice arete. This required leisure accompanied with pursuit of arete. Technical education was necessary but did not make good citizens. Leisure was a necessity of good citizenship something the βαναυσοι do not have. βαναυσια deforms the body rendering it useless for military and political duties. Those occupations tire out the body and therefore the mind preventing self education by reading and conversing with others. "It accustoms a man's mind to low ideas, and absorbs him in the pursuit of the mere means of life." Plato and Aristotle teach that the highest thing in man is reason and therefore, the purpose of human perfection lies with the activity of reason; i.e. the 'theoretic' or contemplative life. Trade, industry and mechanical labour prevent this idea. These activities are necessary for a good human condition of life but when these activities are merely regarded as means to making money and not as acts of service to truth, service to others and arete, then these, occupations become base. Cicero also commented on the dangers to republics that commerce entailed and that maritime trade brought with it "a corruption and degeneration of morals". 8 This Greek martial idea in classical republicanism influenced the English language. The word βαναυσοι became an adjective for the mechanical trades. (See below: "Occurences of the word".) Excerpts from classical texts
Occurences of the word "banausic" in English literature
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Related TopicsBibliography
Commentary Works
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