The ethical meaning of ἀγαθός in the poetic philosophy of Homer
The article studies the understanding of the term ἀγαθός in the Iliad and the Odyssey . It deals with the understanding of the good and the beautiful in Homer’s poetic philosophy and the influence that Homer's poetry had on subsequent Greek philosophers, in particular Plato, who actually accepted the poet's understanding of the good and the beautiful. There were no canons or "writings" in Greek philosophy, so all the stories about creation, gods, heroes, the right way of life and the afterlife came from poetry. Thus, the canonical understanding of what is "good" and "beautiful" in Greek philosophy was formed by the poetry of Homer. Homer uses the term ἀγαθός implying the best virtues of a person - either marked with the connotation of a moral value or associated with the useful. Beauty in the poetic philosophy of Homer is a human drive, the pursuit of what is ideal. It is beautiful when it represents a whole, and the desire for this whole is the main need of a person. Accepting Homer's understanding of the term ἀγαθός as beautiful, good, kind, noble, valiant with a holistic moral connotation, Plato at the same time criticizes Homeric poetry, since he cannot afford to include Homer's moral messages in his philosophy. The Greek philosophers later tried to reconcile this contradiction between poetry and philosophy. Homer's virtues in the Iliad and the Odyssey are what created the Greek world and everything that was considered desirable.