aristeia

An aristeia or aristia (; , "excellence") is a scene in the dramatic conventions of epic poetry as in the Iliad, where a hero in battle has his finest moments (aristos = "best"). Aristeia may result in the death of the hero, and therefore suggests a "battle in which he reaches his peak as a fighter and hero".

==Historical background== In the pre-hoplite phase of Greek military evolution, the well-armed aristocrat was the major focus of military action, placed at the apex of his less well-armed dependants. This was reflected in the Homeric division between nobility and commoners, and in the regular epic struggles over the armour of the former, once fallen in their aristeia.