Kyrios

A series of articles on
Christology

Kyrios or kurios (Ancient Greek: κύριος) is a Greek word which is usually translated as "lord" or "master". In religious usage, it is sometimes translated as God. It is used in the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible and the Greek New Testament.Kyrios appears about 740 times in the New Testament, usually referring to Jesus.

In Classical Athens, the word kyrios referred to the head of the household (oikos), who was responsible for his wife, children, and any unmarried female relatives.

In Classical Athens, the word kyrios referred to the head of the household, who was responsible for his wife, children, and any unmarried female relatives. It was the responsibility of the kyrios to arrange the marriages of his female relatives, provide their dowries, represent them in court, if necessary, and deal with any economic transactions they were involved in worth more than a medimnos of barley. When an Athenian woman married, her husband became her new kyrios.

The existence of the system of kurioi elsewhere in ancient Greece is debated, and the evidence is not clear-cut, but Cartledge has argued that in Sparta kurioi existed, though in Gortyn they do not appear to have done.

The term "κύριος" is still in use in the Modern Greek language and is the equivalent to the English terms "mister" (title conferred on an adult male), "master" (someone who has control over something or someone), and "sir" (an address to any male). For example, the English term "Mr. Smith" is translated to "κύριος Σμίθ" (kyrios Smith) in Greek.

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