Meanings
alternative eidolopeia · alternative idolopoeia
- rhetoricuncountableA rhetorical technique in which a speech is attributed to a deceased person, a phantom, an image or an idol.
The status of the speaker at the time the speech is imagined as being given is what determines whether it is ethopoeia or eidolopoeia. A speech Heracles might have given while alive is an example of ethopoeia, a speech he might have given after death is an eidolopoeia
2003, “The Preliminary Exercises of Aphthonius the Sophist”, in George Alexander Kennedy, editor, Progymnasmata: Greek Textbooks of Prose Composition and Rhetoric, Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands, Footnote 79, page 115.
Origin
- Ancient Greekεἰδωλοποιία“formation of images; putting words into the mouth of a dead person”
- Englisheidolopoeia
From Ancient Greek εἰδωλοποιία (eidōlopoiía, “formation of images; putting words into the mouth of a dead person”), from εἰδωλοποιός (eidōlopoiós, “producing phantom-like appearances”), from εἴδωλον (eídōlon, “phantom”) + ποιός (poiós, “-like”).
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek εἰδωλοποιΐα
- εἰδωλοποιΐα (eidōlopoiḯa)rhetorical figure
Basque idolopeia
- idolopeiarhetorical figure
Dutch idolopeia
- idolopeiarhetorical figure
French idolopée
- idolopéerhetorical figure
Italian idolopea, idolopeia
- idolopearhetorical figure
- idolopeiarhetorical figure
Portuguese idolopeia
- idolopeiarhetorical figure
Spanish idolopeya
- idolopeyarhetorical figure
Cite this entry
eidolopoeia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/eidolopoeia
“eidolopoeia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/eidolopoeia. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “eidolopoeia,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/eidolopoeia.
Source: eidolopoeia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.