Charaktēres

The Charaktēres is a work by the Greek philosopher Theophrastus. It consists of 30 brief character sketches that delineate moral types. These sketches were derived from studies Aristotle had made for ethical and rhetorical purposes. Theophrastus's technique involved defining an undesirable personal quality and then describing the characteristic speech and behavior of a person who exemplified it. This work later served as the basis for Jean de La Bruyère's masterpiece, Les Caractères. The word charaktēr itself comes from the Greek word for "mark" or "distinctive quality".123