CHASTITY. A central virtue in the Greek, Roman, and Christian traditions, chastity (Gk. sōphrosunē, Lat. castitas) reflects the values of purity, blamelessness, and order. The term is sometimes misunderstood as referring to asceticism or sexual abstinence, but the relationship between chastity and renunciation is one of tension and in many cases opposition. In its original context in the ancient Mediterranean, chastity is marked by a connotation of fertility and reproduction, and this has persisted in Christianity across its history, though with important and complicating developments described below.

Greek SŌphrosunĒ and Roman Castitas

From archaic times, the Greek poets had celebrated the virtue of mental balance and self-mastery, sōphrosunē. Sōphrosunē stood for the moderation and good sense of an Odysseus, in contrast both to megalopsychia, the high-minded boldness and honor of a warrior hero such as Ajax or Achilles, and to hybris, the unwary pride...