thumb|Title page of the [[Panegyric of Leonardo Loredan (1503), created in honour of Leonardo Loredan, 75th Doge of Venice, now in the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore]]
A panegyric ( or ) or praise poem is a formal public speech or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing. The original panegyrics were speeches delivered at public events in ancient Athens.
Etymology
The word originated as a compound of - 'all' (the form taken by the word πᾶν, neuter of πᾶς 'all', when that is used as a prefix) and the word 'assembly' (an Aeolic dialect form, corresponding to the Attic or Ionic form ). Compounded, these gave 'general or national assembly, especially a festival in honour of a god' and the derived adjective 'of or for a public assembly or festival'. In Hellenistic Greek the noun came also to mean 'a festal oration, laudatory speech', and the adjective 'of or relating to a eulogy, flattering'. The noun had been borrowed into Classical Latin by around the second century CE, as panēgyris 'festival' (in post-Classical usage also 'general assembly'). Correspondingly, Classical Latin also included the adjective panēgyricus, which appears meaning 'laudatory', but also came to function as a noun, meaning 'public eulogy'. These words inspired similar formations in European languages in the early modern period, such as French panégyrique, attested by 1512. The English noun and adjective panegyric seems to have been borrowed from the French word, but no doubt with cognisance of its Latin and Greek origins.
Classical Greece
In Athens such speeches were delivered at national festivals or games, with the object of rousing the citizens to emulate the glorious deeds of their ancestors. The most famous are the Olympiacus of Gorgias, the Olympiacus of Lysias, and the Panegyricus and Panathenaicus (neither of them, however, actually delivered) of Isocrates.
In the Byzantine Empire, the basilikos logos was a formal panegyric for an emperor delivered on an important occasion.
Arabic
Panegyric poems were a major literary form among the Arabs. Writing in the Arabic language, Al-Mutanabbi wrote about Sayf al-Dawla's celebrated campaign against the Byzantine Empire.
Persia
Persian language panegyric poems from the Middle Ages contain details on the life of court poets and their patrons, and shed light on contemporary attitudes and matters of political and military interest such as Farrukhi Sistani's qasida on Ghaznavid ruler Mahmud of Ghazni's incursion against the Somnath temple. Poems were composed for festivals like Eid al-Fitr, Nowruz and Mihragan. Some poems depicted the patron as a hero in a battle between Islam and infidels. Wars against Muslims required additional explanations and some poems by Farrukhi and Mu'izzi advocated in favor of Mahmud's capture of Rayy and Ahmad Sanjar's attacks against the Ghaznavid ruler Arslan-Shah in 1117. These poems are important sources for the Great Seljuq period from which few records survive.
Africa
African oral tradition includes panegyric customs such as praise names and praise poetry. Often these customs serve mnemonic and genealogical functions within the continent's numerous ethnic groups, and are usually also tied to tribal spirituality.
Examples include Oriki amongst the Yoruba people, Isibongo amongst the Zulu people, and Iziduko amongst the Xhosa people.
Modern revival
The custom of panegyrics addressed to monarchs was revived in the Baroque period, though there do exist Renaissance examples such as Bruni's Laudatio florentinae urbis to Florence of 1403, and Erasmus's Panegyricus, first published in 1504. Thus, in 1660, several panegyrics were published by English poets in honour of Charles II of England coming to power. Another significant work includes the "Panegyric for the Duke of Lerma", written by the Spanish poet Luis de Góngora in 1617. Russian poets of the eighteenth century, most notably Mikhail Lomonosov, adopted the panegyric form to celebrate the achievements of Russian emperors and empresses.