Question: What Is an Aition?

Answer:

An aition (or aetion) is a cause. Aetiology or etiology is the science of causes. In the field of Classics, aition is used in connection with founding myths, including cosmogonies. An aition explains the reason for something, or a ritual, or a place. The Hellenistic poet Callimachus wrote an entire book of such causes, which uses the plural of the Greek word as the title: Aitia.

Aitia can be used as a term to refer to a sub-genre of didactic poetry, if that is included as a genre, or elegy.