Genre and Reception

28 Abril 2020, 10:00 • Fotini Hadjittofi

Rhetoric and Other Genres / Reception of Rhetoric

 

Questions

 

Do the sermons on martyrs that you have read continue or disrupt the classical tradition of rhetorical encomium and panegyric? Think especially in terms of the structure and style.

How accessible do you think these speeches would have been for their intended audience, and how would (or should) they have been received? What is their overall objective?

 

Primary Text

 

John Chrysostom, Homilies on Martyrs (tr. Wendy Mayer), in J. Leemans, Wendy Mayer, and P. Allen, ‘Let Us Die That We May Live’: Greek Homilies on Christian Martyrs from Asia Minor, Palestine and Syria (c. AD 350–AD 450): 111–161. London.

 

Secondary Reading

Kennedy, G. A. 1983. Greek Rhetoric Under Christian Emperors: 180–264, esp. 180–186 (introduction), 241–254 (on Chrysostom).

Maxwell, J. 2018. ‘Sermons’, in S. McGill and E. Watts (eds.), A Companion to Late Antique Literature: 343–357. Oxford.

 

Reception of Roman Rhetoric: Example of Pliny’s Panegyricus

 

Questions

 

How has the Panegyricus traditionally been interpreted? How has it been “received” during various periods?

What are the major themes and functions of the Panegyricus?

What are the ways in which the Panegyricus has been used in the different iterations of its afterlife?

 

Primary Text

 

Pliny, Panegyricus 1–10, 81–95.

 

Secondary Readings

 

Dominik, W. J. 2020. ‘Reading Pliny’s Panegyricus Within the Context of Late Antiquity and the Early Modern Period’, in M. Edwards, S. Papaioannou, and A. Serafim (eds.), Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Ancient Rhetoric. Leiden. (forthcoming)

Rees, R. 2011. ‘Afterwords of Praise’, in P. Roche (ed.), Pliny’s Praise: The Panegyricus in the Roman World: 175–188. Cambridge.