Origins of Rhetoric

4 Fevereiro 2020, 14:00 • Fotini Hadjittofi

The Development of Ancient Greek Rhetoric

Questions

When does ‘oratory’ (persuasive speaking) begin?
When does ‘rhetoric’ (that is, theorizing about speech) begin?

Primary Text

Read the following speeches from Homer’s Iliad and consider if Homer and the speakers show awareness of the importance of speech, the critical principles regarding the appropriate content, structure, and the delivery of a speech: Iliad 2.1–394, esp. the speeches of Agamemnon (110–141), Odysseus (188–206, 246–264, 284–332), Thersites (225–242), and Nestor (337–368).

Secondary Readings

Gagarin, M. 2007. ‘Background and Origins: Oratory and Rhetoric before the Sophists’, in I. Worthington (ed.), A Companion to Greek Rhetoric: 27–36. Oxford.

Kennedy, G. 1963. The Art of Persuasion in Greece: 26–51. Princeton.

Roisman, H. M. 2007. ‘Right Rhetoric in Homer’, in I. Worthington, A Companion to Greek

Rhetoric: 429–46. Oxford.
The Development of Roman Rhetoric Questions

What are the origins of Roman rhetoric?
How would you describe the transition from Greek to Roman rhetoric? Would you describe

the development of Roman rhetoric as mainly derivative?
Who are some of the key figures in Roman rhetoric?
What does the passage below from the earliest extant Roman rhetorical treatise, the Rhetorica

ad Herennium, endeavour to achieve? How would you describe the degree of its detail and sophistication?

Primary Text
Rhetorica ad Herennium 1.1–2, 1.4–7, 2.30–31, 3.11–15. (tr. H. Caplan. 1981. Rhetorica ad

Herennium: 161–171. Cambridge)

Secondary Readings

W. J. Dominik. 2017. ‘The Development of Roman Rhetoric’, in M. MacDonald (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Rhetorical Studies: 159–172. Oxford.

Sciarrino, E. 2007. ‘Roman Oratory Before Cicero: The Elder Cato and Gaius Gracchus’, in W. Dominik and J. Hall (eds.), A Companion to Roman Rhetoric: 54–66. Oxford.

Stroup, S. C. 2007. ‘Greek Rhetoric Meets Rome: Expansion, Resistance, and Acculturation’, in W. Dominik and J. Hall (eds.), A Companion to Roman Rhetoric: 23–37. Oxford.