The Genres Of Rhetorical Speeches In Greek And Roman Antiquity

In The Genres of Rhetorical Speeches in Greek and Roman Antiquity, Cristina Pepe offers a complete overview of the concept of speech genre within ancient rhetoric. By analyzing sources dating from the 5th-4th century BC, the author proves that the well-known classification in three rhetorical genres (deliberative, judicial, epideictic), introduced by Aristotle, was rooted in the debate concerning the forms and functions of the art of persuasion in classical Athens. Genres play a leading role in Aristotle’s Rhetoric, and the analysis of considerable sections of the treatise shows profound links between the characterization of the rhetorical genres and Aristotelian philosophy as a whole. Finally, the volume explores the developments of the theory of genres in Hellenistic and Imperial rhetoric.

Originally published as La Rhétorique dans l'Antiquité (2000), this new English edition provides students with a valuable introduction to understanding the classical art of rhetoric and its place in ancient society and politics

A detailed comparative analysis of speaker-audience interactions in Greek historiography, Josephus, and Acts that examines historians’ use of speeches as a means of instructing/persuading their readers and highlights Luke’s distinctive depiction of the apostles as adaptable yet frequently alienating orators.

A Companion to Roman Rhetoric introduces the reader to the wide-ranging importance of rhetoric in Roman culture. A guide to Roman rhetoric from its origins to the Renaissance and beyond Comprises 32 original essays by leading international scholars Explores major figures Cicero and Quintilian in-depth Covers a broad range of topics such as rhetoric and politics, gender, status, self-identity, education, and literature Provides suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter Includes a glossary of technical terms and an index of proper names and rhetorical concepts

This is an original collection of essays that contribute to a developing appreciation of persuasion across ancient genres (mainly oratory, historiography, poetry) and a wide diversity of interdisciplinary topics (performance, language, style, emotions, gender, argumentation and narrative, politics).

A detailed comparative analysis of speaker-audience interactions in Greek historiography, Josephus, and Acts that examines historians’ use of speeches as a means of instructing/persuading their readers and highlights Luke’s distinctive depiction of the apostles as adaptable yet frequently alienating orators.

Speeches of praise and blame constituted a form of oratory put to brilliant and creative use in the classical Greek period (fifth to fourth century BC) and the Roman imperial period (first to fourth century AD), and they have influenced public speakers through all the succeeding ages. Yet unlike the other classical genres of rhetoric, epideictic rhetoric remains something of a mystery. It was the least important genre at the start of Greek oratory, but its role grew exponentially in subsequent periods, even though epideictic orations were not meant to elicit any action on the part of the listener, as judicial and deliberative speeches attempted to do. So why did the ancients value the oratory of praise so highly? In Epideictic Rhetoric, Laurent Pernot offers an authoritative overview of the genre that surveys its history in ancient Greece and Rome, its technical aspects, and its social function. He begins by defining epideictic rhetoric and tracing its evolution from its first realizations in classical Greece to its eloquent triumph in the Greco-Roman world. No longer were speeches limited to tribunals, assemblies, and courts—they now involved ceremonies as well, which changed the political and social implications of public speaking. Pernot analyzes the techniques of praise, both as stipulated by theoreticians and as practiced by orators. He describes how epideictic rhetoric functioned to give shape to the representations and common beliefs of a group, render explicit and justify accepted values, and offer lessons on new values. Finally, Pernot incorporates current research about rhetoric into the analysis of praise.

In recent decades New Testament scholarship has developed an increasing interest in how the Gospel of John interacts with literary conventions of genre and form in the ancient Jewish and Greco-Roman context. The present volume brings together leading scholars in the field in order to discuss the status quaestionis and to identify new exegetical frontiers. In the Fourth Gospel, genres and forms serve as vehicles of ideological and theological meaning. The contributions to this volume aim at demonstrating how awareness of ancient and modern genre theories and practices advances our understanding of the Fourth Gospel, both in terms of the text as a whole (gospel, ancient biography, drama, romance, etc.) and in terms of the various literary tiles that contribute to the Gospel's genre mosaic.