Poet and Orator
Poet and Orator

Author: Andreas Markantonatos

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2019-04-01

Total Pages: 464

ISBN-13: 3110629720

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This multiauthored volume, as well as bringing into clearer focus the notion of drama and oratory as important media of public inquiry and critique, aims to generate significant attention to the unified intentions of the dramatist and the orator to establish favourable conditions of internal stability in democratic Athens. We hope that readers both enjoy and find valuable their engagement with these ideas and beliefs regarding the indissoluble bond between oratorical expertise and dramatic artistry. This exciting collection of studies by worldwide acclaimed classicists and acute younger Hellenists is envisaged as part of the general effort, almost unanimously acknowledged as valid and productive, to explore the impact of formalized speech in particular and craftsmanship rhetoric in general upon Attic drama as a moral and educational force in the Athenian city-state. Both poet and orator seek to deepen the central tensions of their work and to enlarge the main themes of their texts to even broader terms by investing in the art of rhetoric, whilst at the same time, through a skillful handling of events, evaluating the past and establishing standards or ideology.

Euripides the Attic Orators
Euripides the Attic Orators

Author: A. Douglas Thomson

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2019-02-04

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 9780365388968

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Excerpt from Euripides the Attic Orators: A Comparison Between the physicists and Socrates came the Sophists, who represent the birth and growth of Scepticism. This scepticism was a natural and necessary step in the progress of thought. When so many and so widely different schools sprang up, each claiming to give the true interpretation of the universe, and yet giving out doctrines so contradictory; when these doctrines had become more or less popularly known, and had been the cause of endless debate and discussion, it was an inevitable result that scepticism should spread. And this spirit was fostered also by the social and political conditions of the time; for over the whole of Greece, as we have seen, and above all in Athens, there took place in the fifth century B. C. A great and rapid development in all departments of life. The victory over Persia, combined with the steady growth of democracy, had 'given a stimulus and promoted an activity which was quite unprecedented. The power of speaking was becoming more important, and was the chief weapon in the hands of ambitious citizens; and men were eager to acquire powers of argument and debate, and to learn the opinions of the greatest thinkers of the day. The sophists came forward to satisfy these wants, and in so doing they incidentally rendered a great service to Greek prose. The most important of them was Protagoras 2, whose treatise on Truth began with the words, Man is the measure of all things, ' - meaning that there is no such thing as objective truth, that truth is not absolute but relative, and similarly that, in matters of conduct, right and wrong depend on opinion. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Lives of the Attic Orators
Lives of the Attic Orators

Author: Joseph Roisman

Publisher:

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 402

ISBN-13: 0199687676

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This volume provides a complete translation of, and historical and historiographical commentary on, the lives of the ten Attic orators given by Pseudo-Plutarch, Photius, and the Suda. Assessing these works as important historical sources for the individual lives and careers of the orators whose works have survived, this systematic study explores how these literary biographies were constructed, the information they provide, and their veracity. In-depth commentary notes offer contextual information, explain references and examine individual rhetorical phrases, and a glossary of technical terms provides a quick reference guide to the more obscure oratorical and political terms. The volume also includes a detailed introduction which discusses the evolution of Greek oratory and rhetoric; the so-called Canon of the Ten Orators; the authorship, dates, and sources of the biographies provided by Pseudo-Plutarch, Photius, and the Suda; and a brief consideration of orators whose speeches were either falsely attributed to Demosthenes or may be referenced in the ancient lives.

Greek Drama and the Invention of Rhetoric
Greek Drama and the Invention of Rhetoric

Author: David Sansone

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2012-07-30

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 1118358376

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GREEK DRAMA and the Invention of Rhetoric “An impressively erudite, elegantly crafted argument for reversing what ‘everybody knows’ about the relation of two literary genres that played before mass audiences in the Athenian city state.” Victor Bers, Yale University “Sansone’s book is first-rate and should be read by any scholar interested in the origins of Greek rhetorical theory or, for that matter, interested in Greek tragedy. That Greek tragedy contains elements properly described as rhetorical is familiar, but Sansone goes far beyond this understanding by putting Greek tragedy at the heart of a counter-narrative of those origins.” Edward Schiappa, The University of Minnesota This book challenges the standard view that formal rhetoric arose in response to the political and social environment of ancient Athens. Instead, it is argued, it was the theater of Ancient Greece, first appearing around 500 BC that prompted the development of formalized rhetoric, which evolved soon thereafter. Indeed, ancient Athenian drama was inextricably bound to the city-state’s development as a political entity, as well as to the birth of rhetoric. Ancient Greek dramatists used mythical conflicts as an opportunity for staging debates over issues of contemporary relevance, civic responsibility, war, and the role of the gods. The author shows how the essential feature of dialogue in drama created a ‘counterpoint’—an interplay between the actor making the speech and the character reacting to it on stage. This innovation spurred the development of other more sophisticated forms of argumentation, which ultimately formed the core of formalized rhetoric.

A Companion to Euripides
A Companion to Euripides

Author: Laura K. McClure

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2017-01-17

Total Pages: 642

ISBN-13: 1119257506

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A COMPANION TO EURIPIDES A COMPANION TO EURIPIDES Euripides has enjoyed a resurgence of interest as a result of many recent important publications, attesting to the poet’s enduring relevance to the modern world. A Companion to Euripides is the product of this contemporary work, with many essays drawing on the latest texts, commentaries, and scholarship on the man and his oeuvre. Divided into seven sections, the companion begins with a general discussion of Euripidean drama. The following sections contain essays on Euripidean biography and the manuscript tradition, and individual essays on each play, organized in chronological order. Chapters offer summaries of important scholarship and methodologies, synopses of individual plays and the myths from which they borrow their plots, and conclude with suggestions for additional reading. The final two sections deal with topics central to Euripidean scholarship, such as religion, myth, and gender, and the reception of Euripides from the 4th century BCE to the modern world. A Companion to Euripides brings together a variety of leading Euripides scholars from a wide range of perspectives. As a result, specific issues and themes emerge across the chapters as central to our understanding of the poet and his meaning for our time. Contributions are original and provocative interpretations of Euripides’ plays, which forge important paths of inquiry for future scholarship.

Attic Oratory and Performance
Attic Oratory and Performance

Author: Andreas Serafim

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-01-12

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 1317573765

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In a society where public speech was integral to the decision-making process, and where all affairs pertaining to the community were the subject of democratic debate, the communication between the speaker and his audience in the public forum, whether the law-court or the Assembly, cannot be separated from the notion of performance. Attic Oratory and Performance seeks to make modern Performance Studies productive for, and so make a significant contribution to, the understanding of Greek oratory. Although quite a lot of ink has been spilt over the performance dimension of oratory, the focus of nearly all of the scholarship in this area has been relatively narrow, understanding performance as only encompassing 'delivery' – the use of gestures and vocal ploys – and the convergences and divergences between oratory and theatre. Serafim seeks to move beyond this relatively narrow focus to offer a holistic perspective on performance and oratory. Using examples from selected forensic speeches, in particular four interconnected speeches by Aeschines (2, 3) and Demosthenes (18, 19), he argues that oratorical performance encompassed subtle communication between the speaker and the audience beyond mere delivery, and that the surviving texts offer numerous glimpses of the performative dimension of these speeches, and their links to contemporary theatre.