Description
Book SynopsisSpeeches 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 it
Trade Review
"[Pernot's] familiarity with a vast amount of material allows him to summarise, succinctly and elegantly, the evolution of epideictic rhetoric in theory and practice from its Athenian origins to the fall of Empire...[Pernot's] authority in the field of epideixis and his intimate knowledge of the texts make this short monograph a very useful addition to current scholarship." * Journal of Roman Studies *
The master has now written an excellent introduction to ancient epideictic, and I thoroughly recommend it. * Revue de Philologie *
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
A Note on Sources
1. The Unstoppable Rise of Epideictic
2. The Grammar of Praise
3. Why Epideictic Rhetoric?
4. New Approaches in Epideictic
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index
