1. The Roots of Rhetoric

Public life in ancient Greece was directly connected with oral speech.¹ Rhetoric, the artful speaking in public, was an essential prerequisite for political action and social integration, particularly in Classical times.²

Already from the period Homer wrote his epics (8th c. BC), the artful speech had become an important factor in the life of politically organized communities. The ideal leader was expected to be able to both act and speak artfully.³ Besides, in peaceful periods, speaking was the principal means for exercising power.⁴ It was not by chance that several Homeric heroes, such as Achilles, Menelaos and Nestor, were exceptional orators. A number of scholars support that in Homeric times rhetoric was already a fully crystallized art.⁵

2. The Birth of Rhetoric in Classical Times

There is no doubt that rhetoric, as an organized art, was born in the 5th c. BC.⁶ The artful speaking in public is directly connected with democracy, as the latter was shaped mainly in Athens and the Sicilian cities. Participation in public matters, namely the ecclesia and the courts, required the rhetorical flair of the citizens. As a result, rhetoric gradually became an object of instruction, particularly for those aiming to pursue a career in politics, and became extremely famous among sophists, who taught their students by delivering artful speeches. In its full development, the instruction of classical rhetoric was based on three parts.⁷ Delivering the speech and acting were of primary importance (i.e. the voice tone, articulation, posture and gestures of the orator).⁸ The widespread use of writing boosted the development of rhetoric in Classical times. The first empirical handbooks (“technai”) were released,⁹ while the Attic dialect was developed in parallel with rhetoric and became its language.

In those years only men had the right to exercise the art of rhetoric.¹⁰ Women were neither admitted by philosophical schools nor participated in public assemblies or represented themselves before a court of law.¹¹ In this framework, a remarkable differentiation is noted in Asia Minor. According to sources, there were two exceptional women exercising political power, who enjoyed the right of public speaking at least twice. The first woman was Artemisia I, the satrap of Halicarnassus and ally of Xerxes I in his campaign against Greece in 480 BC. The queen delivered two speeches to Mardonius at two critical moments with regard to the outcome of his military operations.¹² A century later, Artemisia II, the queen of Caria (353-352 BC), built the magnificent Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, in honour of her husband Mausolus. On this occasion, she sponsored a competition in rhetoric, in which the most renowned sophists of the time took part.

3. The Heyday of Rhetoric in the Hellenistic Period

Rhetoric reached its prime in the 4th c. BC.¹³ The conquests of Alexander the Great and the subsequent foundation of Hellenistic kingdoms in Greece, Syria, Asia Minor and Egypt resulted in the dissemination of the Greek culture all over the eastern Mediterranean. Greek became the language used in administration, commerce and education. Under these new circumstances, the study of Greek literature and rhetoric, the rhetorical flair before the court and, generally, the knowledge of the Greek language were prerequisites for social integration.¹⁴ Under the protection of the powerful Hellenistic sovereigns, arts, literature, philosophy and sciences flourished to a great extent.¹⁵ Schools of rhetoric and Greek literature were founded in all the important Greek cities of the East. These schools secured admission of non-Greeks to the new multinational societies through Greek education, while they also provided a traditional education to the Greek offspring who arrived there looking for a new place of residence. As a lot of Romans studied at these schools, the Hellenistic rhetoric was deeply influenced by the directions followed by Latin orators of the 1st c. BC.

The Hellenistic rhetoric also developed at a theoretical level. It was taught more regularly and became one of the cornerstones of higher education. The newly formed course of studies remained almost unchanged until the Late Antiquity.¹⁶ Schools were mostly private. In some Hellenistic cities there were also public schools, while from the 2nd c. AD onwards the emperors encouraged the cities to finance the teachers. Rhetoric started to be taught between the age of twelve and fourteen, still being a man’s privilege.¹⁷ The students practised on studying classical texts and on rhetorical techniques related to the development of arguments and speech writing.¹⁸ The teachers also taught the theory and techniques of rhetoric with the help of textbooks or their notes. The students took oral examinations and were evaluated in the classroom (“study” in Greek, “declamatio” in Latin) through composing and delivering orations on specific subjects.¹⁹

Despite the fact that the political and social conditions that favoured the development of rhetoric in the Classical period had disappeared, speaking in public remained an essential part of public life in the cities. The Hellenistic rulers employed orators in order to announce their decisions.²⁰ This is how the so-called “epideictic” rhetoric developed. Public speeches were delivered when delegations traveled to Hellenistic states, Greek cities and Rome.²¹ The new circumstances particularly favoured the development of rhetoric in Asia Minor, since several Greek cities maintained –to a greater or lesser extent– control over their affairs, which were discussed in local councils or assemblies. Furthermore, although the courts had changed the way they operated, speeches remained quite necessary for any judicial procedure.

A number of philosophical schools were deeply interested in the rhetorical art. The Stoics were mainly interested in the correctness of grammar and created a theory of modes, including new uses of words.²² Towards the late 2nd c. BC, several representatives of the Stoa, the Academy and the Peripatos demonstrated an unfriendly attitude to the study of rhetoric. They rejected the tendency of the orators to show off, considering that they should only appear in court and the assemblies rather than in any public event.²³ A special tendency in rhetoric, the so-called “Asianism” appeared in the same period. The orator and philosopher Cicero describes this phenomenon²⁴ talking about Asia Minor orators, who used exaggerated expressions and reminded of orating philosophers.²⁵ Two different tendencies were formed; one was caustic and aphoristic and the other direct and vehement with an elaborate vocabulary.²⁶

The Second Sophistic was marked by a return to tradition as regards literature and rhetoric. This movement was born in Asia Minor cities, where most of its representatives were born, operated and founded schools.

The works of the orators that operated in Asia Minor in the Hellenistic period have been largely lost. These orators are reported by subsequent –mainly Latin– sources.

Alcidamas of Elaea, Aeolis, studied under the sophist Gorgias. He wrote a treatise on sophistry entitled “On Sophists”, where he excelled the importance of improvisation in the rhetorical art against the ostentatious and showy speech.²⁷

Anaximenes of Lampsacus, Mysia, teacher of Alexander the Great, was an eminent figure of his time. His work, Rhetoric to Alexander (c. 341 BC), whose authorship has been doubted, reflects the directions of rhetoric in those years.²⁸ Together with Aristotle’s Rhetoric, it is the only 4th c. BC handbook on the rhetoric art preserved.²⁹ Anaximenes’ Rhetoric does not introduce any new theory of the rhetorical art, but insists on general exhortations as well as on the play between correlations and contrapositions. In his time, the rhetorical art was to a large extent systematized; it became more academic as compared to the Classical period, though it lost its freshness.³⁰

Hermagoras of Temnos, Aeolis, operated in the mid-2nd c. BC and greatly influenced the rhetorical art in the Late Hellenistic period. His entire work has been lost, although it could be partly recovered thanks to information provided by Cicero and other rhetorical texts.³¹ As a writer and the most famous professional teacher of rhetoric in his time, he invented an elaborate theoretical system and focused on the theory of “stasis” (issue-theory). In other words, he dealt with the ability of each orator to formulate the main issue being examined by any rhetorical speech. He described four kinds of stasis in various issues of logic: stochasmos (conjecture), oros (definition), poiotes (quality) and metalepsis (objection).³² At the same time he was involved in the so-called “judicial issues”. By examining “cases” concerning specific judicial acts and mainly by dealing with “theseis”, namely issues of wider interest, he greatly boosted the rhetorical art. As a result, rhetoric was broadened, since it included issues that had been beyond its limits so far, mainly concerning ethics and philosophy. The classification of the “staseis” by Hermagoras proved particularly important for the theory of rhetoric in subsequent years. Stoic philosophers were deeply interested in the subject. Hermagoras wrote a handbook on rhetoric, intended for the students of rhetorical schools. He wanted to train students for delivering judicial speeches, although the writer’s main concern was to familiarize students with the art of public speaking in general.³³

4. New Directions during the Imperial Period and Late Antiquity

The Imperial period was a flourishing one for rhetoric, which followed new directions. The development of mainly epideictic rhetoric is directly connected with the parallel rebirth of Greek literature. This period provided the largest part of rhetorical works surviving to date.

Dramatic political and social whirl affected the theoretical directions of rhetoric. Philological criticism and rhetorical theory were no longer strictly divided. A great number of orators wrote treatises that could be described as philological reviews. Rhetorical schools in Greek cities continued their operation, while a lot of Greek orators travelled to Rome.

One of the most important teachers of rhetoric of the time was Apollodorus of Pergamon. It is worth noting that Julius Caesar appointed him as teacher of his successor Octavian in 45 BC,³⁴ while his work Rhetoric was translated into Latin. He was based both on formulating cast-iron arguments and on the strict rules on the structure of the speech. Apollodorus’ teachings had such an impact that formed the basis for the establishment of a school obsessed with the inviolable rules all rhetorical speeches had to follow.

The most important representative of the period is Dionysius of Halicarnassus –historian, orator, grammarian, teacher of rhetoric, teacher of Greek language and literature, and critic, who operated mainly in Rome.³⁵ Dionysius also wrote treatises on rhetoric. He aimed mainly to revive the Attic standards in rhetoric and historiography by imitating the Greek classics.

Already from the late 2nd c. AD the Greek rhetoric started to clearly differentiate from its Latin counterpart. It was a process directly related to the processes that would lead to the division of the empire into two parts two centuries later. The East was dominated by the Hermogenian tradition, particularly focusing on “ideas”, while the West was profoundly influenced by Cicero, thus leading to more traditional directions. The Latins were mainly interested in judicial speeches, while the Greeks in epideictic speeches and philosophy.³⁶ In the mid-2nd c. AD, Emperor Antoninus Pius sent a letter to Asia Minor cities through which he reduced the taxes of the sophists (a term indicating the teachers of rhetoric).³⁷ Those teachers were paid by the cities where they taught. In the 3rd c. AD, Diocletian’s reforms dictated more systematic training and introduced restrictions on the fees of the teachers.

Some of the most renowned orators of Late Antiquity lived in that period. Dio Chrysostomus (1st c. AD) of Prousa, Bithynia, was one of the most important representatives of the Second Sophistic. His work has philosophical and political implications. Eighty rhetorical speeches are attributed to him, most famous of which being the four speeches On Kingship delivered to Emperor Trajan.

One of the last great figures of the rhetorical art was Hermogenes (2nd c. AD) of Tarsus, Cilicia. His massive work and the subsequent studies on it constitute the most complete rhetorical corpus in Greek. He wrote handbooks on rhetorical teaching, which were widely used in the Byzantine period and the Renaissance. His ideas on “staseis” and “ideas” are absolutely original conceptions.³⁸ According to Hermogenes, the constituents of the perfect speech are clarity, extent, beauty, quickness, ethos (including simplicity, finesse and sweetness), truth and talent.

Pliny the Younger was a student of Quintilian and a renowned orator. The letters he sent to Trajan, when he served as the praeses of the province of Bithynia, are famous. The letters are valuable sources of information concerning both the administration of the provinces and the history of early Christianity. His technique is clearly influenced by the teachings of his teacher, Quintilian.

Another orator and sophist, Polemon, was born in Laodicea ad Lycum in 90 AD. He studied rhetoric in Smyrna under Scopelian and Stoic philosophy under Timocrates, while he claimed he was a student of Dio Chrysostomus. In 110 AD he founded his own school in Smyrna, where he taught and evolved into a top sophist. He gained such a great reputation that students streamed from all over the Greek world in order to attend his teachings. Polemon became an eminent political leader in Smyrna, handled judicial cases, spoke before the assemblies and participated in delegations to emperors Trajan and Hadrian. As a result, he was greatly honoured, had the right to travel at the expense of the state, was honoris causa proclaimed a member of the Museum of Alexandria and acquired huge economic benefits from his involvement in rhetoric and politics. Polemon delivered mainly judicial speeches by presenting examples of real or imaginary events. He was often invited to speak on exceptional occasions, such as the completion of the temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens. He was a great speaker and accompanied his speeches with an innate theatricality, which helped him carry his audience away.

Aelius Aristides was born in Mysia of Asia Minor. He lived and taught in Smyrna, while he also traveled to Egypt, Greece and Rome.³⁹ His writings include a dramatic rhetorical element. He was not interested in simply amusing his audience, but in elevating their ethos. That is why his work was greatly estimated by Byzantine scholars.