CLGR 407
Rhetoric and Democracy: the Greek Orators Fall 2015
Division I
This is not the current course catalog

The Greek orators of the 4th-century BCE were specialists in rhetoric and persuasive discourse, and in the deployment of the one to produce the other. They wrote forensic oratory intended to sway juries; political speeches with which they argued policy before the Athenian Assembly and aspired to be the city’s leaders; attack speeches which they hoped would destroy their rivals; and show pieces intended to dazzle the listener with their rhetorical brilliance. In this course the most influential orators of 4th-century Athens will instruct us in rhetoric, demonstrate the stylistic versatility of the Greek language, teach us about what Athenians in the 4th century cared about, reveal theories of human psychology, and persuade us of a thing or two. We will read selected speeches by Lysias, Isocrates, and Demosthenes, as well as portions of speeches by other orators such as Aeschines, Antiphon, and Dinarchus.