A commentary on Isocrates' Busiris /
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This volume contains the first scholarly commentary on the puzzling work Busiris - part mythological jeu d'esprit , part rhetorical treatise and part self-promoting polemic - by the Greek educator and rhetorician Isocrates (436-338 BC). The commentary reveals Isocrates' strategies in advertising his own political rhetoric as a middle way between amoral 'sophistic' education and the abstruse studies of Plato's Academy. Introductory chapters situate Busiris within the lively intellectual marketplace of 4th-century Athens, showing how the work parodies Plato's Republic , and how its revisionist treatment of the monster-king Busiris reflects Athenian fascination with the 'alien wisdom' of Egypt. As a whole, the book casts new light both on Isocrates himself, revealed as an agile and witty polemicist, and on the struggle between rhetoric and philosophy from which Hellenism and modern humanities were born.
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1 online resource (xi, 225 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 197-202) and indexes. :
9789047400929 :
0169-8958 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The orator in action and theory in Greece and Rome /
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This volume is a collection of essays, written by authorities in the field, on many aspects of ancient rhetoric. These essays deal both with the theory of rhetoric and the practice of oratory and are quite diverse both in tone and audience envisioned. Some of them deal with very basic questions such as how good an orator should appear to be; others deal with very technical matters such as theoretical considerations of issue theory or \'figured speeches\'. Some are focussed on the actual practice of oratory in speeches such as those of Cicero and Caesar; others deal with manifestations of oratory in historical works such as the Histories of Herodotus or reflections on the nature of oratory in works like the Dialogus of Tacitus. One considers parallel developments in rhetorical and artistic treatments of the legend of Busiris.
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Chiefly papers presented at a conference held Oct. 1998, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in honor of George Kennedy. :
1 online resource (xvii, 172 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004350984 :
0169-8958 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Linguistics into interpretation : speeches of war in Herodotus VII 5 and 8-18 /
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This volume is a sustained exercise in the genre of secondary literature which aims at explaining a literary work as much as possible in and through the author's own words. A crucial passage in direct speech by different speakers from the History of Herodotus, the earliest long Greek prose text, has been made the object of a systematic effort to distill and analyse the linguistic characteristics relevant to its interpretation, by confronting it with the rest of the work as well as with earlier and contemporary writings. This is done with the primary aim of placing the interpretation of a major author on the firmest ground available, the author's inches per secondissimi verba . The result, made accessible by full indexes, will prove helpful to readers of any part of Herodotus' History .
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1 online resource (xlv, 325 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004351264 :
0169-0985 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The propaganda of power : the role of panegyric in late antiquity /
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The 13 essays presented here shed new light on the role of panegyric in the western and eastern Roman Empire in the late antique world. Introductory chapters give an overview of panegyrical theory and practice, followed by studies of major writers of the early empire and the anonymous Panegyrici latini . The core of the volume deals with prose and verse panegyric under the Christian Roman Empire (4th-7th century): key themes addressed are social and political context, the 'hidden agenda', and the impact of Christianity on the pagan tradition of the panegyric, including the portrayal of patriarchs and holy men.
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1 online resource (x, 378 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004351479 :
0169-8958 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.