World History
This article is a bit tough to read but I found it worthwhile. It is Epic and Rhetoric:Speech-making and Persuasion in Homer and Apollonius and was written by Peter Toohey. It was published in ARACHNION. A Journal of Ancient Literature and History on the Web back in 1995. The journal appears to have died.
From the article:
The topic, in a sense, is a bogus one ? speech-making and persuasion in Homer and Apollonius. There are speakers and speeches enough in Greek epic, but, at least in Homer and Apollonius, there is little recognizable rhetorical elaboration of the classical kind. This, of course, is understandable in the case of Homer: he was writing before rhetoric was invented. Yet, in the case of the Alexandrian writer of epic, Apollonius of Rhodes (composing after Aristotle and the major orators), the absence of speech-making, thus the absence of "primary" rhetoric is striking. In this paper I intend to look, selectively, at several of the speeches in Homer and in Apollonius. My concern, above all, will be to isolate some of the major contrasts between the speech-making habits of Homer and of Apollonius. We will see, I hope, how "rhetorical" Homer can be. We will also see ? and this is perhaps the crux of my paper ? why Apollonius may have shown so little taste for primary rhetoric.
For the sake of clarity I ought to anticipate here some of my larger conclusions. I will argue above all that Homer's speeches are exteriorized, that they are positive, outwardly directed, and expectantly ameliorative. Apollonius' prominent speeches, on the other hand, reflect an interiorization typified by hesitancy, inwardly turned anger, guile, and passivity. I believe that this difference (registering shared human attitudes, separated in time, which value the "outer", in Homer's case, or the "inner", in Apollonius' case) exemplifies a basic distinction between the two authors. This is a distinction which can also be detected in other fundamental aspects of their compositions: in their attitudes to heroism and the heroic, to women, to eros, and so forth. I believe that Apollonius' text, as we will see it in its speech-making and persuasion, embodies a change in the "discourse" of epic. It may also embody a change which has overtaken the shared Hellenistic mentalite.
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World History
Epic and Rhetoric: Speech-making and Persuasion in Homer and Apollonius
This article is a bit tough to read but I found it worthwhile. It is Epic and Rhetoric:Speech-making and Persuasion in Homer and Apollonius and was written by Peter Toohey. It was published in ARACHNION. A Journal of Ancient Literature and History on the Web back in 1995. The journal appears to have died.
From the article:
The topic, in a sense, is a bogus one ? speech-making and persuasion in Homer and Apollonius. There are speakers and speeches enough in Greek epic, but, at least in Homer and Apollonius, there is little recognizable rhetorical elaboration of the classical kind. This, of course, is understandable in the case of Homer: he was writing before rhetoric was invented. Yet, in the case of the Alexandrian writer of epic, Apollonius of Rhodes (composing after Aristotle and the major orators), the absence of speech-making, thus the absence of "primary" rhetoric is striking. In this paper I intend to look, selectively, at several of the speeches in Homer and in Apollonius. My concern, above all, will be to isolate some of the major contrasts between the speech-making habits of Homer and of Apollonius. We will see, I hope, how "rhetorical" Homer can be. We will also see ? and this is perhaps the crux of my paper ? why Apollonius may have shown so little taste for primary rhetoric.
For the sake of clarity I ought to anticipate here some of my larger conclusions. I will argue above all that Homer's speeches are exteriorized, that they are positive, outwardly directed, and expectantly ameliorative. Apollonius' prominent speeches, on the other hand, reflect an interiorization typified by hesitancy, inwardly turned anger, guile, and passivity. I believe that this difference (registering shared human attitudes, separated in time, which value the "outer", in Homer's case, or the "inner", in Apollonius' case) exemplifies a basic distinction between the two authors. This is a distinction which can also be detected in other fundamental aspects of their compositions: in their attitudes to heroism and the heroic, to women, to eros, and so forth. I believe that Apollonius' text, as we will see it in its speech-making and persuasion, embodies a change in the "discourse" of epic. It may also embody a change which has overtaken the shared Hellenistic mentalite.
- Ancient Medicine: From Homer To Vesalius
Ancient Medicine: From Homer to Vesalius. This site is an online exhibition prepared in conjunction with the Colloquium "Antiqua Medicina: Aspects in Ancient Medicine." The colloqium was held on February 27, 1997 in University of Virginia's McLeod...
- Extra!: History Of The State Of The Union
Extra!: History of the State of the Union. I am a day late on posting this but I am sure some readers will still find it of interest. This CNN article has some highlights on the history of the State of the Union Address. This is the annual ceremonial...
- Bureaucrats And Barbarians
Bureaucrats and Barbarians. Richard Hooker summarizes the civilization of Crete and southern Greece up until the time of Homer and provides an atlas and a gallery as well. The site covers the period of the Greek Dark Ages. I had not heard this time referred...
- President George H.w. Bush Speeches
President George H.W. Bush Speeches. Here are some of the official speeches that the first President Bush gave when he was in office. Inaugural Address of George Bush State of the Union Address 1989 -- Note that this speech is not officially listed...
- Bill Clinton Speeches
Bill Clinton Speeches. Here are some links to some of the official speeches that President Bill Clinton delivered when he was President. Speeches: First Inaugural Address of William J. Clinton Second Inaugural Address of William J. Clinton State...