Rhetorician

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The rhetorician (from ancient Greek ῥήτωρ Rhḗtōr) was a speaker or - as theoretician - a teacher of eloquence among the ancient Greeks .

Gorgias of Leontinoi is said to have been around 427 BC. BC brought the rhetoric founded in Sicily from there to Athens . Well-known rhetors included Isocrates , who is considered to have completed the artistic construction and the formal structure of the rhetoric, and Aristotle , who attached more importance to the practical goals and the factual content of the speech.

In the 2nd century BC Rhetoric came to Rome . Most of the Roman rhetoricians were also politicians , such as Cato the Elder and the master of speech Cicero . In the late antiquity especially are Themistius and Libanius important. In the Roman culture, however, the rhetor in the narrower sense was the teacher of eloquence and the speaking orator .

Flavius ​​Philostratos wrote a collection of biographies of the sophists and rhetors. In it he referred to the period of the 2nd century AD as the "second sophistry", which he also called the "renaissance of the Greeks". Aelius Aristides and Polemon of Laodikeia are considered to be important representatives .

Origin in the archaic

In the 2nd century AD, rhetoric went from its literary form to a public form. Ancient and obsolete words and forms were used, which researchers were able to prove through the satirists of the 2nd century. The "artificial revival of old dialects" describes the fact that the number of dialect inscriptions decreased in Hellenistic times and only reappeared in writing and language in the 2nd century AD. It was an archaism in the sense that everything old was perceived as better and imitated. The style model of the speakers and writers was the written Attic of the 4th and 5th centuries . 5th century BC Chr .: Gorgias of Leontinoi , Protagoras , Hippias of Elis and others. The rhetoric became an "ars", an artificial language that was subject to strict rules. Those who had the talent to use the old forms could make a name for themselves. Rhetoric became the language of scholars. With their use, scholars could stand out from the everyday language of common people. It showed the user who belonged to the upper class.

Origin and environment

The rhetors almost always came from respected and wealthy families who could afford school fees, public gifts, and travel, and had held official posts for generations. Thanks to their relationships, they were able to gain a hearing and sympathy with the ruler, which benefited the respective city in which the rhetorician delivered his speech.

Rhetor and audience

The audience of the rhetors were the Greek or Hellenistic townspeople who had lived in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire since the Principate and were thus under the rule of the Romans. The trick was to address and convince the lower and upper layers. However, the specific educational situation of the public is unclear. Presumably, not all of the allusions were understood because of the high number of illiterate people. Nevertheless, the older literature (eg the " Iliad ") was deliberately alluded to. By recognizing well-known works, the rhetorician won the sympathy of the audience. With the memory of the education and culture, the local mythical tradition and by means of the ancient languages ​​of the Greeks, their less glorious history should be compensated.

Sophistics in relation to the social system

The few specialists based on their knowledge were able to manipulate history in every direction and thus display their own point of view.

Ruling elite

Through the speeches of the rhetors she achieved a consolidation of her rule and social peace. That is why the sophists wanted so much to find their audience.

Audience of the Greeks

The Greeks' own perceived powerlessness was justified by the fact that the domination by the Romans was compensated for with their own cultural superiority. Hence, the sophistic performances attracted a mass audience.

In return for their services, the rhetors received:

  • Immunities such as tax exemption, freedom from obligations towards the city such as military service or the obligation to stay in accommodation,
  • Honors such as statues and awarding citizenship (of a foreign city),
  • Offices like the Senate, in rare cases the consulate .

Sophistics in relation to the political system

Single-track speech

The speaker represented a kind of educational monopoly while the audience remained passive. The principle of passivity also represented the political system: the decisions of the council were only formally confirmed by the people's assembly . Sham debates were being held in it, while the dignitaries had long since reached an agreement in the background.

Structure of the speech

Preliminary program

In the preliminary program, the rhetorician greeted his audience relaxed on the floor and put himself on a par with him, including the “captatio benevolentiae”, a tribute to the audience and his hometown. In truth, however, he belonged to the elite.

Main lecture

The rhetorician asked the audience for topics for the big improvised speech. It then chose one of them.

Ancient and medieval rhetoricians

Greek politicians of the 5th century BC Chr.

Ten Attic speakers

Later Greek speakers

Roman orators

Christian preachers

literature

  • Graham Anderson: The Second Sophistic. A cultural phenomenon in the Roman Empire. Routledge, London 1993, ISBN 0-415-09988-9 .
  • Glen Bowersock : Greek Sophists in the Roman Empire. Clarendon, Oxford 1969.
  • Philostratus: Life of the Sophists. Greek / German. Edited by Kai Brodersen . Marix, Wiesbaden 2014, ISBN 978-3-86539-368-5 .
  • Thomas A. Schmitz : Education and Power. On the social and political function of the Second Sophistics in the Greek world of the imperial era. Beck, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-406-42851-7 (plus habilitation thesis, University of Kiel 1996).