Creating the Ancient Rhetorical Tradition
Creating the Ancient Rhetorical Tradition by Laura Viidebaum, published by Cambridge University Press on November 18, 2021, offers an in-depth exploration of the history of rhetorical thought. This edition spans 278 pages and is presented in English. The book examines the gradual association of rhetorical theory with two prominent fourth-century BCE writers, Lysias and Isocrates, highlighting their contrasting contributions to the development of rhetoric as both a stylistic domain and a philosophical enterprise.
Readers will find a detailed analysis of the rhetorical tradition’s evolution, particularly through the lens of Lysias’s focus on persuasive speech and Isocrates’s emphasis on moral and political education. The text discusses pivotal moments in which these two figures represented different cultural discourses, notably in Athens during the fourth century BCE and in Rome during the first century BCE. This scholarly work situates the contributions of Lysias and Isocrates within the broader context of ancient rhetoric, making it a significant resource for those interested in history, linguistics, and rhetoric.
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This book explores the history of rhetorical thought and examines the gradual association of different aspects of rhetorical theory with two outstanding fourth-century BCE writers: Lysias and Isocrates. It highlights the parallel development of the rhetorical tradition that became understood, on the one hand, as a domain of style and persuasive speech, associated with the figure of Lysias, and, on the other, as a kind of philosophical enterprise which makes significant demands on moral and political education in antiquity, epitomized in the work of Isocrates. There are two pivotal moments in which the two rhetoricians were pitted against each other as representatives of different modes of cultural discourse: Athens in the fourth century BCE, as memorably portrayed in Plato’s Phaedrus, and Rome in the first century BCE when Dionysius of Halicarnassus proposes to create from the united Lysianic and Isocratean rhetoric the foundation for the ancient rhetorical tradition. This title is available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
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