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Religious Discourse in Attic Oratory and Politics PDF

177 Pages·2020·31.456 MB·English
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Religious Discourse in Attic Oratory and Politics The book offers a critical investigation of a wide range of features of religious discourse in the transmitted forensic, symbouleutic and epideictic orations of the Ten Attic Orators, a body of 151 speeches which represents the mature flourishing of the ancient art of public speaking and persuasion. Serafim focuses on how the intersections between such religious discourse and the political, legal and civic institutions of classical Athens help to shed new light on polis identity- building and the construction of an imagined com- munity in three institutional contexts – the law court, the Assembly and the Boulē: a community that unites its members and defines the ways in which they make decisions. After a full- scale survey of the persistently and recur- rently used features of religious discourse in Attic oratory, he contextualizes and explains the use of specific patterns of religious discourse in specific ora- torical contexts, examining the means or restrictions that these contexts gen- erate for the speaker. In doing so, he explores the cognitive/e motional and physical/ sensory reactions of the speaker and the audience when religious stimuli are provided in orations, and how this contributes to the construction of civic and political identity in classical Athens. Religious Discourse in Attic Oratory and Politics will be of interest to anyone working on classical Athens, particularly its legal institutions, on ancient rhet- oric, and ancient Greek religion and politics. Andreas Serafim is a Research Fellow at the Research Centre for Greek and Latin Literature of the Academy of Athens. He is the author of a previous monograph, Attic Oratory and Performance (Routledge 2017). Routledge Monographs in Classical Studies Titles include: Animals in Ancient Greek Religion Edited by Julia Kindt Classicising Crisis The Modern Age of Revolutions and the Greco- Roman Repertoire Edited by Barbara Goff and Michael Simpson Epigraphic Culture in the Eastern Mediterranean in Antiquity Edited by Krzysztof Nawotka Proclus and the Chaldean Oracles A Study on Proclean Exegesis, with a Translation and Commentary of Proclus’ Treatise On Chaldean Philosophy Nicola Spanu Greek and Roman Military Manuals Genre and History Edited by James T. Chlup and Conor Whately Illiterate Geography in Classical Athens and Rome Daniela Dueck Religious Discourse in Attic Oratory and Politics Andreas Serafim For more information on this series, visit: www.routledge.com/ Routledge- Monographs- in- Classical- Studies/ book- series/ RMCS Religious Discourse in Attic Oratory and Politics Andreas Serafim First published 2021 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2021 Andreas Serafim The right of Andreas Serafim to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing- in- Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Serafim, Andreas, author. Title: Religious discourse in Attic oratory and politics / Andreas Serafim. Other titles: Routledge monographs in classical studies. Description: New York : Routledge, 2020. | Series: Routledge monographs in classical studies | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “The book offers a critical investigation of a wide range of features of religious discourse in the transmitted forensic, symbouleutic and epideictic orations of the Ten Attic Orators, a body of 151 speeches which represents the mature flourishing of the ancient art of public speaking and persuasion”– Provided by publisher. Identifiers: LCCN 2020023785 | ISBN 9781138570863 (hardback) | ISBN 9780203703151 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Oratory, Ancient–History and criticism. | Rhetoric, Ancient–Religious aspects. | Greek literature–Greece–Attikē–History and criticism. Classification: LCC PA3562 .S47 2020 | DDC 885/.0109382–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020023785 ISBN: 9781138570863 (hbk) ISBN: 9780203703151 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Newgen Publishing UK To my parents and grandparents Contents Acknowledgements ix Abbreviations xi Introduction 1 Defining fundamental terms 2 Religion, rhetoric and the polis 9 Current perspectives and approaches 12 What this book is about 17 Outline 19 1 Religious discourse in Attic oratory: A full survey 32 Aeschines 33 Andocides 37 Antiphon 38 Demosthenes 39 Dinarchus 45 Hypereides 45 Isaeus 47 Isocrates 47 Lycurgus 50 Lysias 51 Conclusion 54 2 Contextualizing religious discourse 63 Religious discourse beyond (con)textual limitations 65 The dichotomy between public and private speeches 69 Symbouleutic and epideictic orations 71 Individuality and circumstance 73 Conclusions 74 3 Reacting to the “airy nothing” 82 A two- cornered active involvement: The speaker and the audience 83 Cognitive dispositions and emotional reactions 95 viii Contents 4 Civic/ political identity in religious discourse 120 What is identity? 121 Religious discourse and civic spirit/ patriotism 126 Heroes and statesmen in religious discourse 133 Conclusions 138 Conclusion 153 Index 158 Acknowledgements The process of writing a book can offer invaluable life lessons. You are moving inwards to find your professional self, to understand the ways you read, think and analyze data, to realize your limitations and to count your friends, those magnanimous people, both within and outside the confines of academia, who are willing to support you when things get mad and when circumstances become tough. The gestation period of this book, beyond all the knowledge and professional skills it gave, also enabled me to understand how important is to have people in life who sincerely believe in you and unwaveringly support your professional endeavours. I owe much to many people and institutions whose help and support have been invaluable to the conception and comple- tion of this book. I would like to thank Emma Aston (Reading) for working with me to pre- pare an application for a postdoctoral fellowship from which the idea of this book was to germinate and grow. I have been fortunate to work alongside Emma from my initial inquiries and theoretical meanderings, and it has been gratifying to see how initial exchanges of ideas and outlines led to the for- mulation of the chapters of this book, which will enhance our knowledge and understanding of the features and purposes of religious discourse in the entirety of the transmitted Attic forensic, symbouleutic (political) and epideictic speeches – a body of 151 speeches which represent the mature flourishing of the ancient art of public speaking. I also owe Emma special thanks for agreeing to read an ample part of this book’s manuscript despite her already full set of responsibilities. The feedback of Michael Gagarin (Austin), Michael Edwards (Roehampton), Sophia Papaioannou (Athens), Andreas Markantonatos (Peloponnese), Ioannis Konstantakos (Athens), Kostis Apostolakis (Crete) and Alessandro Vatri (Oxford), who read and commented on parts of the manuscript, has also been important in saving me from fallacies of argument and all sorts of mistakes. I would also like to thank Jason Crowley (Manchester) for having sent me his paper, “Patriotism in Ancient Greece”, prior to publication. The Department of Classics and Philosophy at the University of Cyprus is to be thanked for covering a part of the expenses of the conference “Speaking Religion: Religious Discourse and Public Speaking in Classical Athens and

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