The Center for Hellenic Studies

speech
Hellenic Studies Series

The Theory and Practice of Life: Isocrates and the Philosophers

The Theory and Practice of Life is a study of the literary culture within which the works, schools, and careers of Plato, Aristotle, and contemporary Greek intellectuals took shape. It focuses on the important role played by their rival Isocrates and the rhetorical education offered in his school. Tarik Wareh shows that when Aristotle illustrates his ethical theory by reference to the practical arts, this is no simple appeal to a homespun commonsense… Read more

News, Publications

Online Publication of GENOS DIKANIKON: Amateur and Professional Speech in the Courtrooms of Classical Athens, by Victor Bers

The Center for Hellenic Studies is pleased to announce that the online edition of Victor Bers’ GENOS DIKANIKON: Amateur and Professional Speech in the Courtrooms of Classical Athens is now available on the CHS website (chs.harvard.edu). In this monograph Victor Bers attempts to show that many features of Athenian court speech in the deluxe form we know from the preserved speeches were fashioned to avoid the failings of amateur… Read more

Hellenic Studies Series

Homeric Conversation

Homeric Conversation is the first full-length study of conversation in the Homeric poems. Deborah Beck argues that conversation should be considered a traditional Homeric type scene, alongside recognized types such as arrival, sacrifice, battle, and hospitality. Drawing on both linguistics and previous work on type scenes and oral aesthetics, the book describes the typical conversational patterns that characterize a range of situations, including one-on-one conversation, formal assemblies, battlefield encounters, and laments. Departures from… Read more