Proving, pleasing and persuading: why ancient rhetoric still matters
About the lecture
In a world full of political communication yet starved of proper political debate, a return to the ancient rhetorical principles for producing passionate and persuasive speeches provides a plausible solution. But is our understanding of ancient rhetoric correct, and what does rhetoric mean today?
In this lecture, Professor Henriette van der Blom challenges the standard picture of the ancient orator and the role of rhetoric in contemporary society, and she offers new ways to think about and engage with public speech and persuasive argument to the benefit of us all and our democratic states.
Professor van der Blom's visit is supported by the Classics Trust Fund, the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies and the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne.
About the speaker
Professor Henriette van der Blom
Professor Henriette van der Blom is an ancient historian specialising in the history and political life of the Roman Republic. Her research focuses on republican politics in the City of Rome, Roman oratory, all aspects of Cicero, and Roman approaches to the past. Professor van der Blom has a strong interest in political oratory across historical periods – including current British political speech – and she is the founding director of the Network for Oratory and Politics. Professor van der Blom is currently writing a book on the reception of Roman republican orators and oratory in the Roman imperial period, with a focus on Valerius Maximus (funded by a three-year Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship). Valerius Maximus work offers new insights into Roman republican public speech, the early imperial reception of republican oratory, and its long-term legacy in the cultures of rhetoric in the Western world.
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