Rhetorical Exercises from Late Antiquity: A Translation of Choricius of Gaza's Preliminary Talks and Declamations

The first translation, produced by a team of eight scholars, of the Declamations and Preliminary Talks of the sixth-century sophist Choricius of Gaza. Declamations, deliberative or judicial orations on fictitious themes, were the fundamental advanced exercises of the rhetorical schools of the Roman Empire, of interest also to audiences outside the schools. Some of Choricius' declamations are on generic themes (e.g. a tyrannicide, a war-hero), while others are based on specific motifs from Homeric times or from classical Greek history. The Preliminary Talks were typical prefaces to orations of all kinds. This volume also contains a detailed study of Choricius' reception in Byzantium and Renaissance Italy. It will be of interest to students of late antiquity, ancient rhetoric, and ancient education.

Author: Choricius
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 10/01/2009
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.50lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.10w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9780521848732

About the Author
Penella, Robert J.: - Robert J. Penella is Professor of Classics at Fordham University, New York. He is the author of The Letters of Apollonius of Tyana (1979); Greek Philosophers and Sophists in the Fourth Century: Studies in Eunapius of Sardis (1990); The Private Orations of Themistius (2000); and Man and the Word: The Orations of Himerius (2007).