The Role of Character in Greek Rhetorical Training

FAIN: FA-52353-06

Janet Marie Atwill
University of Tennessee, Knoxville (Knoxville, TN 37916-3801)

This book project examines the role of “character” in Greek rhetorical training in the Hellenistic Period (323-32 BCE) through the late second century CE. This era is generally viewed as a period of decline for the rhetorical tradition. My book challenges this interpretation by arguing that this period cannot be adequately assessed without considering its Hellenistic context, particularly the influence of Stoic thought in redefining the relationships between rhetoric, ethics, and philosophy and placing character education, what I call an “art of ethics,” at the center of the early liberal arts curriculum.

Associated Products

"Identity and Difference in Aelius Aristides' 'Regarding Sarapis" (Article)
Title: "Identity and Difference in Aelius Aristides' 'Regarding Sarapis"
Author: Janet M. Atwill
Author: Josie Portz
Abstract: This article posits that bringing diversity to histories of rhetoric may require not only revising canons but also "unwriting" the narratives of Western civilization in which canonical figures have been cast. Two conventions of these narratives are of special significance: fixed identities and narrative coherence. Focusing on the cultural contexts of Aelius Aristides' "Regarding Sarapis," we suggest that these conventions obscure the cultural differences that were always there.
Year: 2019
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Advances in the History of Rhetoric
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

“Memory, Materiality, and Provenance in Dio Chrysostom’s ‘Rhodian Oration.’” (Article)
Title: “Memory, Materiality, and Provenance in Dio Chrysostom’s ‘Rhodian Oration.’”
Author: Janet M. Atwill
Abstract: This article examines issues of provenance and memory in Dio Chrysostom’s “Rhodian Oration.” The second-century sophist confronted Rhodians over their reuse of honorific portrait statues. Two of many questions raised by this practice: Who “owns” statues that recognize private citizens but are erected in public spaces? How can one “remind” a community of the significance of its cultural heritage?
Year: 2014
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: PMLA
Publisher: Modern Language Association

"The Octologic Imagination" (Article)
Title: "The Octologic Imagination"
Author: Janet M. Atwill
Abstract: This article reflects on the institutional influences on historiography.
Year: 2011
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Rhetoric Review
Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Dumbarton Oaks Summer Fellow in Byzantine Studies: "Rhetoric and the Display of Art: Dio Chrysostom, Aelius Aristides, and Libanius" (Staff/Faculty/Fellow Position)
Name: Dumbarton Oaks Summer Fellow in Byzantine Studies: "Rhetoric and the Display of Art: Dio Chrysostom, Aelius Aristides, and Libanius"
Abstract: This fellowship provides support for a project that examines concepts of character by exploring relationships between verbal and visual art in the Greek Roman Empire. Specifically, the book examines speeches on statues and monuments by three Greek orators: Dio Chrysostom (c.40-c.120 CE), Aelius Aristides (117- c.180 CE), and Libanius (314-394 CE). While the book is grounded in close readings of the orators’ texts in the original language, I have conducted field research in Eastern Turkey over the last six years. This research supports the argument that the invocations of art and architecture by these orators actually fulfilled important political, economic, and cultural functions in the Roman Empire.
Year: 2014
Primary URL: http://https://www.doaks.org/research/byzantine/byzantine-studies-newsletters/summer-newsletter-2014

"Rhetoric and the Display of Art" (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: "Rhetoric and the Display of Art"
Abstract: This lecture focused on the role of praise and blame in Dio Chrysostom's "Rhodian Oration." The presentation argued that Dio Chrysostom's admonitions (like those of other sophists) fulfilled the function of confirming values the Empire had to share in order to maintain the often fragile ties of Roman rule.
Author: Janet M. Atwill
Date: 07/18/2010
Location: University of Maryland

Keynote: "Stoicism and Rhetorical Traditions" (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Keynote: "Stoicism and Rhetorical Traditions"
Author: Janet M. Atwill
Abstract: This paper examined the Stoic doctrines (specifically Panaetius, Epictetus, and Musonius Rufus) in the ethical arguments of Cicero and Dio Chrysostom.
Date: 5/27/2010

"Rhetoric as a Stochastic Art" (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: "Rhetoric as a Stochastic Art"
Abstract: The metaphors of aim and target are frequently invoked in antiquity to define the probable character of rhetoric (indeed, all arts). Medicine is a frequent analogue to rhetoric; both present the question of the validity of an art that has an "end" but can't guarantee its results. This lecture discussed the concept of the stochastic as it was invoked by Quintilian, Pausanius, and Aelius Aristides. I argued that this theorization of the stochastic complicated the means/end ratio that underwrites an instrumentalist view of rhetoric.
Author: Janet M. Atwill
Date: 01/20/2008
Location: University of Tennessee Centripetal Lecture

"Art and Error in Aelius Aristides" (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: "Art and Error in Aelius Aristides"
Abstract: This lecture examined how Aelius Aristides confronted an instrumental conception of rhetoric with the concept of the stochastic. This concept is elaborated in Aristides' extended treatise on Plato's condemnation of rhetoric: In Defense of Rhetoric.
Author: Janet M. Atwill
Date: 09/19/2007
Location: University of Tennessee Humanities Institute

“Techné & Histories of Rhetoric" (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: “Techné & Histories of Rhetoric"
Author: Janet M. Atwill
Abstract: This lecture surveyed the significance of Aristotle's designation of rhetoric as a techné.
Date Range: 10/15/2006
Location: University of Iowa

“The Soul and the State in Musonius Rufus, Epictetus, and Dio Chrysostom" (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: “The Soul and the State in Musonius Rufus, Epictetus, and Dio Chrysostom"
Author: Janet M. Atwill
Abstract: Dio Chrysostom has been known as the "Stoic Sophist," a student of Musonius Rufus. This paper returned to the stoic treatises of Musonius Rufus and compared his pragmatic interpretation of stoicism with the more ascetic version found in Epictetus.
Date Range: 07/24/2009
Location: International Society for the History of Rhetoric, Montreal

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