This Companion is the most comprehensive treatment of ancient Greek rhetoric available. Designed primarily for readers approaching the subject for the first time, it traces the history of rhetoric from Homer to Byzantium. It provides an overview of rhetorical theory and practice, offers accounts of the most important orators and rhetoricians, and considers rhetoric in a number of historical, social, political, intellectual, and literary contexts.
The Companion comprises a series of newly commissioned essays by experts in the field. These contributions cover traditional topics such as rhetoric's place within politics, law, and philosophy, as well as wider-ranging subjects such as rhetoric's relationship to knowledge, ethics, logic, and emotion. The volume incorporates new material providing fresh insights into how the Greeks saw and used rhetoric, and into its far-reaching effects on ancient Greek society. An introductory chapter discusses the idea of rhetoric, the status of rhetoric studies (present and future), and summarises the various chapters of the volume.
