Attic orators
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The ten Attic orators were considered the greatest Greek orators and logographers of the classical era (5th–4th century BC). They are included in the "Canon of Ten", which probably originated in Alexandria.[1] A.E. Douglas has argued, however, that it was not until the second century AD that the canon took on the form that is recognised today.[2]
Alexandrian "Canon of Ten"
As far as Homer (8th or 9th century BC), the art of effective speaking was of considerable value in Greece. In Homer's epic, the Iliad, the warrior, Achilles, was described as "a speaker of words and a doer of deeds".[3]
Until the 5th century BC, however, oratory was not formally taught. It was not until the middle of that century that the Sicilian orator,
The work of the Attic orators inspired the later rhetorical movement of Atticism, an approach to speech composition in a simple rather than ornate style.
Notes
References
- Carawan, Edwin (ed.): Oxford readings in the Attic orators. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. ISBN 9780199279920
- Smith, R.M. "A New Look at the Canon of the Ten Attic Orators", Mnemosyne 48.1 (1995): 66-79.
External links
- Lives of the Ten Orators, translated by H.N. Fowler