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108-510: Prominent among his claims to recognition is that he transplanted rhetoric from his native Sicily to Attica , and contributed to the diffusion of the Attic dialect as the language of literary prose. Gorgias was born c.  483 BC in Leontinoi , a Chalcidian colony in eastern Sicily that was allied with Athens . His father's name was Charmantides. He had a brother named Herodicus, who

216-489: A central guide. Thus, the speaker's effect on the audience serves as a key theme throughout Book II. Book II ends with a transition to Book III. The transition concludes the discussion of pathos, ethos, paradigms, enthymemes, and maxims so that Book III may focus on delivery, style, and arrangement. Book III of Aristotle's Rhetoric is often overshadowed by the first two books. While Books I and II are more systematic and address ethos , logos , and pathos , Book III

324-527: A collection of his students' notes in response to his lectures. The treatise shows the development of Aristotle's thought through two different periods while he was in Athens , and illustrates Aristotle's expansion of the study of rhetoric beyond Plato 's early criticism of it in the Gorgias ( c.  386   BCE ) as immoral, dangerous, and unworthy of serious study. Plato's final dialogue on rhetoric,

432-614: A demonstration of its power over us," (Gumpert, 73). According to Van Hook, The Encomium of Helen abounds in "amplification and brevity, a rhythm making prose akin to poetry, bold metaphors and poetic or unusual epithets" (122). In the Defense of Palamedes Gorgias describes logos as a positive instrument for creating ethical arguments (McComiskey 38). The Defense , an oration that deals with issues of morality and political commitment (Consigny 38), defends Palamedes who, in Greek mythology ,

540-514: A footnote to Plato , "all subsequent rhetorical theory is but a series of responses to issues raised" by Aristotle's Rhetoric . This is largely a reflection of disciplinary divisions, dating back to Peter Ramus ' attacks on Aristotelian rhetoric in the late 16th century and continuing to the present. Like the other works of Aristotle that have survived from antiquity, the Rhetoric seems not to have been intended for publication, being instead

648-478: A framework for expressing the implications of action and the ways decisions about such actions were made" (Jarratt 103). And this is exactly the purpose of Gorgias' Encomium of Helen . Of the three divisions of rhetoric discussed by Aristotle in his Rhetoric (forensic, deliberative, and epideictic), the Encomium can be classified as an epideictic speech, expressing praise for Helen of Troy and ridding her of

756-425: A general overview, presenting the purposes of rhetoric and a working definition; it also offers a detailed discussion of the major contexts and types of rhetoric. Book II discusses in detail the three means of persuasion that an orator must rely on: those grounded in credibility ( ethos ), in the emotions and psychology of the audience ( pathos ), and in patterns of reasoning ( logos ). Book III introduces

864-639: A gold statue of himself for a public temple. After his Pythian Oration, the Greeks installed a solid gold statue of him in the temple of Apollo at Delphi (Matsen, Rollinson and Sousa, 33). He died at Larissa in Thessaly . The philosophies of the pre-Socratic Greek Sophists are controversial among scholars in general, due to their highly subtle and ambiguous writings and also to the fact that they are best known as characters in Plato's dialogues . Gorgias, however,

972-534: A serious thinker. Attica Attica ( Greek : Αττική , Ancient Greek Attikḗ or Attikī́ , Ancient Greek: [atːikɛ̌ː] or Modern: [atiˈci] ), or the Attic Peninsula , is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area , which consists of the city of Athens , the capital of Greece and the core city of the metropolitan area, as well as its surrounding suburban cities and towns. It

1080-422: A set of possible occurrences also need to be established. In the Defense these occurrences are as follows: communication between Palamedes and the enemy, exchange of a pledge in the form of hostages or money, and not being detected by guards or citizens. In his defense, Palamedes claims that a small sum of money would not have warranted such a large undertaking and reasons that a large sum of money, if indeed such

1188-637: A theory of being that at the same time refuted and parodied the Eleatic thesis. The original text was lost and today there remain just two paraphrases of it. The first is preserved by the Pyrrhonist philosopher Sextus Empiricus in Against the Logicians and the other by Pseudo-Aristotle , the author of On Melissus, Xenophanes, and Gorgias . Each work, however, excludes material that is discussed in

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1296-621: A transaction had been made, would require the aid of many confederates in order for it to be transported. Palamedes reasons further that such an exchange could neither have occurred at night because the guards would be watching, nor in the day because everyone would be able to see. Palamedes continues, explaining that if the aforementioned conditions were, in fact, arranged then action would need to follow. Such action needed to take place either with or without confederates; however, if these confederates were free men then they were free to disclose any information they desired, but if they were slaves there

1404-476: A type of seduction, but he does not deny philosophy entirely, giving some respect to philosophers. Plato answers Gorgias by reaffirming the Parmenidean ideal that being is the basic substance and reality of which all things are composed, insisting that philosophy is a dialectic distinct from and superior to rhetoric (Wardy 52). Aristotle also criticizes Gorgias, labeling him a mere Sophist whose primary goal

1512-445: A work entitled Technai (Τέχναι), a manual of rhetorical instruction, which may have consisted of models to be memorized and demonstrate various principles of rhetorical practice (Leitch, et al. 29). Although some scholars claim that each work presents opposing statements, the four texts can be read as interrelated contributions to the up-and-coming theory and art ( technē ) of rhetoric (McComiskey 32). Of Gorgias' surviving works, only

1620-479: Is itself something, and has pretensions to communicate knowledge, in conflict with its explicit pronouncement that there is nothing and that it can't be known or communicated. Gisela Striker argues: "I find it hard to believe that anyone should ever have thought that Gorgias seriously advocated the view that nothing is and that he was, therefore, a 'nihilist.'" Similarly Caston states: "Gorgias would have to be not merely disconsolate, but quite dull-witted, to have missed

1728-578: Is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean Sea , bordering on Boeotia to the north and Megaris to the west. The southern tip of the peninsula, known as Laurion , was an important mining region . The history of Attica is closely linked with that of Athens. In ancient times, Attica corresponded with the Athens city-state. It was the most prominent region in Ancient Greece, specifically during

1836-447: Is a tool for practical debate; it is a means for persuading a general audience using probable knowledge to resolve practical issues. Dialectic and rhetoric partner to form a system of persuasion based on knowledge instead of upon manipulation and omission. Most English readers in the 20th century relied on four translations of the Rhetoric . The first, by Richard C. Jebb, was published in 1909. The next two translations were published in

1944-649: Is a triangular peninsula jutting into the Aegean Sea . It is naturally divided to the north from Boeotia by the 10 mi (16 km) long Cithaeron and Parnes mountain ranges. To the west of Eleusis , the Greek mainland narrows into Megaris , connecting to the Peloponnese at the Isthmus of Corinth . The southwestern coast of Attica, also known as the Athens Riviera , forms the eastern coastline of

2052-431: Is considered to be an important contribution to the genre of epitaphios. During the 5th and 4th centuries BC, such funeral orations were delivered by well-known orators during public burial ceremonies in Athens, whereby those who died in wars were honoured. Gorgias' text provides a clever critique of 5th century propagandist rhetoric in imperial Athens and is the basis for Plato's parody, Menexenus (Consigny 2). Plato

2160-451: Is credited with the invention of the alphabet, written laws, numbers, armor, and measures and weights (McComiskey 47). In the speech Palamedes defends himself against the charge of treason. In Greek mythology, Odysseus – in order to avoid going to Troy with Agamemnon and Menelaus to bring Helen back to Sparta – pretended to have gone mad and began sowing the fields with salt. When Palamedes threw Odysseus' son, Telemachus , in front of

2268-402: Is exemplified by the way that he playfully approaches each argument with stylistic devices such as parody, artificial figuration and theatricality (Consigny 149). Gorgias' style of argumentation can be described as poetics-minus-the-meter ( poiêsis-minus-meter ). Gorgias argues that persuasive words have power ( dunamis ) that is equivalent to that of the gods and as strong as physical force. In

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2376-441: Is fictitious). For the first main argument where Gorgias says, "there is no-thing", he tries to persuade the reader that thought and existence are not the same. By claiming that if thought and existence truly were the same, then everything that anyone thought would suddenly exist. He also attempted to prove that words and sensations could not be measured by the same standards, for even though words and sensations are both derived from

2484-585: Is here that Gorgias compares the effect of speech on the mind with the effect of drugs on the body. He states that Helen has the power to "lead" many bodies in competition by using her body as a weapon (Gumpert, 74). This image of "bodies led and misled, brought together and led apart, is of paramount importance in Gorgias' speech," (Gumpert, 74). While Gorgias primarily used metaphors and paradox, he famously used "figures of speech, or schemata" (Matsen, Rollinson and Sousa). This included balanced clauses ( isocolon ),

2592-403: Is inapprehensible to humans; and third, that even if existence is apprehensible, it certainly cannot be communicated or interpreted to one's neighbors. That being said, there is consensus in late 20th century and early 21st century scholarship that the label 'nihilist' is misleading, in part because if his argument were genuinely meant to support nihilism it would be self-undermining. The argument

2700-771: Is long and their future short. The old do not act on desire but rather act for profit. Those in the prime of life represent the mean to Aristotle, possessing the advantages of both old and young without excess or deficiency. One of good birth, wealth, or power has the character of a lucky fool, a character in which insolence and arrogance breed if these good fortunes are not used to one's advantage. Although Book II primarily focuses on ethos and pathos , Aristotle discusses paradigm and enthymeme as two common modes of persuasion. There are two kinds of paradigm: comparisons, referencing that which has happened before; and fables , inventing an illustration. Maxims , or succinct, clever statements about actions, serve as

2808-418: Is more deserving of this credit instead. ) The dominance of neo-Aristotelian criticism was "virtually unchallenged until the 1960s" and even now is considered not only as one of many approaches to criticism, but as fundamental for understanding other theoretical and critical approaches which "developed largely in response to [its] strengths and weaknesses." The Rhetoric consists of three books. Book I offers

2916-592: Is more extensive than the historical region, and includes Megaris as part of the regional unit of West Attica , the Saronic Islands and Cythera , as well as the municipality of Troizinia on the Peloponnesian mainland. According to the Roman geographer Pausanias , the place was originally named Actaea, but was later renamed in the honour of Atthis , daughter of king Cranaus of Athens . Attica

3024-400: Is nothing', 'if there were anything no one would know it', 'and if anyone did know it, no one could communicate it'. This theory, thought of in the late 5th century BC, is still being contemplated by many philosophers throughout the world. This argument has led some to label Gorgias a nihilist (one who believes nothing exists, or that the world is incomprehensible, and that the concept of truth

3132-506: Is often considered a conglomeration of Greek stylistic devices on rhetoric. However, Book III contains informative material on lexis (style) which refers to the "way of saying" and taxis , which refers to the arrangement of words. Scholars turn to Book III to develop theories about Greek style and its contemporary relevance. Amélie Oksenberg Rorty discusses the structure and characteristics of deliberative rhetoric in her research. She cites Aristotle to persuade her audience of

3240-492: Is particularly frustrating for modern scholars to attempt to understand. While scholars debate the precise subtleties of the teachings of Protagoras , Hippias , and Prodicus , they generally agree on the basic frameworks of what these thinkers believed. With Gorgias, however, scholars widely disagree on even the most basic framework of his ideas, including over whether or not that framework even existed at all. The greatest hindrance to scholarly understanding of Gorgias's philosophy

3348-759: Is pockmarked by a plethora of semi-continuous hills, the most notable ones being the Tourkovounia , Lykavittos , the Acropolis of Athens itself and Philopappou . Mesogeia lies to the east of Mount Hymettus and is bound to the north by the foothills of Mount Penteli, to the east by the Euboean Gulf and Mount Myrrhinous, and to the south by the mountains of Lavrio (modern Lavreotiki ), Paneio (Πάνειον Όρος), and Laureotic Olympus (Λαυρεωτικός Όλυμπος). The Lavrio region terminates in Cape Sounion , forming

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3456-696: Is that the vast majority of his writings have been lost and those that have survived have suffered considerable alteration by later copyists. These difficulties are further compounded by the fact that Gorgias's rhetoric is frequently elusive and confusing; he makes many of his most important points using elaborate, but highly ambiguous, metaphors, similes, and puns. Many of Gorgias's propositions are also thought to be sarcastic, playful, or satirical. In his treatise On Rhetoric , Aristotle characterizes Gorgias's style of oratory as "pervasively ironic" and states that Gorgias recommended responding to seriousness with jests and to jests with seriousness. Gorgias frequently blurs

3564-402: Is to make money by appearing wise and clever, thus deceiving the public by means of misleading or sophistic arguments. Despite these negative portrayals, Gorgias's style of rhetoric was highly influential. Gorgias's Defense of Helen influenced Euripides 's Helen and his Defense of Palamedes influenced the development of western dicanic argument, including possibly even Plato's version of

3672-425: Is to prove that being has no existence at all. Regardless of how it "has largely been seen" it seems clear that Gorgias was focused instead on the notion that true objectivity is impossible since the human mind can never be separated from its possessor. "How can anyone communicate the idea of color by means of words since the ear does not hear colors but only sounds?" This quote was used to show his theory that 'there

3780-467: Is unnecessary to learn the truth about actual matters when one has discovered the art of persuasion. In the dialogue, Gorgias responds to one of Socrates' statements as follows: "Rhetoric is the only area of expertise you need to learn. You can ignore all the rest and still get the better of the professionals!" (Plato 24). Gorgias, whose On Non-Existence is taken to be critical of the Eleatic tradition and its founder Parmenides , describes philosophy as

3888-720: The Apology of Socrates . For almost all of western history, Gorgias has been a marginalized and obscure figure in both philosophical thought and culture at large. In the nineteenth century, however, writers such as the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) and the English classicist George Grote (1794–1871) began to work to "rehabilitate" Gorgias and the other Sophists from their longstanding reputation as unscrupulous charlatans who taught people how to persuade others using rhetoric for unjust causes. As early as 1872,

3996-499: The Phaedrus ( c.  370   BCE ), offered a more moderate view of rhetoric, acknowledging its value in the hands of a true philosopher (the "midwife of the soul") for "winning the soul through discourse". This dialogue offered Aristotle, first a student and then a teacher at Plato's Academy , a more positive starting point for the development of rhetoric as an art worthy of systematic, scientific study. Aristotle developed

4104-478: The Encomium and the Defense are believed to exist in their entirety. Meanwhile, there are his own speeches, rhetorical, political, or other. A number of these are referred to and quoted by Aristotle , including a speech on Hellenic unity, a funeral oration for Athenians fallen in war, and a brief quotation from an Encomium on the Eleans. Apart from the speeches, there are paraphrases of the treatise "On Nature or

4212-415: The Encomium , Gorgias likens the effect of speech on the soul to the effect of drugs on the body: "Just as different drugs draw forth different humors from the body – some putting a stop to disease, others to life – so too with words: some cause pain, others joy, some strike fear, some stir the audience to boldness, some benumb and bewitch the soul with evil persuasion" (Gorgias 32). The Encomium "argues for

4320-491: The Golden Age of Athens in the classical period . Ancient Attica (the classical Athens city-state ) was divided into demoi , or municipalities, from the reform of Cleisthenes in 508/7 BC, grouped into three zones: urban ( astu ) in the region of Athens main town, and Piraeus (the port), coastal ( paralia ) along the coastline, and inland ( mesogeia ) in the interior. The modern administrative region of Attica

4428-505: The Goths under the command of Alaric . Attica's population diminished in comparison to the neighboring area of Boeotia . The sites of historical interest date to the 11th and 12th centuries, when Attica was under the rule of the Franks . The great monastery of Dafni, that was built under Justinian I 's rule, is an isolated case that does not signify a widespread development of Attica during

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4536-693: The Greek War of Independence in the 1820s, the peasants of Attica were the first to revolt (April 1821), occupying Athens and seizing the Acropolis that was handed over to the Greek revolutionaries in June, 1822. Attica belonged to the newly-founded Greek state from its founding. From 1834, Athens was made the new Greek capital (moved from Nafplio in Argolis ), which caused the gradual repopulation of Attica by other people around Greece. The most dramatic surge came with Greek refugees from Anatolia following

4644-677: The Greek genocide and later the population exchanges between Greece and Turkey under the Treaty of Lausanne . Today, much of Attica is occupied by urban Athens, encompassing the entirety of the Athenian plain. The modern Greek region of Attica includes classical Attica as well as the Saronic Islands , a small part of the Peloponnese around Troezen , and the Ionian Island of Kythira . Mela, A.; Tousi, E.; Melas, E.; Varelidis, G. Spatial Distribution and Quality of Urban Public Spaces in

4752-511: The Isthmus , and, toward the continent, they extended as far as the heights of Cithaeron and Parnes . The boundary line came down toward the sea, bounded by the district of Oropus on the right and by the river Asopus on the left. During antiquity, the Athenians boasted about being ' autochthonic ', which is to say that they were the original inhabitants of the area and had not moved to Attica from another place. The traditions current in

4860-429: The Rhetoric appear. Published in 1991 and translated by George A. Kennedy , a leading classicist and rhetorician, this work is notable for the precision of its translation and for its extensive commentary, notes, and references to modern scholarship on Aristotle and the Rhetoric. It is generally regarded today as the standard scholarly resource on the Rhetoric . Modern translations are still being produced, such as

4968-577: The Rhetoric during two periods when he was in Athens, the first, from 367–347  BCE (when he was second to Plato in the academy); and the second, from 335–322  BCE (when he was running his own school, the Lyceum ). The study of rhetoric was contested in classical Greece: on one side were the sophists , and on the other were Socrates , Plato, and Aristotle. The trio saw rhetoric and poetry as tools that were too often used to manipulate others by appealing to emotion and omitting facts. They accused

5076-450: The Rhetoric is: "Rhetoric is a counterpart ( antistrophe ) of dialectic." According to Aristotle, logic is concerned with reasoning to reach scientific certainty, while dialectic and rhetoric are concerned with probability and, thus, are the branches of philosophy that are best suited to human affairs. Dialectic is a tool for philosophical debate; it is a means for skilled audiences to test probable knowledge in order to learn. Rhetoric

5184-675: The Saronic Gulf . Mountains separate the peninsula into the plains of Pedias, Mesogeia , and the Thriasian Plain . The mountains of Attica are the Hymettus , the eastern portion of the Geraneia , Parnitha (the highest mountain of Attica), Aigaleo and Penteli . Four mountains — Aigaleo, Parnitha, Penteli and Hymettus (clockwise from the southwest) — delineate the hilly plain on which the Athens urban area now spreads. The plain

5292-445: The "moral character" of actions and mind. Kennedy reveals the purpose of chapters 12–17 as a demonstration to the speaker of "how his ethos must attend and adjust to the ethos of varied types of auditor if he is to address them successfully." As seen in the chapters explaining the various emotions, in chapters 12–17 Aristotle focuses on the necessary means of successfully persuading an audience. Yet, in these chapters, Aristotle analyzes

5400-613: The 1920s. John H. Freese's translation was published as a part of the Loeb Classical Library while W. Rhys Roberts' was published as a part of the Oxford University series of works in the Classics. Roberts' translation was edited and republished in 1954, and is widely available online. The fourth standard translation, by Lane Cooper, came out in 1932. Not until the 1990s did another major translation of

5508-661: The 4th century  BCE . The English title varies: typically it is Rhetoric , the Art of Rhetoric , On Rhetoric , or a Treatise on Rhetoric . Aristotle is credited with developing the basics of a system of rhetoric that "thereafter served as [the] touchstone" of the discipline, influencing the development of rhetorical theory from ancient through modern times. The Rhetoric is regarded by most rhetoricians as "the most important single work on persuasion ever written." Alan G. Gross and Arthur Walzer concur, indicating that, just as Alfred North Whitehead considered all Western philosophy

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5616-585: The Athmoneia games were also celebrated. After the period of antiquity, Attica came under Roman , Byzantine , Venetian , and Ottoman rule. In the Roman period, the Scandinavian Heruli tribe raided Athens and Attica in 267 AD, destroying most of the city and laying waste to the countryside. During the Byzantine period Athens was an important middle size city. In 396 Attica was invaded by

5724-562: The Attica Region (Greece) during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey-Based Analysis. Urban Sci. 2024, 8, 2. https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci8010002 *Not included the most parts of Athens urban area Rhetoric (Aristotle) Aristotle 's Rhetoric ( Ancient Greek : Ῥητορική , romanized :  Rhētorikḗ ; Latin : Ars Rhetorica ) is an ancient Greek treatise on the art of persuasion , dating from

5832-660: The Byzantine period. On the other hand, the buildings built during the 11th and 12th centuries show a greater development that continued during the rule of the Franks, who did not impose strict rule. From the 14th century onwards, the Arvanites came to Attica from what is today southern Albania . They were mostly invited as mercenaries by the local Greek lords. During the Ottoman rule, Athens enjoyed some rights. However, that

5940-594: The English philosopher Henry Sidgwick (1838–1900) was already calling this the "old view". Modern sources continue to affirm that the old stereotype of the Sophists is not accurate. Since the late twentieth century, scholarly interest in Gorgias has increased dramatically and the amount of research conducted on him is even beginning to rival the research on his more traditionally popular contemporary Parmenides . Gorgias's distinctive writing style, filled with antithesis and figurative language, has been seen as foreshadowing

6048-705: The Ionian tribe and spoke the Ionian dialect of Ancient Greek. Many Ionians later left Attica to colonize the Aegean coast of Asia Minor and to create the twelve cities of Ionia . During the Mycenaean period , the inhabitants of Attica lived in autonomous agricultural societies . The main places where prehistoric remains were found are Marathon , Rafina , Nea Makri , Brauron , Thorikos , Agios Kosmas, Elefsina , Menidi , Markopoulo , Spata , Aphidnae and Athens main city. All of these settlements flourished during

6156-479: The Mycenaean period. According to tradition, Attica comprised twelve small communities during the reign of Cecrops , the legendary Ionian king of Athens. Strabo assigns these the names of Cecropia , Tetrapolis , Epacria , Decelea , Eleusis , Aphidna , Thoricus , Brauron , Cytherus , Sphettus , Cephisia , and possibly Phaleron. These were said to have been later incorporated in an Athenian state during

6264-764: The Non-Existent." These works are each part of the Diels-Kranz collection, and although academics consider this source reliable, many of the works included are fragmentary and corrupt. Questions have also been raised as to the authenticity and accuracy of the texts attributed to Gorgias (Consigny 4). Gorgias' writings are intended to be both rhetorical (persuasive) and performative. He goes to great lengths to exhibit his ability of making an absurd, argumentative position appear stronger. Consequently, each of his works defend positions that are unpopular, paradoxical and even absurd. The performative nature of Gorgias' writings

6372-551: The Peloponnesian war, Attica was invaded and raided several times by the Lacedaemonians , while in the war's third phase the fortress of Decelea was captured and fortified by Lacedaemon. During the classical period, Athens was fortified to the north by the fortress of Eleutherae , which is preserved well. Other fortresses are those of Oenoe , Decelea , Phyle and Aphidnae . To protect the mines at Laurium , on

6480-601: The Synngrou Estate on the foothills of the former (intersecting the border between the suburban towns of Kifisia , Melissia and Marousi is home to the sole remaining natural forest in the Athenian plain. The Kifisos is the longest river in Attica, which starts from the foothills of mount Parnitha near Varibobi, crosses the Athenian plain and empties into the delta of Faliro east of the port of Piraeus. According to Plato , Attica's ancient boundaries were fixed by

6588-505: The aggression of the Syracusans . After 427 BC, Gorgias appears to have settled in mainland Greece, living at various points in a number of city-states, including Athens and Larisa . He was well known for delivering orations at Panhellenic Festivals and is described as having been "conspicuous" at Olympia . There is no surviving record of any role he might have played in organizing the festivals themselves. Gorgias's primary occupation

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6696-447: The area between Eleusis and Cape Sounion and the area around the city (ἐσωτερικό-μεσογαία), inhabited by people living on the north of Mount Parnitha , Penteliko and the area east of the mountain of Hymettus on the plain of Mesogeia . Principally, each civic unit would include equal parts of townspeople, seamen, and farmers. A "trittýs" ("third") of each sector constituted a tribe. Consequently, Attica comprised ten tribes. During

6804-576: The blame she faced for leaving Sparta with Paris (Wardy 26). Helen – the proverbial "Helen of Troy" – exemplified both sexual passion and tremendous beauty for the Greeks. She was the daughter of Zeus and Leda, the Queen of Sparta, and her beauty was seen by the Trojans as the direct cause of the decade long Trojan War between Greece and Troy . The war began after the goddesses Hera , Athena , and Aphrodite asked Paris (a Trojan prince) to select who

6912-408: The character of different groups of people so that a speaker might adjust his portrayed ethos in order to influence the audience. First, he describes the young as creatures of desire, easily changeable and swiftly satisfied. The young hate to be belittled because they long for superiority. According to Aristotle, the old are distrustful, cynical, and small-minded, for unlike the young their past

7020-665: The characteristics of deliberative rhetoric's influential nature. "Aristotle marks as central to deliberative rhetoric: considerations of prudence and justice, the projected political and psychological consequences of the decision and the likelihood of encouraging—or entrenching—similar rebellious attitudes amongst allies." The outstanding characteristic of deliberative rhetoric is practicality, Rorty argues: "the deliberative rhetorician who wishes to retain his reputation as trustworthy must pay attention to what is, in fact, actually likely to happen." Additionally, Aristotle focuses on deliberative rhetoric so heavily because "it most clearly reveals

7128-714: The classical period recounted that, during the Greek Dark Ages , Attica had become the refuge of the Ionians , who belonged to a tribe from the northern Peloponnese. Supposedly, the Ionians had been forced out of their homeland by the Achaeans , who in turn had been forced out of their homeland by the Dorian invasion . Supposedly, the Ionians integrated with the ancient Atticans, who, afterward, considered themselves part of

7236-495: The coast, Athens was protected by the walls at Rhamnus , Thoricus , Sounion , Anavyssos , Piraeus , and Elefsina . Although these forts and walls had been constructed, Attica did not establish a fortification system until later, in the 4th century BC. Attica's warfare is displayed by piles of rubble from fortresses from the Chremonidean war. Even though archaeological ruins of religious importance are found in nearly

7344-525: The conclusion of enthymemes. In choosing a maxim, one should assess the audience views and employ a fitting maxim. Amplification and deprecation, although not elements of an enthymeme, can contribute to refuting an opponent's enthymeme or revealing a falsehood by exposing it as just or unjust, good or evil, etc. Aristotle also mentions the koina , fallacious enthymemes, and lysis (the refutation of an opponent's enthymeme). In all of these techniques, Aristotle considers popular wisdom and audiences as

7452-553: The conflict between his presentation and its content". Finally, Wardy says, "This sadly mistaken reading overlooks the most obvious consequence of Gorgias' paradoxologia (παραδοξολογία): his message refutes itself, and in consequence, so far from constituting a theory of logos , it confronts us with a picture of what language cannot be, with what it cannot be assumed to aspire to be." Gigon and Newiger make similar points. Gorgias ushered in rhetorical innovations involving structure and ornamentation, and he introduced paradoxologia –

7560-501: The divine power of the gods, how could a weaker person refuse and reject him? But if love is a human sickness and a mental weakness, it must not be blamed as mistake, but claimed as misfortune" (Gorgias 32). Finally, if speech persuaded Helen, Gorgias claims he can easily clear her of blame. Gorgias explains: "Speech is a powerful master and achieves the most divine feats with the smallest and least evident body. It can stop fear, relieve pain, create joy, and increase pity" (Gorgias 31). It

7668-423: The effect of ethos and pathos on an audience since a speaker needs to exhibit these modes of persuasion . In Chapter 1, Aristotle notes that emotions cause men to change their opinions and judgments. As such, emotions have specific causes and effects. A speaker can therefore employ this understanding to stimulate particular emotions from an audience. However, Aristotle states that along with pathos ,

7776-621: The elements of style (word choice, metaphor, and sentence structure) and arrangement (organization). Some attention is paid to delivery, but generally the reader is referred to the Poetics for more information in that area. Many chapters in Book I cover typical deliberative argument varieties in Athenian culture. Book II gives advice for all types of speeches. Aristotle's Rhetoric generally concentrates on ethos and pathos , and—as noted by Aristotle—both affect judgment. Aristotle refers to

7884-404: The end that citizens share with each other... It is this shared goal that distinguishes deliberative rhetoric, and therefore public reasoning, from the other forms of rhetoric and political judgment that Aristotle examines." Shared goals are of utmost importance when deliberating on an issue that affects the common good. Without such a version of deliberative rhetoric, arguments would unfairly favor

7992-723: The existence of anything that is straightforwardly endorsed by Gorgias himself. According to Alan Pratt, nihilism is "the belief that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated." It is associated with pessimism and a radical skepticism that condemns existence. Gorgias presented his nihilist arguments in On Non-Existence ; however, the original text is no longer extant. We only know his arguments through commentary by Sextus Empiricus and Pseudo-Aristotle 's De Melisso, Xenophane, Gorgia. Ostensibly Gorgias developed three sequential arguments: first, that nothing exists; second, that even if existence exists, it

8100-678: The idea of paradoxical thought and paradoxical expression. For these advancements, Gorgias has been labeled the "father of sophistry " (Wardy 6). Gorgias is also known for contributing to the diffusion of the Attic Greek dialect as the language of literary prose. Gorgias was the first orator known to develop and teach a "distinctive style of speaking" (Matsen, Rollinson and Sousa, 33). Gorgias' extant rhetorical works – Encomium of Helen (Ἑλένης ἐγκώμιον), Defense of Palamedes (Ὑπέρ Παλαμήδους ἀπολογία), On Non-Existence (Περὶ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος ἢ Περὶ φύσεως), and Epitaphios (Επιτάφιος) – come to us via

8208-419: The joining of contrasting ideas ( antithesis ), the structure of successive clauses (parison), and the repetition of word endings ( homoeoteleuton ) (Matsen, Rollinson and Sousa, 33). The Encomium shows Gorgias' interest in argumentation, as he makes his point by "systematically refuting a series of possible alternatives," (Matsen, Rollinson and Sousa, 33). It is an encomium of the "rhetorical craft itself, and

8316-552: The later development of Menippean satire , as well as, in more recent times, the mannerist , grotesque , and carnivalesque genres. Several scholars have even argued that Gorgias's thoughts on the nature of knowledge, language, and truth foreshadow the views of modern philosophers such as Martin Heidegger , Jacques Derrida , Ludwig Wittgenstein , A. J. Ayer , Amélie Rorty , and Stanley Fish . Nonetheless, many academic philosophers still ridicule any efforts to portray Gorgias as

8424-623: The lines between serious philosophical discourse and satire, which makes it extremely difficult for scholars to tell when he is being serious and when he is merely joking. Gorgias frequently contradicts his own statements and adopts inconsistent perspectives on different issues. As a result of all these factors, Scott Porter Consigny calls him "perhaps the most elusive of the polytropic quarry hunted in Plato's Sophist . Gorgias has been labelled "The Nihilist" because some scholars have interpreted his thesis on "the non-existent" to be an argument against

8532-405: The local communities lose their independence and succumb to the central government in Athens . As a result of these reforms, Attica was divided into approximately a hundred municipalities, the demes ( dēmoi , δῆμοι), and also into three large sectors: the city (ἄστυ), which comprised the areas of central Athens, Ymittos , Aegaleo and the foot of Mount Parnes , the coast (παράλια), that included

8640-427: The mind, they are essentially different. This is where his second idea comes into place. The Encomium of Helen is considered to be a good example of epideictic oratory and was supposed to have been Gorgias' "show piece or demonstration piece," which was used to attract students (Matsen, Rollinson and Sousa, 33). In their writings, Gorgias and other sophists speculated "about the structure and function of language" as

8748-436: The ones published in 2008 by Joe Sachs and the 2019 one by Robert C. Bartlett. Rhetorical theory and criticism in the first half of the 20th century was dominated by neo-Aristotelian criticism, the tenets of which were grounded in the Rhetoric and were summed up in 1925 by Herbert Wichelns . (Forbes I. Hill argues that while Wichelns traditionally gets the credit for summing up neo-Aristotelian theory, Hoyt Hopewell Hudson

8856-432: The other, which suggests that each version may represent intermediary sources (Consigny 4). It is clear, however, that the work developed a skeptical argument, which has been extracted from the sources and translated as below: The argument has largely been seen as an ironic refutation of Parmenides ' thesis on Being. Gorgias set out to prove that it is as easy to demonstrate that being is one, unchanging and timeless as it

8964-446: The others. Much debate over both the nature and value of rhetoric begins with Gorgias. Plato 's dialogue Gorgias presents a counter-argument to Gorgias' embrace of rhetoric, its elegant form, and performative nature (Wardy 2). The dialogue tells the story of a debate about rhetoric, politics and justice that occurred at a dinner gathering between Socrates and a small group of Sophists. Plato attempts to show that rhetoric does not meet

9072-468: The person's state of mind, against whom one directs the emotion, and for what reasons. It is pertinent to understand all the components in order to stimulate a certain emotion within another person. For example, to Aristotle, anger results from the feeling of belittlement. Those who become angry are distressed due to a foiling of their desires. The angry direct their emotion towards those who insult them or that which those people value. These insults are

9180-448: The plow, Odysseus avoided him, demonstrating that he was sane. Odysseus, who never forgave Palamedes for making him reveal himself, later accused Palamedes of betraying the Greeks to the Trojans. Soon after, Palamedes was condemned and killed (Jarratt 58). In this epideictic speech, like the Encomium , Gorgias is concerned with experimenting with how plausible arguments can cause conventional truths to be doubted (Jarratt 59). Throughout

9288-445: The possible reasons for Helen's journey to Troy. He explains that Helen could have been persuaded in one of four ways: by the gods, by physical force, by love, or by speech ( logos ). If it were indeed the plan of the gods that caused Helen to depart for Troy, Gorgias argues that those who blame her should face blame themselves, "for a human's anticipation cannot restrain a god's inclination" (Gorgias 31). Gorgias explains that, by nature,

9396-552: The primary importance of truth as it functions within the craft of rhetoric itself." A path to action is determined through deliberative rhetoric, since an individual following practical means is likely to foresee likely events and act accordingly. In interpreting Aristotle's work on use of rhetoric, Bernard Yack discusses the vast need for public discourse and public reasoning. He states: "We deliberate together in political communities by making and listening to each other's attempts to persuade us that some future action will best serve

9504-483: The reasoning behind the anger. In this way, Aristotle defines each emotion, assesses the state of mind for those experiencing the emotion, determines to whom people direct the emotion, and reveals their reasoning behind the emotion. The significance of Aristotle's analysis stems from his idea that emotions have logical grounding and material sources. George A. Kennedy in a note to On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse remarks that ethos predominantly refers to

9612-431: The reign of Theseus , the mythical king of Athens. Modern historians consider it more likely that the communities were progressively incorporated into an Athenian state during the 8th and the 7th centuries BC. Until the 6th century BC, aristocratic families lived independent lives in the suburbs of Athens, such as Hippios Kolonos . Only after Peisistratos 's tyranny and the reforms implemented by Cleisthenes did

9720-405: The requirements to actually be considered a technê but rather is a somewhat dangerous "knack" to possess, both for the orator and for his audience, because it gives the ignorant the power to seem more knowledgeable than an expert to a group. Gorgias is the author of a lost work : On Nature or the Non-Existent (also On Non-Existence ). Rather than being one of his rhetorical works, it presented

9828-443: The rhetoricians Corax of Syracuse and Tisias , but very little is known about either of these men, nor is anything known about their relationship with Gorgias. It is not known what kind of role Gorgias may have played in the politics in his native Leontinoi, but it is known that, in 427 BC, when he was around sixty years old, he was sent to Athens by his fellow-citizens as the head of an embassy to ask for Athenian protection against

9936-446: The sophists in particular—including Gorgias and Isocrates —of this sort of manipulation. Plato blamed sophistical rhetoric for the arrest and the death of Socrates. In contrast to the emotional rhetoric and poetry of the sophists was a type of rhetoric grounded in philosophy and the pursuit of enlightenment. Aristotle identified rhetoric as one of the three key elements—along with logic and dialectic —of philosophy. The first line of

10044-461: The southeastern tip of the Attic peninsula. Athens' water reservoir, Lake Marathon , is artificial and was created by damming in 1920. Pine and fir forests cover the area around Parnitha. Hymettus, Penteli, Myrrhinous and Lavrio are forested with pine trees, whereas the rest are covered by shrubbery. Parts of the sprawling forests of mount Penteli and Parnitha have been lost to forest fires, while

10152-501: The speaker must also exhibit ethos , which for Aristotle encompasses phronesis , arete , and eunoia . Chapters 2–11 explore those emotions useful to a rhetorical speaker. Aristotle describes how to arouse these emotions in an audience so that a speaker might be able to produce the desired action successfully. Aristotle arranges the discussion of the emotions in opposing pairs, such as anger and calmness or friendliness and enmity. For each emotion, Aristotle discusses

10260-419: The text, Gorgias presents a method for composing logical ( logos ), ethical ( ethos ) and emotional ( pathos ) arguments from possibility, which are similar to those described by Aristotle in Rhetoric . These types of arguments about motive and capability presented in the Defense are later described by Aristotle as forensic topoi . Gorgias demonstrates that in order to prove that treason had been committed,

10368-476: The totalizing power of language." Gorgias also believed that his "magical incantations" would bring healing to the human psyche by controlling powerful emotions. He paid particular attention to the sounds of words, which, like poetry, could captivate audiences. His florid, rhyming style seemed to hypnotize his audiences (Herrick 42). Unlike other Sophists, such as Protagoras, Gorgias did not profess to teach arete (excellence, or, virtue). He believed that there

10476-637: The tragic poet, whom Comedy regards as wise and eloquent, often Gorgianizes in his iambic verse"). Additionally, although they are not described as his students, Gorgias is widely thought to have influenced the styles of the historian Thucydides , the tragic playwright Agathon , the doctor Hippocrates , the rhetorician Alcidamas , and the poet and commentator Lycophron . Gorgias is reputed to have lived to be one hundred and eight years old (Matsen, Rollinson and Sousa, 33). He won admiration for his ability to speak on any subject (Matsen, Rollinson and Sousa, 33). He accumulated considerable wealth; enough to commission

10584-399: The war, but also a popular and literary tradition of blaming Helen for her wrongdoing. It is this tradition which Gorgias confronts in the Encomium . The Encomium opens with Gorgias explaining that "a man, woman, speech, deed, city or action that is worthy of praise should be honored with acclaim, but the unworthy should be branded with blame" (Gorgias 30). In the speech Gorgias discusses

10692-406: The weak are ruled by the strong, and, since the gods are stronger than humans in all respects, Helen should be freed from her undesirable reputation. If, however, Helen was abducted by force, it is clear that the aggressor committed a crime. Thus, it should be he, not Helen, who should be blamed. And if Helen was persuaded by love, she should also be rid of ill repute because "if love is a god, with

10800-537: The whole area of Attica, the most important are those found in Eleusis . The worship of the goddesses Demeter and Cora , beginning in the Mycenaean period, continued until the late years of antiquity. Many other types of worship can be traced to the prehistory . For example, the worship of Pan and the Nymphs was common in many areas of Attica such as Marathon , Parnes and Ymittos . The god of wine, Dionysus ,

10908-519: Was a physician, and sometimes accompanied him during his travels. He also had a sister, whose name is not known, but whose grandson dedicated a golden statue to his great uncle at Delphi . It is not known whether Gorgias married or had children. Gorgias is said to have studied under the Sicilian philosopher Empedocles of Acragas ( c. 490 – c.  430 BC), but it is not known when, where, for how long, or in what capacity. He may have also studied under

11016-491: Was a risk of their voluntarily accusing to earn freedom, or accusing by force when tortured. Slaves, Palamedes says, are untrustworthy. Palamedes goes on to list a variety of possible motives, all of which he proves false. Through the Defense Gorgias demonstrates that a motive requires an advantage such as status, wealth, honour, and security, and insists that Palamedes lacked a motive (McComiskey 47–49). This text

11124-501: Was as a teacher of rhetoric. According to Aristotle , his students included Isocrates . (Other students are named in later traditions; the Suda adds Pericles , Polus , and Alcidamas , Diogenes Laërtius mentions Antisthenes , and according to Philostratus , "I understand that he attracted the attention of the most admired men, Critias and Alcibiades who were young, and Thucydides and Pericles who were already old. Agathon too,

11232-439: Was no absolute form of arete , but that it was relative to each situation. For example, virtue in a slave was not the same as virtue in a statesman. He believed that rhetoric, the art of persuasion, was the king of all sciences, since he saw it as a techné with which one could persuade an audience toward any course of action. While rhetoric existed in the curriculum of every Sophist, Gorgias placed more prominence upon it than any of

11340-492: Was not the case for the villages of Attica. Great areas were possessed by the Turks , who terrorized the population with the help of sipahis . The monasteries of Attica played a crucial role in preserving the Greek element of the villages. In spite of its conquerors, Attica managed to maintain its traditions. This fact is proved by the preservation of ancient toponyms such as Oropos , Dionysus , Eleusis , and Marathon . During

11448-469: Was one of Gorgias' greatest critics and a student of Socrates. Plato's dislike for sophistic doctrines is well known, and it is in his eponymous dialogue that both Gorgias himself as well as his rhetorical beliefs are ridiculed (McComiskey 17). In his dialogue Gorgias , Plato distinguishes between philosophy and rhetoric , characterizing Gorgias as a shallow, opportunistic orator who entertains his audience with his eloquent words and who believes that it

11556-399: Was the most beautiful of the three. Each goddess tried to influence Paris' decision, but he ultimately chose Aphrodite who then promised Paris the most beautiful woman. Paris then traveled to Greece where he was greeted by Helen and her husband Menelaus . Under the influence of Aphrodite, Helen allowed Paris to persuade her to elope with him. Together they traveled to Troy, not only sparking

11664-575: Was worshipped mainly in the area of Icaria , now the suburb of Dionysus . Iphigeneia and Artemis were worshipped in Brauron , Artemis in Rafina , Athena on Sounion , Aphrodite on Iera Odos, and Apollo in Daphne . The festival of Chalceia was celebrated every autumn in Attica. The festival honored the gods Hephaestus and Athena Ergane . In the deme of Athmonon , in modern-day Marousi ,

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