An orator , or oratist , is a public speaker, especially one who is eloquent or skilled.
7-455: 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 . 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. As far as Homer (8th or 9th century BC),
14-481: A simple rather than ornate style. Orator Recorded in English c. 1374, with a meaning of "one who pleads or argues for a cause", from Anglo-French oratour , Old French orateur (14th century), Latin orator ("speaker"), from orare ("speak before a court or assembly; plead"), derived from a Proto-Indo-European base * or- ("to pronounce a ritual formula"). The modern meaning of the word, "public speaker",
21-497: A speech which dazzled the citizens. Gorgias’s "intellectual" approach to oratory, which included new ideas, forms of expression, and methods of argument, was continued by Isocrates , a 4th-century BC educator and rhetorician. Oratory eventually became a central subject of study in the formalized Greek education system. The work of the Attic orators inspired the later rhetorical movement of Atticism , an approach to speech composition in
28-469: Is a Christian author, often a clergyman, renowned for their ability to write or deliver (from the pulpit in church, hence the word) rhetorically skilled religious sermons . In some universities , the title 'Orator' is given to the official whose task it is to give speeches on ceremonial occasions, such as the presentation of honorary degrees . The following is a list of those who have been noted as famous specifically for their oratory abilities, or for
35-514: Is attested from c. 1430. In ancient Rome , the art of speaking in public ( Ars Oratoria ) was a professional competence especially cultivated by politicians and lawyers . As the Greeks were still seen as the masters in this field, as in philosophy and most sciences, the leading Roman families often either sent their sons to study these subjects under a famous master in Greece (as was the case with
42-583: 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". Until the 5th century BC, however, oratory was not formally taught. It was not until the middle of that century that the Sicilian orator, Corax , along with his pupil, Tisias , began a formal study of rhetoric . In 427 BC, another Sicilian named Gorgias of Leontini visited Athens and gave
49-653: The young Julius Caesar ), or engaged a Greek teacher (under pay or as a slave). In the young revolutionary French Republic, Orateur (French for "orator") was the formal title for the delegated members of the Tribunat to the Corps législatif , similar to the role of a "Parliamentary Speaker," to motivate their ruling on a presented bill. In the 19th century, orators and historians and speakers such as Mark Twain , Charles Dickens , and Col. Robert G. Ingersoll were major providers of popular entertainment . A pulpit orator
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