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Oratory and Political Career in the Late Roman Republic

Henriette Van Der Blom author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:22nd Jul '21

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Oratory and Political Career in the Late Roman Republic cover

Oratory and Political Career in the Late Roman Republic is a pioneering investigation into the role of oratory in Roman Republican politics.

This book offers a new perspective on the role of oratory in Roman Republican politics through its unique focus on the oratorical performances of orators other than Cicero and the ways in which these performances shaped their political careers.Oratory and Political Career in the Late Roman Republic is a pioneering investigation into political life in the late Roman Republic. It explores the nature and extent to which Roman politicians embraced oratorical performances as part of their political career and how such performances influenced the careers of individual orators such as Gaius Gracchus, Pompeius Magnus, and Julius Caesar. Through six case studies, this book presents a complex and multifaceted picture of how Roman politicians employed oratory to articulate their personal and political agendas, to present themselves to a public obsessed with individual achievement, and ultimately to promote their individual careers. By dealing specifically with orators other than Cicero, this study offers much-needed alternatives to our understanding of public oratory in Rome. Moreover, the assessment of the impact of public speeches on the development of political careers provides new perspectives on the hotly debated nature of republican political culture.

'Henriette van der Blom's new monograph is an exciting and important contribution to a new wave of scholarship on Roman oratory and rhetoric. She has gathered a trove of useful information about well-known figures of the late Republic, but much of that information will be new to her readers, who know figures like Pompey, Caesar, and Antony better as military leaders than as practitioners of oratory.' Joanna Kenty, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

ISBN: 9781107687219

Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 21mm

Weight: 524g

391 pages