“Speech is a Powerful Lord”: Speech, Sound, and Enchantment in Greek Oratorical Performance

Advances in the History of Rhetoric Jan 2005

“Speech is a Powerful Lord”: Speech, Sound, and Enchantment in Greek Oratorical Performance

Christopher Lyle Johnstone

Abstract

Abstract The performative dimension of oral rhetoric has been a central concern of theorists throughout the history of the tradition. Awareness of the persuasive power of the human voice is especially conspicuous in the teachings of Gorgias of Leontini. When he claims that “speech is a powerful lord,” Gorgias articulates a profound insight into how the human mind and body respond to sounds produced by the voice. By examining Gorgias' views of the potency of speech in the context of the oral, poetic tradition of ancient Greece, we can appreciate more fully the sources of this insight. Moreover, contemporary research in psycho-physiology suggests that Gorgias grasped an important dimension of the human mind's fundamental nature.

Journal: Advances in the History of Rhetoric
Published: 2005-01-01
DOI: 10.1080/15362426.2005.10557245
CompPile: Search in CompPile ↗
Topics: voice and style

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

Johnstone et al. (2018)

Situating Deliberative Rhetoric in Ancient Greece: The <i>B…

Advances in the History of Rhetoric

Cites in this index (0)

No references match articles in this index.

Also cites 18 works outside this index ↓

Aldrete (1999)

Gestures and Acclamations in Ancient Rome.

↗
Becker (2004)

Deep Listeners: Music, Emotion, and Trancing.

↗
Corbeill (2004)

Nature Embodied: Gesture in Ancient Rome.

↗
De Romilly (1992)

The Great Sophists in Periclean Athens.

↗
Furniss (2004)

Orality: The Power of the Spoken Word.

↗
Guthrie (1971)

The Sophists.

↗
Guthrie (1951)

“The Elocution Movement–England.”

Speech Monographs ↗
Halverson (1992)

“Havelock on Greek Orality and Literacy.”

Journal of the History of Ideas ↗
Havelock (1963)

Preface to Plato.

↗
Hawhee (2005)

Bodily Arts: Rhetoric and Athletics in Ancient Greece.

↗
Johnstone (2001)

“Communicating in Classical Contexts: The Centrality of Delivery.”

Quarterly Journal of Speech ↗
Meyer (2004)

“Brain Activity Varies with Modulations of Dynamic Pitch Variance in Sentence Melody.”

Brain and Language ↗
Morris (1999)

“Saying It with Feeling: Neural Responses to Emotional Vocalizations.”

Neuropsychologia ↗
Ong (1982)

Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word.

↗
Poulakos (1983)

“Gorgias” Encomium to Helen and the Defense of Rhetoric.”

Rhetorica ↗
Scherer (2003)

“Vocal Communication of Emotion: A Review of Research Paradigms.”

Speech Communication ↗
Segal (1962)

“Gorgias and the Psychology of the Logos”

Harvard Studies in Classical Philology ↗
Walker (2000)

Rhetoric and Poetics in Antiquity.

↗

CrossRef global citation count: 3 View in citation network →