Divine Talk

Abstract

Abstract The corpus of the Attic orators has long been recognized as a source for information about the mindset and life of ordinary Athenians. This book contributes to a differentiated understanding of religion in the Athenian public discourse by studying the references to religion and the use made of them in the corpus; it explores how the prominent orators differ in the sets of motifs they employ, in their strategies of persuasion, and thus in the image they convey of themselves. Part I analyses the rhetorical strategies behind the employment of religion in each of Demosthenes' public forensic speeches and links them with their legal, historical, and social background, showing that argumentation based on religion is not used randomly. Part II deals with deliberative and private speeches, in which religion plays a much less prominent role, and orators dispense with denigration and most other open use of religious argumentation; in the assembly the use of religious ideas serves instead as a signal helping to characterize the political situation, whereas in the private speeches it is most prominently the religious form of procedural elements that is exploited. This book presents various factors that could influence the appropriateness of references to religion, showing that careful consideration e.g. of the public relevance of a case is necessary in the interpretation of speeches.