Abstract
Abstract This contribution examines an assembly speech that was pronounced by Dio of Prusa in the context of a grain crisis (Or. 46) in order to provide new insights into the politics of the Greek polis under Rome. Whereas inscriptions highlight the eagerness and zeal displayed by elite citizens in helping out their fatherlands, this speech points to the existence of tensions and conflict in the resolution of food crises. The oration’s rhetorical strategies oscillate between the expectations of a popular audience and an elite politician’s desire to shape and control those expectations. A rhetorical analysis of these strategies indicates that Prusan politics was grounded in a civic discourse that provided the people with the ideological means to assert real influence in the local political process. The 46th oration thus attests to the persistence of a democratic tradition of popular political participation in a time when elites had become increasingly powerful.
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