The Nature and Perception of Attic Prose Rhythm

Abstract

This article investigates the ancient theoretical discussions and critical analyses of rhythm in Attic prose in order to reconstruct its native perception as a psychoacoustic and cognitive phenomenon. In particular, the article examines the inventories of rhythmic feet identified by the ancient Greek rhetoricians and concludes that the earliest reconstructible one is most likely to include the minimal durational patterns perceivable as rhythmical units by ancient native speakers. Much in the perception of such rhythms depended on vocalization and delivery, and purely metrical approaches to prose rhythm in Attic prose are inadequate to capturing this phenomenon to the full.