Literary and philosophical rhetoric in the Greek, Roman, Syriac, and Arabic worlds

More about the book

This project originates from the observation that in the Greek, Roman, Syriac, and Arabic traditions, two distinct types of 'rhetorics' exist—literary rhetoric and philosophical rhetoric—each differing in goals, methods, programs, and sources. This book employs this distinction as a working hypothesis, featuring contributions from specialists in classical and postclassical Greek rhetoric, Roman rhetoric, as well as the Syriac and Arabic branches of Aristotle’s Rhetoric, including experts in Arabic eloquence (balaga). The authors explore the continuities and interactions between philosophical and literary rhetoric across these cultures. They investigate whether these two types of rhetoric coexisted with clear separations of purpose, developed independently, confronted each other within their cultural contexts, influenced one another, or adapted similarly to social and political circumstances. By transcending the confines of the Western classical world, this book aims to contribute to interdisciplinary rhetoric research, posing questions relevant to the Greek, Roman, Syriac, and Arabic traditions, and encouraging a deeper understanding of their rhetorical landscapes.