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Life in Rome was relentlessly public, and oratory was at its heart. Orations were dramatic spectacles in which the speaker deployed an arsenal of rhetorical tricks and strategies aimed at arousing the emotions of the audience, and spectators responded vigorously and vocally with massed chants of praise or condemnation. Unfortunately, many aspects of these performances have been lost. In the first in-depth study of oratorical gestures and crowd acclamations as methods of communication at public spectacles, Gregory Aldrete sets out to recreate these vital missing components and to recapture the original context of ancient spectacles as interactive, dramatic, and contentious public performances. At the most basic level, this work is a study of communication--how Roman speakers communicated with their audiences, and how audiences in turn were able to reply and convey their reactions to the speakers. Aldrete begins by investigating how orators employed an extraordinarily sophisticated system of hand and body gestures in order to enhance the persuasive power of their speeches. He then turns to the target of these orations--the audience--and examines how they responded through the mechanism of acclamations, that is, rhythmically shouted comments. Aldrete finds much in these ancient spectacles that is relevant to modern questions of political propaganda, manipulation of public image, crowd behavior, and speechmaking. Readers with an interest in rhetoric, urban culture, or communications in any period will find the book informative, as will those in art history, archaeology, history, and philology. ''[This work] focuses on two particular forms of communication, one nonverbal, used primarily by speakers, and one verbal, mainly used by audiences . . . These were not the only methods available, but have been selected because in this period they shared the characteristics of flexibility and versatility and, more importantly, were truly interactive forms of communication that encouraged a two-way dialogue between speaker and listener.''-from the Introduction

Product Identifiers

PublisherJohns Hopkins University Press

ISBN-100801861322

ISBN-139780801861321

eBay Product ID (ePID)919646

Product Key Features

Number of Pages256 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication NameGestures and Acclamations in Ancient Rome

Publication Year1999

SubjectAncient / General, Latin

TypeLanguage Course

Subject AreaForeign Language Study, History

AuthorGregory S. Aldrete

SeriesCornell Studies in Political Economy

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height1 in

Item Weight16.8 Oz

Item Length8.5 in

Item Width5.5 in

Additional Product Features

LCCN98-056501

Dewey Edition21

Reviews''Aldrete has mastered his material well, and writes winningly in a straightforward manner... Every student of ancient oratory and mass communication will profit from this book.'' -- Herbert W. Benario, Religious Studies Review, "Aldrete has mastered his material well, and writes winningly in a straightforward manner... Every student of ancient oratory and mass communication will profit from this book."--Herbert W. Benario, Religious Studies Review, "This [is a] well-written study of the theory and practice of rhetorical gesture and acclamation in late republican and early imperial Rome... a well-organized presentation."--Randolph H. Lytton, History

Target AudienceScholarly & Professional

IllustratedYes

Dewey Decimal875/.0109

Lc Classification NumberPa6083.A44 1999