Rhetoric and Pedagogy

This article traces the development of rhetorical pedagogy from Homer to late antiquity. It is clear from Homer that effective public speaking was valued in archaic Greece, and seen as a teachable skill. Formalised and theorised rhetorical pedagogy was developed gradually by the sophists of the fifth and early fourth centuries BC, but the evidence for their work is very limited. Isocrates and the author of the Rhetoric to Alexander build on earlier sophistic rhetoric in different ways. Evidence becomes most abundant in late antiquity, from the second century AD onwards. Innovations in rhetorical theory and concurrent changes in the structure of pedagogical practice in this period reflect the perennial responsiveness of rhetoric as a practical discipline to its socio-cultural context.