The Making of Identities in Athenian Oratory

The Making of Identities in Athenian Oratory, 1st Edition, is an academic anthology that examines how speakers in classical Athens constructed and deconstructed personal and civic personas. The collection investigates surviving speeches delivered before the Assembly, the Council, and the law courts across the fifth and fourth centuries BCE.

The essays explore rhetorical strategies used to persuade civic audiences, showing how orators depicted the Athenian populace either as a unified collective or as distinct sub-groups. Contributors consider how speakers defined individuals and communities through naming practices, civic honours, socio-economic status, religion, and ethnicity, including contrasts between Greeks and barbarians.

By addressing an understudied aspect of classical speechwriting, this volume serves readers studying ancient Greek identity, rhetoric, and oratory.