‘Decline’ and ‘flourishing’ of oratory and literary rhetoric? A comparative study of Hellenistic and imperial Greece

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My project is intended to be a diachronic tour d’horizon of Greek rhetoric and oratory between 322 BC and 240 AD: According to the traditional view, after 322 BC Greek oratory lost its original function, i.e. delivering political and juridical speeches (proven by the fact that nearly no continuous texts are extant). Recent studies, however, have treated this period as significant part of the rhetorical tradition—but a thorough investigation still is lacking. By contrast, the Imperial period, especially the period from 60 to 240 AD (known as ‟Second Sophistic“), is regarded as renewal of Greek literature and oratory. But since scholars have concentrated on elite orators and their social status, important aspects are still to be investigated. Due to reservations concerning the fragmentary evidence of the Hellenistic writings and a focus on the particular features of the Second Sophistic, the fact that rhetoric rather underwent changes within a continuous tradition was largely overlooked. The study will show that much more than often assumed can be stated about the role of rhetoric and oratory in Hellenistic literature and society. For this purpose, I will collect and analyze for the first time the relevant literary and documentary texts at hand, including papyri and inscriptions. A revaluation of narratives of ancient literary criticism and selected statements about the decay of art, religion etc. will reveal that the Second Sophistic is rather a continuation of a tradition that runs without disruption from the classical to the Imperial age, even though the political and social framework changes.