The pragmatics of political oratory and decision making in Greek Antiquity

欧洲人的演讲习惯起源于古希腊和古罗马。在希腊城市和罗马帝国，政治决策基本上与审议辩论有关，即在不同的政治机构面前发言。从公元前世纪开始，修辞学是统治阶级的普通教育的一部分，在整个古代的政治交流中发挥着核心作用，而且通过对古代教育的持续接受，在欧洲文化的所有后续时代中也发挥着核心作用。 我们的研究将集中在演讲实践和政治决策之间的联系，以及演讲者和他们的听众在其表演，空间和声学条件下的互动。为此，我们将研究希腊文化中心地区不同类型的集会建筑-从最早的集会建筑到帝国奥迪亚。我们将讨论公共辩论场所的建筑背景和声学方面，以及扬声器和他们的音响。这些被概念化为特定社会结构的一部分和表现，其中各自的角色由社会和法律的地位、习惯和教育的各种要求和期望决定。 基于对相关文学和金石资源的研究，以及对装配建筑（剧院，agorai，ekklesiasteria，bouleuteria）的建筑分析，将重建希腊文化中典型演讲活动的实际过程，并使用合适的例子，模拟声学和视觉。这是一个先决条件，以批判性地审查共同假设的实际过程中的演讲表演和演讲者和礼堂之间的沟通和互动，在各种公共空间。此外，研究演讲活动的语用学--公开演讲的实践过程，以及演讲的社会和政治、结构以及声学条件和声音先决条件--为迄今为止研究甚少的问题开辟了一条新途径，如古代集会的可及性和工作模式，以及政治参与的选择和限制。

The European practice of public speaking has its origins in Greek and Roman antiquity. In Greek cities and in the Roman Empire, political decision-making was essentially linked to deliberative debate, i.e. speaking before different political bodies. Since the 5th century B.C., rhetoric was part of the general education of the ruling classes and played a central role in political communication throughout antiquity, but also in all subsequent epochs of European culture through the persistent reception of ancient education. Our research will focus on the connection between oratorical practice and political decision-making and the interaction between speakers and their audiences in its performative, spatial and acoustic conditions. To this end, we will examine different types of assembly buildings from the central areas of Greek culture – from the earliest assembly buildings to Imperial odeia. We will discuss places of public debate in their architectural context and their acoustic dimension as well as speakers and their auditoria. These are conceptualized as part and expression of a specific social configuration, in which the respective roles were determined by various demands and expectations of social and legal status, habitus and education. Based on the study of relevant literary and epigraphic sources as well as the analysis of the architecture of assembly buildings (theaters, agorai, ekklesiasteria, bouleuteria), the practical process of typical oratorical activities in Greek culture will be reconstructed and, using suitable examples, simulated acoustically and visually. This is a precondition to critically examine common assumptions about the practical process of oratorical performance and about the communication and interaction between speaker and auditorium at various public spaces. Furthermore, examining the pragmatics of oratorical events – the practical course of public speaking, but also the social and political, constructional and thus also acoustic conditions and vocal prerequisites of speech – opens up a new approach to hitherto little studied questions such as the accessibility and mode of working of ancient assemblies and the options and limits of political participation.