GRST 301 - Seminar in Classical Civilization

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

Topic for 2024/25a: Classical Rhetoric in America 2024. Especially in a presidential election year, rhetoric is front and center in all types of media. But in fact, we are always being inundated with images and messages intended to persuade us, whether in advertising, in journalism, and even in the academy itself. These messages are informed by the techniques of persuasion developed by ancient Greeks and Romans, who theorized the construction of arguments, the arrangement of ideas, styles of expression, and even the self-fashioning of identity. In this class we will consider how ancient theories of rhetoric as articulated by Plato, Aristotle, Isocrates, Cicero, and Quintilian help us understand and contextualize rhetoric as we encounter it both in the 2024 presidential election as well as in other media and contexts. Curtis Dozier.

Prerequisite(s): Previous work in Greek and Roman Studies or permission of the instructor.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS