The Chreia and Ancient Rhetoric: Classroom Exercises (Writings from the Greco-roman World)

Hock, Ronald F.; O'Neil, Edward N.

ISBN 10: 1589830180 / ISBN 13: 9781589830189

Published by Society of Biblical Literature, 2002

About this Item

Softcover. Clean, tight and unmarked. Very neat -- a sound and handsome copy.

Seller Inventory # 76721w3

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Chreia and Ancient Rhetoric: Classroom Exercises (Writings from the Greco-roman World)
• Publisher: Society of Biblical Literature
• Publication Date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1589830180
• ISBN 13: 9781589830189
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Fine

About this title

Synopsis

Reading, writing an inflected language, and composing an argument were among the skills taught in Greco-Roman schools. At all three curricular levels students developed these skills by learning how to use a literary form known as the chreia, or anecdote. Beginners at the primary level learned to read and write by copying different examples of the chreia. Students at the secondary level used it to learn how to decline nouns and conjugate verbs and form them into grammatically correct sentences. Advanced students learned how to elaborate a simple chreia into an eight-paragraph essay that argued for the truth of whatever saying or action was celebrated in the chreia. This volume incorporates thirty-six texts, most translated for the first time, that illustrate the use of the chreia at all three levels, a use that can be documented from the first century on through late antiquity and the Byzantine world. It demonstrates that people with all levels of education were intimately familiar with this important literary form, which not only preserves the wit and wisdom of famous philosophers, orators, kings, and poets but also explains its pervasive and enduring use in ancient literature.

About the Author

Ronald F. Hock is Professor of Religion at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. The late Edward N. O'Neil was Professor of Classics Emeritus at the University of Southern California.