Consolatory Rhetoric: Grief, Symbol, and Ritual in the Greco-Roman Era

Consolatory Rhetoric explores Greco-Roman funeral rites to reveal how opposing symbols functioned rhetorically to comfort ancient communities. While the bulk of rhetorical criticism interprets written texts, Donovan Ochs broadens the traditional focus to consider non-verbal symbols as well as action and object languages. Ochs demonstrates that non-discursive dimensions of Greco-Roman burial rites held a place of particular persuasive significance in consoling the populace, and he attributes funeral customs practiced in contemporary Western civilization to the legacy of the ancient Greeks and Romans.