The Subversive Oratory of Andokides
Politics, Ideology and Decision-Making in Democratic Athens

In this study Anna Missiou analyses the ideological content of the speeches of the crypto-oligarch Andokides (active c. 420–390 BC).

Anna Missiou (Author)

9780521037594, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 12 July 2007

232 pages
21.5 x 13.3 x 1.3 cm, 0.312 kg

Oratory was a vital element in the Athenian democracy. In this study Anna Missiou analyses the ideological content of the speeches of the crypto-oligarch Andokides (active c. 420–390 BC). Drawing on modern communication studies, she proposes a contextual and historical approach to oratory rather than one that concentrates on the speaker. She insists that there was a rational as well as an emotional element in the responses of both orator and audience, and that there was a tension between political equality and socio-economic inequality lying at the centre of Athenian democratic society. She suggests that the political ideology of a speaker can be evaluated in the light of his rhetorical techniques. A detailed analysis of Andokides' arguments for peace in On the Peace with the Lakedaimonians reveals that the intense controversy in Athens over the continuation of the war with Sparta in 391 reflected class antagonism among the Athenians. Dr Missiou argues that the speech was essentially subversive, aimed at spreading pro-Spartan and antiwar feelings rather than persuading the audience to take a particular decision.

Preface
1. Introduction
2. Civic virtue in the eyes of an oligarch
3. The anti-imperialistic argument
4. Sparta's moral superiority
5. Andokides, Athenian foreign policy and the principle of gratitude
6. Rational argument and emotional appeal in the deliberation of 391
7. The rhetoric of subversion
Bibliography
General index
Index of passages cited.

Subject Areas: General & world history [HBG]