ΠΡΟΣΚΛΗΣΗ

Ο Τομέας Κλασικής Φιλολογίας, σε συνεργασία με τα ΠΜΣ Κλασικής Φιλολογίας
«Δέξιππος» και «Λογοτεχνία, σκέψη και πολιτισμός στον ελληνορωμαϊκό κόσμο»,
σας προσκαλεί στη διάλεξη του 
κ. Edward Harris
(Emeritus Professor, Department of Classics and Ancient History, Durham University, UK),
 που θα πραγματοποιηθεί την Παρασκευή 8 Μαΐου 2026, ώρα 11.00 π.μ.,
στην αίθουσα 209 του κτηρίου της Φιλοσοφικής Σχολής
με θέμα:
«Metaphors and Similes in Attic Oratory».
Η παρουσία σας θα μας τιμήσει.
Η Διευθύντρια του Τομέα Κλασικής Φιλολογίας
Σοφία Γεωργακοπούλου, Καθηγήτρια Λατινικής Φιλολογίας
Συντονισμός
Αικατερίνη Κορολή                                                                                  Βάιος Βαϊόπουλος
katkoroli@phil.uoa.gr                                  aiosvaiop@phil.uoa.gr

Edward Harris, Affiliation: Emeritus Professor, Department of Classics and Ancient History, Durham University, UK
"Metaphors and Similes in Attic Oratory." 

Abstract: In his Precepts for Governing the State (6) Plutarch discusses the different types of speeches and the appropriate style for each genre. He states that political oratory, much more than the oratory used in a court of law, uses maxims, historical and mythical stories, and metaphors. He then gives examples such as “Do not make Greece one-eyed” and the metaphor of Pericles, who called Aegina the “eyesore of the Piraeus,” and one of Phocion, who said about the victory of Leosthenes that the furlong race of war was good, but he worried about the long-distance competition. This talk will study the use of metaphors and similes in speeches to the Assembly, in funeral orations, and in those delivered in court, the three main genres of Attic oratory. The contrast is greatest between Assembly speeches of Demosthenes, in which there are many similes and metaphors in several speeches (though not in all), and the speeches delivered for private cases in Demosthenes, in which similes and metaphors are very rare. This is also true for the private speeches of other orators. The situation is different for speeches delivered by Demosthenes in public cases: in some there are several metaphors and similes, but in others they are almost absent (Aeschines and Hyperides).  The talk will analyze why metaphors and similes are used in some contexts in oratory and not others.