Greek Ambassadors and the Rhetoric of Supplication. Some Notes

Abstract–. This paper aims at making some preliminary remarks about the role of emotions in Greek diplomatic practice, using the rhetoric of supplication as a test case. Although supplication is widely attested both in oratory and drama, genres that share well-recognized traits with Greek diplomatic speeches, it was seldom used by ambassadors, and it appears usually unsuccessful. A few instances of speeches of this kind are preserved, and they seem to share recurring features, among which the connection between the supplication and the rhetorical use of the past to arouse emotions turns to be particularly relevant. Keywords–. diplomacy, ambassadorial speech, supplication, emotions, memories