Greek Declamation

Declamation was 'a toy model of oratory' in which students composed and delivered deliberative and forensic practice speeches in character. It was not confined to the schools: the professionals gave public performances to large and critical audiences. Greco-Roman education was more or less dominated by rhetoric; from the fourth century BC down to and beyond the end of classical antiquity declamation was an art within the larger art, inhabiting almost a distinct world, with its own laws, cus...