Representations: Images of the World in Ciceronian Oratory

Ann Vasaly introduces representation theory into the study of Ciceronian persuasion and contends that an understanding of milieu—social, political, topographical—is crucial to understanding Ciceronian oratory. As a genre uniquely dependent on an immediate interaction between author and audience, ancient oratory becomes performance art.

Vasaly investigates the way Cicero represented the contemporary physical world—places, topography, and monuments, both those seen and those merely mentioned—t...