1. See Ancient Rhetoric Study assignment
2. Grad student presentations
3. key words from Swearingen: etic (outsider) and emic (insider); epitaphs = funeral oration
4. Write in reflection: "An examination of what we think of as rhetoric in the terms given it within another culture can also reveal the limits of our definitions, and enrich them with alternative understandings." (213).
Small/whole group discussion of questions on Swearingen
key words: http://genius.com/Plato-menexenus-full-text-annotated
The texts references a transition to “individualism and distance from emotion, love, the body, and women”. Often these traits themselves are strongly associated with women and femininity. In what ways does this transition strongly influence our modern perceptions and literature? Have we shifted away from this, or are we as a society still distanced from these things? In what ways? (Brittany)
There is a commonality in that power shifts in the political realm tend to shape and even mold the rhetoric practiced by citizens. Swearingen believes that speaking through Aspasia’s epitaphios is a statement by Plato and Socrates against some aspect of the government's power. What might Plato and Socrates be hoping to convey to the people through their recounts of Aspasia’s works? (Zack)
In what ways does the stock binary driven (or reinforced) by Plato’s Menexenos of “public praise vs. private family lamentations; wailing womanfolk contrasted to [] sober prose rationality” still figure in modern Western culture? (Ryan)
How was it justified that Aspasia was deemed as an other in rhetoric, yet seemed to be respected as a practitioner and teacher of rhetoric? Was her prestige irrelevant due to being a woman and a resident alien? If she taught and practiced in Greek, how could her surrounding respect be ignored? Was she only respected by fellow women and young men? What does her status tell us about the Athenian's repressive gender system? (Seems contradicting…) (Sarah)
5. Plato's Menexenus: http://genius.com/Plato-menexenus-full-text-annotated