From this week’s readings on Gorgias and “Rhetoric and Display”, I’ve gathered that rhetoric of display is the use of rhetoric to exploit physical beauty, societal ideals, and in general the embellishment of language to accomplish gaining the favor of an audience. Some examples of this were the praise of fallen soldiers as heroes in order to justify the conflicts the Greeks were engaged in and the use of speeches at public events, such as festivals and athletic events, to further push the Greek doxa, or cultural values.

After revisiting my artifact, the vase depicting the Greek school, I can confidently say that the vase could be considered an example of rhetoric of display. The vase depicts a key part of ancient Greek society, pursuit of knowledge and further education. In the case of this vase, we can assume the maker was attempting to give praise to the Greeks’ love of the arts and study. As rhetoric, can be used to convince us that the ancient Greeks were an advanced and sophisticated society, one which we should draw from to learn. However, even more beneficial to the Greeks, by trading this to other city states or empires, the Greeks could spread the view that Greece was a highly advanced society with highly educated citizens. This could be used to persuade these other peoples to travel to and trade with the Greeks, resulting in more commerce and wealth for Greece. We can tie this back to Isocrates where he used rhetoric as a means to help the community, rather than for personal advancement.

To the untrained eye, this is just an old pot, but to those of us that recognize rhetoric and its forms and uses, we can see a strategic avenue of persuasion used to help uphold Greek doxa and promote commerce throughout the old world.

Help Received: Gorgias Readings and “Rhetoric and Display”