Achilles in school speeches

Abstract

nasmata have a prominent place. The first mention of an ensemble of exercises is by the author of Rhetorica ad Alexandrum (4th century B.C.). Through them, the apprentices were called upon to perform rhetorical exercises, argumentation and literary composition on various themes and Greek and mythical historical characters, as a preparation for the longer speeches that future orators would deliver. Achilles is one among these characters. To him a certain reputation, glory, narratives and a temperament are associated.
To the teachers of progymnasmata, Achilles’ character was useful for three exercises. One of these progymnasmata was the ethopoeia, in which the character, with a given psychological and emotional profile was worked on and the words that this character would utter under given circumstances and in dialogues with others, were imagined. Plausibility in accordance with the character’s reputation was the criterion of the well composed exercise. See in this regard a scholium to the unplausible questions in his commentaries on Hermogens of Tarsus’ On Issues by Sopratus. Since it’s about a hero, it serves as well to the enkomion and psogos, praise and invective. An invective, yes, because Achilles and his anger also motivated invective-speeches. What’s more, although he is the most famous hero of the legends, a paradigm of bravery in war, in a papyrological text Achilles is portrayed as a coward! Another exercise is the synkrisis, in which a character was compared to another of his equals (such as Diomedes), regarding birth, education, virtues, deeds and death.
In this paper, passages from the treatises on progymnasmata by Aelius Theon, Pseudo-Hermogenes, Aphtonius, Nicolaus of Myra and Libanius will be examined. In Libanius, in contrast to his predecessors, there was a concern to provide a wide collection of micro-speeches, as paradigms for each exercise. Our goal in doing so is to retrace a portrait of Achilles in these school discourses.