Gestures and acclamations in ancient Rome
By: Gregory S. Aldrete.
Series: Ancient society and history
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press; The Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 1999
Place of publication: Baltimore
Language: eng
Number of pages: 227
Subjects: Speeches, addresses, etc., Latin -- History and criticism.; Oral communication -- Rome.; Gesture -- Rome -- History.; Rhetoric, Ancient.; Oratory, Ancient.; Gesture in art.; Audiences.; Rome -- Politics and government.
Description: "Life in Rome was relentlessly public, and oratory was at its heart. Orations were dramatic spectacles in which the speaker deployed an arsenal of rhetorical tricks and strategies aimed at arousing the emotions of the audience, and spectators responded vigorously and vocally with massed chants of praise or condemnation. Unfortunately, many aspects of these performances have been lost.

In the first in-depth study of oratorical gestures and crowd acclamations as methods of communication at public spectacles, Gregory Aldrete sets out to recreate these vital missing components and to recapture the original context of ancient spectacles as interactive, dramatic, and contentious public performances."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 197-217) and index.