Overview

This volume provides, for the first time, a focused study of scare tactics and fearmongering in a broad range of Greek and Roman authors and genres, showing how alarmist tactics were used in both antiquity and today. Scare tactic rhetoric is a timely topic; fear in current politics can justify actions and decisions and be used to control what is debated in the public arena, with the truth often shaped and even removed from what was being said. The ancient world was no different. In this volume, an international selection of scholars discusses how and why alarmist tactics were used in a variety of genres in Greco-Roman literature, including oratory, historiography, drama, philosophy, and children’s stories, to convey political messages and ideas. They also draw parallels between ancient and contemporary fear. Fearmongering in Greek and Roman Literature and Beyond is suitable for students and scholars in Classics and Ancient History, Rhetoric and Rhetorical Theory, Ancient Societies and Politics, as well as those operating in adjacent fields of study, along with the general reader interested in the ancient world, psychology, politics, and the exploitation of rhetoric.

Full Product Details

Author:   Priscilla Gontijo Leite ,  Ian Worthington
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Weight:   0.840kg
ISBN:  

9781032544335

ISBN 10:   1032544333
Pages:   356
Publication Date:   25 August 2025
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Not yet available  
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Table of Contents

General Introduction Maria Patera 1. Introducing Fear 1. Aristotle on the Nature of Fear and its Persuasive Use Jamie Dow and Alba Curry 2. Oratory 2. Forensic Fearmongering: Making a Lasting Impression on the Judges Michael J. Edwards 3. The Scarcity Scare: The Discourse of Limited Resources in Athenian Oratory Jakub Filonik 4. Fearmongering in Lysias: A Glimpse into his Corpus Enrico Medda 5. Fearmongering in Isocrates: The Areopagiticus and the Call for a Restored Politeia Ticiano Estrela Curvelo de Lacerda 6. Dangling Fears: Scare Tactics in the Speeches of Aeschines Daniel Bajnok 7. Rumour and Scare Tactics in Demosthenes’ Public Speeches Priscilla Gontijo Leite 8. Marcus Antonius: The Roman Philip? Demosthenes’ Fearful Influence on Cicero Stephen Clarke 9. Cross-Examination and Scare Tactic Rhetoric in Cicero’s In Vatinium Gilson Charles dos Santos 10. The Spectrum of Anxiety in Dio Chrysostom N. Bryant Kirkland 11. Scare Tactics in Pre-Battle Exhortations Juan Carlos Iglesias Zoido 3. Historiography 12. The Rhetoric of Fear in Herodotus Vasiliki Zali-Schiel 13. Fear and Deliberation in Thucydides Sandra Lúcia Rodrigues da Rocha 14. Prudent Alarm and Illustrated Threats: Rhetorical Fear in Xenophon Richard Fernando Buxton 15. Fear and Loathing in Polybius’ Histories Craige B. Champion 16. Fearmongering and Performance in Plutarch: Fear as Narrative Technique in the Lives of Solon, Alcibiades, and Phocion Delfim Leão 17. Fearing the Enemy: Livy’s Description of the Gauls Priscilla Adriane Ferreira Almeida 4. Drama and Philosophy 18. Prospective Precedent as a Scare Tactic in Athenian Tragedy Ruth Scodel 19. The Threat of Comedy: Aristophanes, Böhmermann, and the Scare Tactic Game A.S. Lewis 20. Puppets of Fear on the Stage of the Ideal City: Imbibing Civic Transformation in Plato’s Republic and the Laws Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides 5. And Beyond 21. The Unchanging Face of Jingoistic Rhetoric? Ian Worthington 22. Páthei Máthos: Ancient Rhetorical and Poetic Techniques and the Production of Fear in Modern Film Maria Cecília de Miranda Nogueira Coelho 23. The Rhetorical Use of Fear in Children’s Education Marina Pelluci Duarte Mortoza

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Author Information

Priscilla Gontijo Leite is Adjunct Professor of Ancient History at the Department of History at the Federal University of Paraíba (João Pessoa/ Brazil). She has published numerous papers and books, for example Ética e retórica forense asebeia e hybris na caracterização dos adversários em Demóstenes (2013) and Religião e Jogos de Poder: o Contra Mídias de Demóstenes (2017). Ian Worthington is Professor of Ancient History at Macquarie University, Sydney. He has published extensively on Greek History and Greek Oratory. His most recent publications are The Military Legacy of Alexander the Great: Lessons for the Information Age with Major Michael Ferguson (2024) and The Last Kings of Macedonia and the Triumph of Rome (2023).

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