Elene: a warrior queen sails to Jerusalem with an army, then starves a prisoner until he reveals the True Cross. Her ethos is her might — the argument rides on the threat.

Historical Rhetoric for Modern Fights
#rhetoric #historyofrhetoric

Charlemagne didn't just write the law down — his scholars backdated it, giving new codes invented ancient genealogies that justified the empire. Royal law ended the nobles' private courts. #rhetoric #historyofrhetoric

Charlemagne's power move wasn't arguing doctrine — it was copying. The Tours scriptorium churned out 46 Bibles in a clean new script, flooding the kingdom with the authoritative text — now stamped with royal authority. Who controls the books controls the kingdom. #rhetoric #historyofrhetoric

The Franks couldn't out-Rome the Byzantines, so they reached past Rome to the Bible: Charlemagne as a new David, the Franks as a new Israel — God's chosen people. Rhetoric didn't just decorate the empire. It elected it. #rhetoric #historyofrhetoric #rhetoricafterrome

In 476, Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustulus, the last western emperor. Rhetoric didn't die — it got a new employer. Charlemagne's Franks used schools, books, and laws to forge a Christian empire. Historical Rhetoric for Modern Fights. #rhetoric #historyofrhetoric #rhetoricafterrome

In Rome, speech could get you killed. So rhetoric learned to behave. Cicero turned to dialogue on ethos; Quintilian made it a curriculum: the good man speaking well. Historical Rhetoric for Modern Fights. From my dissertation (Georgia State, 2017). #rhetoric #historyofrhetoric #rhetoricafterrome

In Athens, the courtroom ran on fear and confidence — Aristotle's dread of imminent harm, and the elite's freedom from it. Rhetoric was how a society held together.

From my dissertation (Georgia State, 2017). Historical Rhetoric for Modern Fights.

#rhetoric #historyofrhetoric #rhetoricafterrome