Page "Public speaking" Paragraph 7

The art of public speaking was first developed by the ancient Greeks.

Greek oration is known from the works of classical antiquity.

Greek orators spoke, on their own behalf rather as representatives of either a client or a constituency, and so any citizen who wished to succeed in court, in politics, or in social life had to learn techniques of public speaking.

These skills were taught first by a group of self-styled " sophists " who were known to charge fees, to " make the weaker argument the stronger ," and to make their students " better " through instruction in excellence.

Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates all developed theories of public speaking in opposition to the Sophists, and their ideas took on institutional form through the development of permanent schools where public speaking was taught.

Though Greece eventually lost political sovereignty, the Greek culture of training in public speaking was adopted virtually wholesale by the Romans.