Consolatory Rhetoric: Grief, Symbol, and Ritual in the Greco-Roman Era

Consolatory Rhetoric explores Greco-Roman funeral rites to reveal how opposing symbols functioned rhetorically to comfort ancient communities. While the bulk of rhetorical criticism interprets written texts, Donovan Ochs broadens the traditional focus to consider non-verbal symbols as well as action and object languages. Ochs demonstrates that non-discursive dimensions of Greco-Roman burial rites held a place of particular persuasive significance in consoling the populace, and he attributes funeral customs practiced in contemporary Western civilization to the legacy of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Donovan J. Ochs is professor of rhetoric and communication studies at the University of Iowa. He is co-author of A Brief Introduction to Speech and The Rhetoric of Agitation and Control as well as co-editor of Explorations in Rhetoric: Studies in Honor of Douglas Ehninger.