Menander Rhetor

Menander Rhetor ( " Menander the speaker ," so called to distinguish it from the same comedy writer), Greek Menander ( Μένανδρος ), and Menander of Laodicea (Latin Menander Laodicensis ) was a late ancient orators and rhetoric theorists. He lived in the 3rd / 4th Century AD in Asia Minor (modern Turkey). His works are attributed to the so-called Second Sophistic.

About his life little is known. There is a special keyword in the Suda Encyclopedia. Under his name two theory writings have survived to Epideiktik. The actual authorship is, however, up to now controversial in the research. Other works are not known, but increasingly reconstructed (in particular works on antique rhetorical doctrine of status ).

The first theory font for Epideiktik ( breakdown of Epideiktik ) provides a precise research tool for drafting epideiktischer speeches. It deals with the first rhetorical stages of production, the inventio and the upstream intellectio. The second Epideiktikschrift ( About epideictic speeches ), however, is a practical manual in the modern sense, which gives detailed instructions to his inventio, dispositio and elocutio sorted by speech occasions. Both rhetoric writings offer little innovative and move content in the context of ancient classical rhetoric. At the same time, they reflect the rhetorical practice of the time. New in the rhetoric theory leads Menander called Lalia as a rhetorical form name.