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Greek and Roman rhetorica, the dark ages, renaissance & printing press

Intro to Comm Sci


Univ. Amsterdam
J Greenwood
09/04/2015

The focus in this module will be on the history of peoples thinking about the
spoken and written word. While we could talk for hours about the presumed
communication methods of prehistoric man and ancient civilisations after that,
early communication forms and theories on the development of language, rock
art and figurines and such, we are not going to do so.
Similarly, we will not discuss the earliest musical instruments, or first writing, nor
the power of communication through architecture and usable items like coins.
Why? Because we have no evidence that these civilisations thought about
communication on a meta level, and constructed theories about its use.

Were going to start our journey here, in the 5th Century BC in Ancient Greece,
because the writings of the Ancient Greeks are the earliest examples of metathinking about communication to survive.
In the 5th Century BC, Greece was divided into a number of separate city-states,
and a growing number of these were adopting democratic elements in their
governments such as peoples assemblies, elections, chosen government officials
and such. Even though many cities still had kings or a council of nobles, the
political power of citizens was growing, and with it the need for a better
understanding of the workings of mass communication.
It is not surprising that communication science flourished in Ancient
Greece, as with the rise of democracy and the increasing power of
the masses, the ability to persuade people became more important.
Important historical figures like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle were involved in
academic debate on the subject. Besides being an academic science, it was in this
time foremost an applied science.
There were teachers & academies that taught the main principles of public
speaking, reasoning and persuasion. Ambitious politicians were wise to learn the
different ways of approaching an audience, and lawyers and businessmen were
also schooled in these matters and made extensive use of it in their field.
Military men like Alexander the Great had also studied the subject with the great
philosophers and used what they learned to keep up the morale of their troops.
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Greek and Roman rhetorica, the dark ages, renaissance & printing press

Intro to Comm Sci


Univ. Amsterdam
J Greenwood
09/04/2015

So what did the media landscape look like at this time?


Public speaking was very important
Extensive use of symbolic and figurative communication, through art,
usable artefacts and architecture
A wide diversity of genres in theatre
Many written media, with the rediscovered alphabet of the 6th Century
being used to write books, scrolls and inscriptions
Many people, not only the rich and noble, could read and write, and most cities
had one or several libraries. The most famous library, that of Alexandria,
reputedly contained hundreds of thousands of handwritten scrolls.
After several centuries the power of the Greeks dwindled and was broken by the
Romans, who themselves adopted many Greek ways. It is therefore not surprising
that they too learned and tried to improve upon the Greek theories of
communication.
Together, Greek and Roman times span over a millennium of history, and even
more if we include the Byzantine Empire in this, so it is obviously a huge
oversimplification to discuss all classical thought on communication in a session
as short as this, but we will attempt at least some, as their ideas were the
foundation upon which our modern discipline is built.

We can make a broad distinction between the two Greek schools of thought.

Dialectic method: logical and


rational discussion will help us
resolve differences by finding
out which viewpoint is true.

The first, dialectic method, started with the famous philosopher Socrates and his
student Plato. The method views communication as a way to discover the truth of
things. To do this, they put a huge emphasis on the role of discourse and logical
argumentation in the communication process. Therefore, mans ability to reason
is necessary for civilisation to flourish and advance.
Here, in a nutshell, we have the purpose of communication; to
express and critically weigh the value of ideas, and eventually to
discard or perfect them in correlation with their objective worth.
As models go, this one is obviously quite linear. Good communication is rational
communication that helps us to find the truth in ideas. It is easy to see why so
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Greek and Roman rhetorica, the dark ages, renaissance & printing press

Intro to Comm Sci


Univ. Amsterdam
J Greenwood
09/04/2015

many philosophers, who were also interested in natural sciences and finding out
how the world worked, were attracted to this school of thought.
Later, medieval monks were also charmed by this classical idea of communication
to reach the truth. It was, in their opinion, a way for pre-Christian Greeks and
Romans to see the greater truth of God so even though they were not
Christians, the writings of Plato and such were copied by Christian monks and
have survived, while so many books of their contemporaries have not.
Usually, we only know about these other books because Plato and such refer to
and react to them.

Rhetorica: discourse that aims


to persuade a person or group,
regardless as to the veracity
of the claims.

Derived from the Greek (public speaker), Rhetorica taught the ability to
perceive all means of persuasion in any given scenario, according to Aristotle in
one of his books on the topic.
It was very much an applied science, where the practicality of theories decided
their worth. The main purpose was not to find truth, but to persuade someone;
essentially, to make something seem like the truth, even if it wasnt.
Proponents of this school were also called sophists, and were often attacked
vehemently by natural philosophers like Socrates and Plato, who above else
searched for the truth. Later, many sophists writing was purposely not copied by
medieval monks for this same reason.
Despite the disapproval of natural philosophers, rhetorica was extremely popular
in the Classical world not only in Greece, but in Rome too, the ability to win
people over through speeches was crucial for political or social advancement.
Caesar, Marc Antony, Octavian they were all
trained in and sometimes wrote about the art of
persuasion. Usually they studied the basics in
Greece. Luckily, some texts about rhetorica did
survive most notably those by Aristotle and the
Roman statesman, Cicero.
So what exactly did they teach? Well talk about
some basic rhetorical theory in the next session.

In the art of rhetoric, Aristotle somewhat bridged the gap between the sophist
and dialectic method. As a student of Plato, he was well versed in the use of the
dialectic method of rational argumentation, but he did not share Platos dislike of
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Greek and Roman rhetorica, the dark ages, renaissance & printing press

Intro to Comm Sci


Univ. Amsterdam
J Greenwood
09/04/2015

rhetorica, and he wrote an extensive treatise on persuasive theory. In this,


rational arguments definitely play an important, but not an exclusive, part.
Aristotle focuses on the sender aspect of communication and he uses a simple
model to explain the different stages of sending out a message:
1. Invention stage: the topic of the message is determined
2. Next, the style of the message is determined
3. Finally, the message is delivered

1. A politician might select a topic she wants to talk about


2. She will then choose her words carefully,
3. And the manner of delivery she might choose to give a speech. She
would use stage performance intonation, gestures, etc. to strengthen
her argument.

Successful communication (which leads to persuasion) has three building blocks:


Logos: the use of reason.

1. Logos: this resembles what Socrates and Plato taught rational


arguments based on facts and logic.
e.g. Our politician might use some statistics to back up her argument.

Ethos: the character of the


sender.

2. Ethos: this comes down to the trustworthiness, likeability and intelligence


of the sender. Many persuasive arguments focus on personal traits like
this.
e.g. Our politician might try to convince us that we should listen to her
because she is an expert in this field, or has a strong track record.
NB: Without rational backing, this is a so-called authority argument

These things have little to do


with rational persuasion, but
might be very effective
nevertheless.
Pathos: all other emotional
appeals that try to make the
audience feel something.

She could ask when have I ever lied to you? evoking trust from the
audience to increase her own credibility.
She could attack the trustworthiness of her opponents.
She could hug a child in front of the audience to gain sympathy.
3. Pathos: attempting to make the audience feel something, perhaps by
appealing to their fears, hopes, likes, dislikes or sense of humour. Aristotle
tells us to do this by using stories, examples and exaggeration.
e.g. Our politician could te ll a story about her humble upbringing to
convince the audience she is one of the people.

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Greek and Roman rhetorica, the dark ages, renaissance & printing press

Intro to Comm Sci


Univ. Amsterdam
J Greenwood
09/04/2015

Next to Aristotle, the most noteworthy classical scholar whose writings survived
the ages was the Roman statesman and lawyer, Marcus Tullius Cicero. His
speeches and treatises have been studied throughout the ages the same
speeches that gained him so much power in the Roman Republic, and allies like
Octavian, who later became the first emperor of Rome.
They also gained him dangerous enemies, like the general Marc Antony. In the
end it was this enmity that caused his decapitation during the Roman civil war.
His powers of communication had been such a thorn in the enemies sides, that
killing him wasnt enough. When his head was displayed in Rome, they stuck
needles in his tongue as punishment for all the harm it had done.
Cicero developed Aristotles ideas in books, like De Inventione, on the invention
stage of communication, De Oratore on the delivery, or the popular handbook
Rhetorica ad Herennium. Even though it was written two millennia ago, most of the
theories are still applicable today.
An anecdote from Cicero, for example, tells us that he would
sometimes purposely drop his papers while walking to the speaking
area. His audience would feel sympathy because this accident
could also happen to them. He seemed more fallible, more human,
and therefore more likeable to them.
It was little tricks like this that made him such a powerful orator.
As years went by and the Roman Empire collapsed into the dark Middle Ages,
these ideas all but disappeared to the cellars of monasteries, and the libraries of
Eastern scholars, if they survived at all.

While the term Dark Ages carries with it connotations that have led most
scholars to abandon its use, in terms of communication science it is accurate.
During the medieval period there is little evidence of scholarly thought about
communication.
Political speaking was no longer quite so important due to the different political
systems in place; the people were effectively left out of the political decisionmaking process. They couldnt vote and held little political power, beyond the
power to rebel. But seeing that the ruler elite were practiced warriors who
wielded deadly weaponry and impressive armour both extremely expensive
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Rhetorical theory combined larger meta models on communication with smaller,


practical tips on how to achieve these goals how to seem right, believable, nice or
intelligent. In short, there was a lively academic and widely practiced communication
science in the classical world.

Greek and Roman rhetorica, the dark ages, renaissance & printing press

Intro to Comm Sci


Univ. Amsterdam
J Greenwood
09/04/2015

even this was usually not much of a choice. Although rhetorica was taught in
medieval universities to a small elite, it had by no means the importance it had in
classical times.
Not only was there little to no communication science in the Dark Ages, the
communication landscape had also changed drastically since Roman times.
Literacy numbers had dropped rapidly since the decline of Rome. Almost none
could read or write with perhaps some exceptions among the ruler and religious
elite. Even among them, however, evidence suggests literacy was not high.
It makes sense that written media became less widespread. Important mass
communication channels were instead oral or figurative in nature. Town criers,
architecture, statues and religious art were still used to reach a large audience.
Coins were other examples of visual media that communicated something
typically, who was in charge at the time.
The channels of choice were well suited for communicating:
who was in power
how citizens should behave
We know the church played an important part in this and worked hand in hand
with world leaders to get this message through. Often there were agreements
between rulers and clergymen that during Sunday mass, worldly news on taxes,
wars and any other matters of significance were to be communicated to the
assembled people. Since most people went to church, this was an effective
method of getting a message out if the need arose.
Other media also focused on visual and oral communication. Plays and theatres
still existed, but did not hold the audiences of thousands as they did in classical
times. Although written media had almost disappeared as a means of mass
communication, printed pamphlets with etchings or other figurative depictions
were sometimes used.
Printing predated Johannes Gutenbergs printing press of the 15th Century, but it
was a laborious process, with each page having to be carved out of wood, stone or
metal. Because the potential
audience was small, it was usually not
worth it.

Clich: a small letter carved in


relief on a small metal peg that
could be put in a tray to make
words and sentences.

Gutenbergs press is noteworthy


because of the cunning introduction
of the clich to create moveable type
that could be used and re-used, each
time with the potential to rearrange
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Greek and Roman rhetorica, the dark ages, renaissance & printing press

Intro to Comm Sci


Univ. Amsterdam
J Greenwood
09/04/2015

the type to create a new message. This innovation made it much quicker and
cheaper to print texts and is therefore rightly credited as a turning point in
European history, and a huge catalyst for the Renaissance.
Of course this technical revolution would probably never have had a huge impact
if there hadnt been an audience to read and buy books at the same time, which
was the result of several long and complicated historical trends towards a higher
literacy level and the rise of a potential audience with buying power in the rising
middle class.
Not coincidentally, while the mass communication landscape started to flourish
again with the rise of print media, scholars again started to discuss the topic of
communication on a meta level. So started the Renaissance, not only of art,
science and literature, but also of communication science.

It was, among other things, the rediscovery of classical texts by Aristotle and
Cicero that started a renewed interest in philosophy, art and the natural and
social sciences.
Starting in 14th Century Florence, the Renaissance quickly spread out to the rest
of Europe, paving the way for the Early Modern time. This was to a large degree
thanks to the new printing possibilities that Gutenbergs invention made possible.

The role of Eastern scholars should not be overlooked. In 265 the Roman Empire
had been split into Western and Eastern halves. When the Western half fell in the
fifth century its traditions and sciences lived on in the East thanks to the
Byzantine Empire. In the Dark Ages of western Europe, Byzantine scholars still
kept extensive libraries of classical literature, and continued studying the science
of rhetorica even though its importance had declined since advancement of
political rank within the empire was much less dependent on public speaking and
more on connections and status.
In the 15th Century, the Byzantine Empire was crushed by the Ottoman Empire.
The fall of its capital, Constantinople, in 1453 led to a huge exodus of scholars and
artists from the Empire into Western Europe, feeding the growing intellectual
Renaissance with their work, thoughts and books.

At the same time there was, in many countries, a shift of power. There was
religious turmoil in Europe because of new ideas that led to The Reformation and
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Greek and Roman rhetorica, the dark ages, renaissance & printing press

Intro to Comm Sci


Univ. Amsterdam
J Greenwood
09/04/2015

rise of several new religions. The most successful of these was the protestant
church. This meant the Roman Catholic church lost its religious monopoly and
now had to compete for the faith of the European people.
Closely linked to this was a more worldly power struggle. Democratic ideas from
antiquity again gained wide interest. The introduction of effective weapons like
the crossbow, longbow and first firearms gave the relatively untrained citizenry
more military power to enforce their claims for more political power. Any peasant
could now kill a knight with a well-placed crossbow bolt was a lesson that wasnt
learned quickly by the ruler elite. But after several successful uprisings and
military coups, the idea that it was practical to win the favour of the masses
grudgingly became more accepted among the continents religious and worldly
rulers.
Its not surprising, then, that next to scientific thought, arts and literature, also the
printing industry boomed. Gutenbergs innovation can be dated to the 1430s, and
by the end of the 15th Century the printing industry had already spread out
through Europe, and had produced more than 20 million copies. A century later,
this number increased to 200 million. Another century later, one billion books
were produced.

Pamphlet: the collective name


for short books or leaflets

Shortly after the innovations of Gutenberg, millions and later billions of printed
books spread out through Europe, but not only books rolled off the presses.
Pamphlets were printed to entertain, persuade and inform readers.
From the 16th Century, these pamphlets were in many ways the new mass
medium, giving information on current affairs, spreading the news, and providing
commentary on that news throughout Europe.
It was through pamphlets that many religious and political debates were fought
out. It was pamphlets that informed multitudes about great military victories and
defeats, about the gossip that surrounded the European royal houses.
Pamphlets came in many styles. They could be serious or funny. They were
written for the learned and for the illiterate, and everyone in between.
In sixteenth century Venice, the first newspaper was published, and German,
Dutch and English newspapers soon followed, but these newspapers didnt reach
a mass audience, as they remained for a long time a medium for the elite, with a
small readership and focus on foreign political news.
Pamphlets, however, discussed foremost domestic and even local news.
Readership could be high, and there is evidence that suggests they were read out
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Greek and Roman rhetorica, the dark ages, renaissance & printing press

Intro to Comm Sci


Univ. Amsterdam
J Greenwood
09/04/2015

loud in market places and taverns for people who couldnt read. Illustrations and
attention-grabbing covers further added to their popular appeal.
Pamphlet production in the Netherlands between 1600 and the mid-1800s
spiked every time there was an issue of national significance. With developments
in the Eighty-Years War when the Dutch won their independence from Spain,
hundreds of pamphlets were printed to inform the population.
Later, when invaded by Muenster, France & Cologne, a hateful pamphlet
campaign put the blame at the feet of two leading politicians, which led to their
deaths at a public lynching. Evidence suggests their enemies were actually behind
the smear campaign that led to their deaths.
Examples like these showed contemporary scholars the powers of mass
communication.
It clearly paid off to heed public opinion and to be able to use mass media like the
influential pamphlet press. Scholars like Niccol Machiavelli approached the
topic of mass communication from this political power angle, using elements
from antiquity and combining them with new ideas.
This approach was the starting point of a truly modern communication science.

We have strolled, with huge steps, through history to the 19th Century, which is
often seen as the starting point of modern times, characterised by:

industrialisation
the rise of nationalism
the birth of political parties
the birth of socialism
the subsequent emancipation of the masses

The rise of the media as a socio-political and financial power is closely connected
to this. The media were able to influence, make people rich and form or break
communities.

First of all we should recognize that despite the power and influence of mass
media in former times, all of this increased substantially in the nineteenth
century. Since many more people were able to read and write, the potential
audience for print media grew enormously. At the same time new print
technologies and methods for making papers made it easier and cheaper to
produce books, pamphlets, magazines and newspapers.
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Greek and Roman rhetorica, the dark ages, renaissance & printing press

Intro to Comm Sci


Univ. Amsterdam
J Greenwood
09/04/2015

It became more profitable to cater to the tastes of a mass audience and therefore
literature specifically designed for popular tastes was booming. Special magazines
for women, books for children, newspapers for members of a political party,
pamphlets aiming at villagers in one specific village: it was all becoming part of
daily reality.
Most noticeable was the transition from pamphlets as the primary print medium
for news and debate to newspapers. Although they had existed for a long time, it
was only in the nineteenth century that newspapers started to cater to a popular
audience, hence becoming a true mass medium.
The new newspaper followed the journalistic format set out by press barons like
William Stead, Joseph Pulitzer and Randolph Hearst in which the news had to be
interesting and attention grabbing. New genres like the reportage, cartoon,
illustration and later the photo, the column, featured article and interview were
quickly adopted throughout the world.
Financing of the paper also changed: the old newspaper was often dependent on
government subsidies, for which they promised to publish announcements. The
new newspaper wanted a large audience since they got their money from sales
and advertisements revenue. It was less dependent and therefore often critical
of the government and did its best to find entertain and inform on all matters, not
only political. Crime, agriculture, sports, theatre, music, household appliances,
they were now all part of the weekly and when the appearance rate increased daily news.
Because of these changes, more media, new audience groups and new
technologies that made printing easier and cheaper, the media landscape became
an economic force to reckon with. Also politically the importance of mass
communication increased and the attitude of politicians changed.

* As Aristophanes comic plays


had been in 5th Century BC
Athens.

In the previous section we discussed that scholars started to demand for rulers to
be more attentive to public opinion and the power of mass communication. At
first the idea behind this was purely pragmatic. Later, it was connected to the
enlightened democratic ideal that governments are for the people, and therefore
should listen to the people. New political theories proposed that the government
were in some sense representatives of the people. Mass media were not only a
way to influence those people, but also a reflection of public opinion, and a check
on the misuse of power* by the government.

Its important to note that scholarly thought had now evolved to the point that all
the different channels of mass communication were now collectively labelled as
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Greek and Roman rhetorica, the dark ages, renaissance & printing press
The Fourth Estate: a societal or
political force whose influence is
not consistently or officially
recognised. Frequently used to
describe the media.

Intro to Comm Sci


Univ. Amsterdam
J Greenwood
09/04/2015

being part of one political institute. In the nineteenth century this institute began
to be referred to as The Fourth Estate. A term coined by Edmund Burke. Media
as The Fourth Estate are instrumental for any nation, because they function:
firstly as a channel between government and people
secondly as a barometer of public opinion
and thirdly as a check on the use of power by rulers.
The lesson that it paid to listen to your citizens was driven home quite
dramatically with the French Revolution in 1789 when the masses rose and
executed king Louis XVI and many nobles. We can only imagine the shock that
went through Europe as this set a dangerous precedent. The subsequent
nineteenth century saw many concessions toward democratic ideals in most
European countries. The attitude toward mass communication changed as well.
The idea grew that media had a political power to be either feared or harnessed.
Before the nineteenth century, legislation in many countries had been aimed at
controlling the media landscape, punishing authors that criticized the
government, banning pamphlets, books or newspapers that were deemed
politically or religiously subversive. However, these measures proved
unsuccessful as forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest and authors were able to
move and get their work printed in other countries relatively easy.
The Dutch Republic for example was for many a place where
basically everything could be published, as long as you kept friendly
towards the citys government of course.
In the nineteenth century most countries changed their stance towards media
governance. They actually adopted The Fourth Estate principle in their
legislation when they explicitly promised freedom of the press in their
constitutions. Journalists at the same time gained higher status, receiving for
instance special clearance to be at government meetings. Politicians started to
make more and more use of the powers of the Fourth Estate instead of trying to
suppress it. Political campaigns were now becoming media scripted events.
Important politicians also had close ties with newspapers. Often as editor-in-chief
or financial backer.
At the end of the nineteenth century, the mass media were widely acknowledged
as an economically, politically and socially powerful institute. Scholarly thought
recognized mass communication as an integral part of our society. The stage was
set for the further development of scientific thought on communication in the
twentieth century.
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