An international workshop organised by Dr. Caroline Petit (Warwick) and Dr. Lorenzo Miletti (Naples).

From Antiquity to early modern times, medicine and rhetoric share much common ground and contribute hand in hand to scientific enquiries into the natural world, the human body, causation and more; they also enable effective teaching and diffusion of knowledge whilst establishing or questioning new and past authorities. This workshop investigates various facets of this relationship. It focuses on newly found or neglected material, unexpected or overdue comparisons, and how epideictic rhetoric especially served the discipline of medicine across cultures. Papers cover material from Classical Athens, imperial Greek literature, late antique literature (including in Arabic), early modern Italy and France.

The workshop will showcase a newly published special issue of Rhetorica (41.3) on Rhetoric and Medicine, available via Project Muse hereLink opens in a new window.

In the wake of the thirtieth anniversary of La rhétorique de l'éloge dans le monde gréco-romain by Laurent Pernot (Paris, 1993), we will dedicate a session to the impact of the book and to new research avenues into epideictic rhetoric.

Link to final programme (brochure)Link opens in a new window.

This event is sponsored by the University of Warwick, the University of Naples (Federico Secundo), the International Society for the History of Rhetoric.