| epideictic oratory | |
noun | |
| a type of oratory used to eulogize or condemn a person or group of people; "Pericles' funeral oration for Athenians killed in the Peloponnesian War is a famous example of epideictic oratory" |
epideictic oratory
according to Aristotle, a type of suasive speech designed primarily for rhetorical effect. Epideictic oratory was panegyrical, declamatory, and demonstrative. Its aim was to condemn or to eulogize an individual, cause, occasion, movement, city, or state. An outstanding example of this type of speech is a funeral oration by the Athenian statesman Pericles in honour of those killed during the first year of the Peloponnesian War. The word is from the Greek epideiktikos, meaning "for display" or "declamatory," and is a derivative of epideiknynai, meaning "to show off" or "to display."
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