About

The Project

When we hear or read a speech, our assessment ultimately derives from criteria identified and defined in ancient Greco-Roman rhetoric and public speech – the cradle of Western political and legal speech. This understanding of what makes a good speech is based on a remarkably narrow basis: a small number of Greek and Latin rhetorical treatises and orations delivered by a dozen orators. But it is possible to go beyond this dominating yet unrepresentative canon of ancient rhetoric to better understand this central communication tool within its contemporary contexts, its early reception and developing history, and its momentous impact from antiquity to today. This project investigates one of the most significant but neglected works to engage with oratory and orators of the Roman republican period (509-31 BCE): Valerius Maximus’ Facta et dicta memorabilia (27-31 CE).

Of Valerius’ over 1000 moral anecdotes, over 200 involve republican-period Romans addressing a variety of audiences in a multitude of contexts, but written down when the political system had changed under the first two Roman emperors. Apart from the opportunity to understand the representation of republican oratory at a point when the dynastic system of single rulership was still developing, Valerius offers new and extraordinary perspectives on republican oratory: Cicero and Julius Caesar are not the great orators we see in other sources and later traditions; women, non-elites and foreigners – otherwise overlooked – are given speeches; and the themes of treason and free speech are prominent yet presented inversely to the otherwise dominant narratives. Valerius’ contribution to the early imperial reception of republican oratory is therefore critical in the history of public speech at Rome, providing a uniquely diverse and often inventive perspective on orators and the impact of their speeches.

This project provides a complete reassessment of Valerius Maximus’ engagement with and reinvention of republican oratory from three perspectives: the Facta et dicta as a source for republican oratory; Valerius’ perspective on republican oratory; and what Valerius’ perspective on republican oratory reveals about his own project, his own period, and his contribution to the early-imperial reception of republican oratory.

Roman public speaking influenced Roman political, legal, educational and elite intellectual communication, institutions and cultures. These institutions and traditions, in turn, significantly influenced Western institutions, cultures and forms of communication. The project therefore also aims to explore how this early-imperial understanding of public speech influenced Western political, legal, educational and rhetorical cultures so fundamental for our modern democratic society.

The Team

I am an ancient historian specialised in the history and political life of the Roman Republic. My research focuses on republican politics in the City of Rome, Roman oratory, all aspects of Cicero, and Roman approaches to the past. I have a strong interest in political oratory across historical periods – including current British political speech – and am the founding director of the Network for Oratory and Politics.

My interest in Valerius Maximus’ Facta et dicta arises from a curiosity about the projection of Roman republican speech in the imperial period, which proved so influential on later periods and our modern understanding of public speaking. It also relates to my research interests in Cicero, fragmentary evidence, exempla and cultural memory.

For more information about my research, see my page on the university website and research portal profile at the University of Birmingham.

Email: h.vanderblom@bham.ac.uk