Speaking of the Weak

This volume explores the discursive dimensions of vulnerability in Greek oratorical texts from classical and late antiquity, a topic that has only recently begun to receive sustained scholarly attention. Bringing together a wide range of methodological perspectives, the contributions investigate how socio-economic, legal, physical, emotional, and intellectual forms of vulnerability were represented, negotiated, contested, mitigated, or even exploited in the public discourse of the Greek-speaking world. By examining rhetorical constructions of vulnerability across different historical contexts, the volume sheds new light on the relationship between rhetoric, power, identity, social norms, and collective values. It demonstrates how vulnerability functioned not merely as a condition to be described but also as a persuasive resource capable of shaping political, legal, and cultural debates. The volume will appeal to scholars of Attic and postclassical rhetoric, classicists, specialists in Late Antiquity, and researchers interested in vulnerability from sociological, cultural, and interdisciplinary humanities perspectives.