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Cicero: De Imperio

 
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About this Course

About the Course

In this course, Henriette van der Blom (University of Glasgow) explores Cicero's speech 'De Imperio Cn Pompeii', delivered in 66 BC. The course begins with an introduction to oratory in Rome, including the different kinds of speeches that an orator might deliver, before moving on to consider the historical and political context of the speech. In the third module, we look at the two main protagonists in this speech, Pompey and Cicero, before looking in the fourth module at the structure of the speech and the arguments that Cicero makes to prove that Pompey should be given what he wants. In the final speech, we look at the impact of the speech; firstly the impact of Pompey's command on Roman foreign and domestic policy, and secondly the impact on Cicero's political career.

About the Lecturer

Dr Henriette van der Blom is Reader in Ancient History at the University of Birmingham. She specialises in the history and political life of the Roman Republic, Roman oratory and rhetoric, all aspects of Cicero, and Roman approaches to the past. She is the founding director of the Network for Oratory and Politics which gathers speech practitioners and academics in discussions of political oratory across historical periods, including current British political speech.