Rhetoric and Persuasion from the Classical Era Through the Modern Age

Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. The rhetorical theory offers a method for discovering the means of persuasion in discourse. Sincethe classical period up to the introduction of the new rhetoric, the views and perceptions have altered immensely in a myriad of ways.Consequently, I suggest, in order to overcome the complexity of understanding the rhetorical theory and its application, to gothrough the rhetoric’s history which has always been focused on areas pertinent to persuasion. In this overview, I avoided to dealwith the contemporary theories (and leave them to another occasion) because in the turn of the twentieth century, the newrhetoric broke down with the old tradition, the emphasis on persuasion, and new meanings and theories have promulgated in aquantity and audacity unprecedented in the history of rhetoric that the scope of the present article does not allow to cover.