International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Vessela Valiavitcharska
University of Maryland, College Park MD, United States; 
[e-mail]
Rhetoric and Aristotle’s 
Antistrophos
Aristotle’s famous line ἡ ῥητορική ἐστιν ἀντίστροφος τῇ διαλεκτικῇ has given rise to much 
dispute and confusion among rhetoricians and Aristotelian commentators alike. A passing mention 
of choral lyric in Book Three of Aristotle’s Rhetoric has prompted a consideration of the relationship 
between rhetoric and dialectic in terms of parallels resembling the metrical correspondences between 
strophe and antistrophe. However, the similarity is not obvious, and the rhetoric commentators 
clearly find it unsatisfactory. 
Discussions of rhetoric as antistrophos usually appear in prolegomena preceding the Hermogenic 
corpus, where the definition, subject matter, and goals of rhetoric are expounded. The composite 
prolegomena that survive from the tenth and eleventh centuries do not limit the comparison of 
rhetoric to dialectic but also draw parallels between rhetoric and philosophy, medicine, gymnastics, 
and law. They give various explanations for the term antistrophos, ranging from subject matter to 
argumentation, to length of treatment, to method of exposition. What is conspicuous about the 
selection of material and its treatment is the prominent place ascribed to definition (as a concept) and 
conversion (the reciprocal transformation of propositions, terms, and even arguments). Rhetoric is 
not strictly paired with dialectic, but its definition includes from some form of convertibility between 
itself and other disciplines such as dialectic or philosophy or medicine.
Here I suggest that the prominence of definition and of conversion in the rhetorical prolegomena 
reflects an argumentation interest – and subsequently, a pedagogical concern – which has its roots 
in the Iconoclastic period. The Vita of Patriarch Nicephorus makes a clear point that the mastery 
of definition and logical conversion is indispensable to the kind of intellectual arsenal required 
for settling the controversy about images. Likewise, Nicephorus’ treatises Against the Iconoclasts 
and Refutation of the Council of 815 show a concern for the correct use of both in practical 
argumentation. This suggests that the Iconoclastic controversy may have been instrumental to the 
selection and transmission of rhetorical theory during the ninth century and later.

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