The Myth of Rhetoric: Korax and the Art of Pollution

Abstract

This article reconsiders the debate over the origins of rhetoric by the historical reconstructionists and neosophists beginning in the 1990s. It contends that both are misled by relying only upon texts overtly identified as “rhetorical theory” and suggests that other ancient sources offer significant insights into the “origins” and contemporary theorizing of rhetoric. It examines the legend of Corax and Tisias, arguing that the narrative of rhetoric's originator is folkloric expression intimately related to other narratives of the korax—“raven”—in natural histories and myths of Apollo. It concludes by theorizing rhetoric as a “koractic” art of pollution.

Notes

See Green (Classical Bearings) for an account of Polybius's own partisanship.

Although I am uncomfortable with the term “neosophist” as derisive and dismissive in the manner of Platonic rationalism, I will employ it herein as a recognized term in this debate.

For the extensive debate, see also Poulakos (“Toward a Sophistic,” “Rhetoric,” The Possibility, and Sophistical Rhetoric), Schiappa (“Did Plato?,” “History and Neo-Sophistic Criticism,” “Sophistic Rhetoric,” “NB to DB,” “What's in a Name?,” Protagoras, “The Beginnings,” “Some of My Best Friends,” and Beginnings), Consigny (“Schiappa's Reading” and Gorgias), and McComiskey (Gorgias).

In Greek, the phrase is èk kakoū kórakos kakòn ōón. Through this article, I will use “Corax” to reference the person regarded as the historical inventor of rhetoric or a character in the tale of the trial with Tisias, and “korax” to reference the bird or nickname of Tisias.

See Enos and Kantz (“Bibliography”) for a list of works on Corax to 1983. Schiappa (Protagoras 49–50 and 61) reviews the debate with a bibliography, as does Schiappa (Beginnings 4–6 and 34–38).

See Farenga (“Periphrasis”).

See Pernot (Rhetoric) on prōtos heuretēs.

Plato references Tisias and a trial in the Phaedrus (273), but it is not the Corax-Tisias contest.

In Sextus Empiricus II.96–99, for example, only Corax is mentioned; his opposition in the trial is an unnamed pupil, a “young man” (neanías). See Cole (67) for mention of Protagoras and a pupil (Euathlos) in legal conflict.

See also Fontenrose (Delphic Oracle).

Ravens frequently appear as divine war birds in Irish and Germanic myth and in Beowulf. Raven symbolism also functions in the worship of Mithras, a popular religion among Roman legions. It is important to note that there are no linguistic or historical connections between the Indo–European concept and Raven as trickster in American Indian mythology. See also Rooth (The Raven).

In the Phaedrus (273c), Plato invokes Tisias and suggests he might go by another name. Aristotle is ambiguous in his depiction, and never technically distinguishes the two.

Aristotle only refers to Diogenes by his nickname (Rhetoric 3.10 1411a24), just as he is the first to reference Corax (Rhetoric 2.24 1401a17), a possible parallel that strengthens the argument that the latter is also a nickname for Tisias.

Both sets derive from Indo–European ∗ger. On these birds and human society, see Marzluff and Angell (In the Company of Crows).

For a similar theme in Chaucer see Fumo (“Thinking upon the Crow”).

Compare Luke 12.24, which mentions the raven that neither sow nor reaps.

See Konstan (“Politics”).

Syracuse was founded by the Corinthians circa 734 BCE and became a center of theatrical performances and political power rivaling Athens. A temple to Apollo was constructed circa 565 BCE. Its oldest quarter is called Ortegia, which held the spring Arethusa. In the Raven's Rock episode of the Odyssey, Homer locates Arethusa on Odysseus's homeland of Ithaca, another connection between the two.

This relationship between the korax and the kolax also occurs in the Aesopic fable, “The Fox and the Raven.” The raven sits in a tree with a piece of food in it mouth. The fox, ever crafty, laments that the raven could be king of the birds if only it possessed the talent for song. Desirous to prove himself worthy, the raven opens his mouth to sing and drops the food, which the fox promptly steals. Similarly, in Moralia, Plutarch begins his essay “How to Tell a Flatterer from a Friend” by noting that a flatterer is an enemy to the gods, particularly Apollo (for flatterers prevent people from knowing themselves as the Delphic oracle commands).

Compare Rokem (“One Voice and Many Legs”).

See Magrath (“A Note”).

Translated by Hubbard.

Pausanias (2.26.6) reports that Hermes saves the child (who, technically, would be a human sacrifice).

See Kirkwood (“Pindar's Ravens”).

See Stoneman (“Theban Eagle”).

Translated by Frazer (Apollodorus).

Pliny (10.14 and 10.95) mentions that crows are not seen in groves sacred to Athena.

Translated by Humphries (Metamorphoses).

See Burkert (Homo Necans and Greek Religion).

See Kerényi (Gods and Apollo) and Fontenrose (Python).

Translated by Fitts (Aristophanes).

Translated by Jowett (Socrates).

See Crooks (“Socrates' Last Words”).

Plato often references Zeus rather than Apollo as the divine representative, but the connection is salient.

Later in the dialogue, Plato discusses human and animal transmogrification.

On the related concept of parrhesia, as speech involved in truth-telling, see Foucault (Fearless Speech and Hermeneutics).

Compare Said (“Philology”). See Poulakos (“Interpreting”) for a philological error in reading a medieval Aesopic fable as evidence of pre-Platonic usage of the term “rhetoric.”