Fearmongering in Greek and Roman Literature and Beyond

This volume provides, for the first time, a focused study of scare tactics and fearmongering in a broad range of Greek and Roman authors and genres, showing how alarmist tactics were used in both antiquity and today.

Scare tactic rhetoric is a timely topic; fear in current politics can justify actions and decisions and be used to control what is debated in the public arena, with the truth often shaped and even removed from what was being said. The ancient world was no different. In this volume, an international selection of scholars discusses how and why alarmist tactics were used in a variety of genres in Greco-Roman literature, including oratory, historiography, drama, philosophy, and children’s stories, to convey political messages and ideas. They also draw parallels between ancient and contemporary fear.

Fearmongering in Greek and Roman Literature and Beyond is suitable for students and scholars in Classics and Ancient History, Rhetoric and Rhetorical Theory, Ancient Societies and Politics, as well as those operating in adjacent fields of study, along with the general reader interested in the ancient world, psychology, politics, and the exploitation of rhetoric.