This volume acknowledges the centrality of comic invective in a range of oratorical
institutions (especially forensic and symbouleutic) and aspires to enhance the knowledge and
understanding of how this technique is used in such con-texts of both Greek and Roman oratory.
Despite the important scholarly work that has been done in discussing the patterns of using
invective in Greek and Roman texts and contexts there are still notable gaps in our knowledge
of the issue. The introduction to and the twelve chapters of this volume address some
understudied multi-genre and interdisciplinary topics: first the ways in which comic invective
in oratory draws on or has implications for comedy and other genres or how these literary
genres are influenced by oratorical theory and practice and by contemporary socio-political
circumstances in articulating comic invective and targeting prominent individuals second how
comic invective sustains relationships and promotes persuasion through unity and division
third how it connects with sexuality the human body and male female physiology fourth what
impact generic dichotomies as for example public-private and defence-prosecution may have
upon using comic invective and fifth what the limitations in its use are depending on the
codes of honour and decency in ancient Greece and Rome.
