ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at how hypokrisis and actio/pronuntiatio were systematized in ancient rhetorical theory. It provides an overview of some of the most relevant narrations of rhetorical performances in Greco-Roman literature in order to ascertain what topics these accounts addressed. However, the copious presence of accounts of rhetorical performances in late antique literature has been largely overlooked in modern scholarship. The chapter discusses that rhetoric and oratory are the symbiotic branches of the art of persuasion. There are differences between these terms but the use of "rhetorical performances" and "oratorical performances" throughout this work will refer to the act of delivering a speech in front of an audience. Competition for the maintenance of social influence and prestige, as well as for the advancement of different cultural and religious programs, was the main issue with which the narrations of rhetorical performances were engaged in late antique literature.
