La performance retorica: l’Encomio di Elena di Gorgia tra improvvisazione e metalinguaggio

In recent times performance has received considerable attention also in classical scholarship. In this paper, I try to show how the use of the category of performance allows us to understand some of the most significant aspects of Gorgias’ Encomium of Helen. In particular, it allows us to clarify the relationship between two seemingly contradictory features of this text: its self-promotional nature and its ability to identify some of the mechanisms of greatest importance (and ambiguity) at the heart of democratic life.