Epideictic

The epideictic oratory, also called ceremonial oratory, or praise-and-blame rhetoric, is one of the three branches, or 'species' (eidē), of rhetoric as outlined in Aristotle's Rhetoric, to be used to praise or blame during ceremonies. The epideictic oratory, also called ceremonial oratory, or praise-and-blame rhetoric, is one of the three branches, or 'species' (eidē), of rhetoric as outlined in Aristotle's Rhetoric, to be used to praise or blame during ceremonies. The term's root has to do with display or show (deixis). It is a literary or rhetorical term from the Greek (ἐπιδεικτικός). It is generally pronounced /ɛpɪˈdaɪktɪk/ or /ɛpɪˈdeɪktɪk/. Another English form, now less common, is epidictic /ɛpɪˈdɪktɪk/. This is rhetoric of ceremony, commemoration, declamation, demonstration, on the one hand, and of play, entertainment, display, including self-display. It is also the rhetoric used at festivals, the Olympic games, state visits and other formal events like openings, closings, anniversaries as well as at births, deaths, or marriages. Its major subject is praise and blame, according to Aristotle in the limited space he provides for it in the Art of Rhetoric (Freese translation).