Maribeth Cangsan

ENGLISH 4
Timeline of History of Public Speaking
1. Time: Early Athens, Greece and Rome
Event/Concept: origin of the word Public Speaking (rhetoric)
2. Time: Ancient Asia
Event/Concept: where rhetorics are also produced
3. Time: Imperial China
Event/Concept: rhetorics influenced by royal court
4. Time: Ancient China (Confucius)
Event/Concept: gain personal wisdom
5. Time: Ancient China (Ptah-hotep)
Event/Concept: persuasion and arguments
6. Time: Ancient China
Event/Concept: narrative stories
7. Time: Ancient Japan
Event/Concept: speaking around a topic
8. Time: Ancient India
Event/Concept: truthful speech
9. Time: Today/Present
Event/Concept: speech for everyday situations

Brief Summary:
The origin of public speaking is said to be found in the Athens, Greece and in the Senate
of Republican Rome. Practice of rhetoric is also practiced in ancient Asia. In Imperial China,
rhetorics were strongly influenced by the atmosphere of the royal court where an effective
speaker must be a person who is always able to speak with wisdom and profundity. The ancient
China then laid out how to gain personal wisdom through conversation or in speech. The next
main focus was then to make wisdom prevail so that order and harmony could be obtained.
Persuasion came less from arguments addressed to specific points of dispute. Narrative stories
were also valued as a way to reveal the mind of the wise person. In ancient Japan, its cohesive
society produced a rhetorical style of speaking around a topic which allows the audience to make
their own inferences, until harmony is attained. Then in ancient India, they focused on the
speaker’s invocation of cultural truths. Truthful speech was thought to be that which revealed
aspects of the greater cosmic, ontic, and social order of things. Now, at present, public speaking
is already a booming thing where it is now normal to use speechmaking skills for everyday
situations.