On the Reluctant Orator of Ephesos

Abstract

The present study is concerned with a highly rhetorising inscription from late antique Ephesus, the end of a letter to the city written by an unknown orator (the Reluctant Orator). The study discusses hitherto unnoticed rhetorical features of the inscription (use of accentual prose rhythm). It defends the oratorical sophistication of the text (doubted by older scholars) and contends that its author was most probably a famous oratorical performer of his days.