This collection of essays offers the first systematic approach to ancient forensic storytelling. Stories are a medium of signification, an indispensable tool in our cognitive toolkit. Understanding narratives as an integral part of forensic speakers' argumentation, a substantial number of contributions in this volume emphasize the ways in which individual orators manipulate their stories by way of substantiating their argumentation: readers will find in this volume discussion of storytelling in Isaeus, Lysias, Demosthenes, and Apollodorus. A number of papers address broader questions: the relationship between stories and the law, the use of stories as a means of involving jurors in speakers' conceptualization of individual cases, or the use of stories as a medium of emotional manipulation. The volume thus raises questions about forensic storytelling on the basis of modern theoretical work: narratology, legal theory, and the theory of emotions are used as a basis for a better and more thorough understanding of forensic storytelling. As a result, contributors depart from a strictly legalistic approach to the speeches and thereby favour readings which highlight the literary qualities of forensic oratory.
