Compare Isocrates’ Panegyricus (380BC) with Barack Obama’s Speech at Cairo University (5 June 2009). Are there similarities in the ways the speakers lay out a cultural program? Are both staking a claim to moral leadership in the world community?
o Hints for this title: Be careful about the requirement to compare. It does not mean ‘Describe the Panegyricus, then describe the Obama speech’. But at the same time it is not helpful to write, ‘These speeches were given thousands of years apart in totally contrasting contexts, and therefore they are completely different and there is nothing to compare.’ Read the speeches with an ear to the areas where the speakers are reflecting on elements of human experience which resonate in similar ways, and then compare how the two speakers address the issues which arise. Focus on cultural program and moral leadership.
Sample Solution
