Progymnasmata (Greek προγυμνάσματα "fore-exercises"; Latin praeexercitamina) are a series of preliminary rhetorical exercises that began in ancient Greece and continued during the Roman Empire.
There are only four surviving handbooks of progymnasmata, attributed to Aelius Theon, Hermogenes of Tarsus, Aphthonius of Antioch, and Nicolaus the Sophist.
In fact, the term “progymnasmata” first appeared in Chapter 28 of Rhetoric to Alexander, most likely written by Anaximenes of Lampsacus in the late fourth century.
The use of preliminary rhetorical exercises is discussed briefly in some Greek and Roman dialogues, but all handbooks from that time remain lost today.
[2] But the third handbook is attributed to Aphthonius of Antioch, student of the great sophist Libanius during the second half of the fourth century.
It is assumed that this training is a result of Aristotle's theory of categories and introduces students to the four values of narrative, which is perspicuity, incisiveness, persuasiveness, and purity of language.
Maxim or proverbs were first described by Aristotle, and in Aphthonius's book are divided into protreptic, apotreptic, declarative, simple, and compound.
Each praise could be engendered from the headings upbringing, deeds, skills, and sometimes was in the form of a comparison with another person, an epilogue, or a prayer.
Students used personification or ethopoeia by forming a speech ascribed to the ghost of a known person or of an imaginary or mythological character from past, present, or future times.
When asked to use ekphrasis to describe a person, place, thing, or time, students were obliged to produce a description that was complete.
The argument is first stated, a counterargument follows, and then the headings are discussed In the past few years there has been considerable effort expended to see if the Progymnasmata could be adapted for use in elementary, middle and high school education.