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  • Ida Elizabeth Brandon Mathis (1857 - 1925)
    Ida Elizabeth Brandon, the daughter of Mary Baldwin Munn Brandon and Washington McClure Brandon and wife of Giles Huff Mathis, was born in Florence, Alabama in 1857. Ida Brandon Mathis was called the ...
  • Rev. Stephen Smith Nelson (1772 - 1853)
    Rev. Stephen Smith Nelson Rev. Smith an American Baptist minister, was born in Middleborough, Massachusetts, October 5, 1772, graduated at Brown University in 1794, and was licensed to prea...
  • Warren G. Harding, 29th President of the USA (1865 - 1923)
    Warren G. Harding was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party, he was one of the most popular sitting U.S. presidents while ...
  • Shafee Okarvi (1930 - 1984)
    Muhammad Shafee Okarvi (Urdu: اردو نام: محمد شفیع اوکاڑوی; 2 February 1930 – 24 April 1984), also known by his honorific as Maulana Muhammad Shafee Okarvi, was a Pakistani religious scholar and orat...
  • Photo by maapu, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/maapu/4646036826/ This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
    Zakir Naik
    Zakir Abdul Karim Naik (born 18 October 1965) is an Indian Islamic da'i and orator who focuses on comparative religion. Naik is currently a wanted fugitive in India, where, in 2016, the authorities ...

Notable Orators

An orator, or oratis, is a public speaker. An orator may also be called an oratorian — literally, "one who orates".

In ancient Rome, the art of speaking in public (Ars Oratoria) was a professional competence especially cultivated by politicians and lawyers. As the Greeks were still seen as the masters in this field, as in philosophy and most sciences, the leading Roman families often either sent their sons to study these things under a famous master in Greece (as was the case with the young Julius Caesar), or engaged a Greek teacher (under pay or as a slave).

In the young revolutionary French republic, Orateur (French for "orator", but compare the Anglo-Saxon parliamentary speaker) was the formal title for the delegated members of the Tribunat to the Corps législatif, to motivate their ruling on a presented bill.

In the 19th century, orators and lecturers, such as Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, and Col. Robert G. Ingersoll were major providers of popular entertainment.

The term pulpit orator denotes Christian authors, often clergymen, renowned for their ability to write and/or deliver (from the pulpit in church, hence the word) rhetorically skilled religious sermons.

In some universities, the title 'Orator' is given to the official whose task it is to give speeches on ceremonial occasions, such as the presentation of honorary degrees.

Lists of Orators