The Untold History of Speech

Before you read any further, imagine silence. Now imagine a world of silence where the only sounds were the rustling of leaves, the roars of animals, and the soft whispers of the wind. In this quiet world you’re thinking of, early humans wandered with minds brimming with thoughts. Then, the silence broke, and speech erupted. A sound that transformed grunts and gestures into words. This is the tale of speech.

The Dawn of Dialogue

Truthfully, before the history of giving speeches, we have to talk about how we got our speech. The exact origins of speech are a mystery. Around 200,000 years ago, Homo sapiens took center stage, equipped with a descended larynx—a biological marvel that widened the palette of sounds they could make with their voices. Unlike our primate kin, whose larynx sits high, ours drops during infancy; this gives us a range of vocal acrobatics. It’s what helps us sing lullabies and make loud proclamations. But here’s a twist: our Neanderthal cousins might have been making their own tunes. Evidence like the FOXP2 gene¹, often called the "language gene," and a hyoid bone (a tiny anchor for the tongue) found in Neanderthal fossils² suggest they could have talked away too. Speech, it seems, was a family affair.

As humans spread across the globe, speech started blossoming. Each branch became a language family—Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, and Afro-Asiatic. For instance, English, Spanish, and Hindi sway on the Indo-European bough. Their shared ancestry comes together through words like "mother" (mater in Latin, matar in Sanskrit). Today, over 7,000 languages are spoken.

The History of Speeches

By the time we hit the Neolithic period, around 10,000 BCE, people were settling into villages. They didn’t have writing, so everything important, like hunting plans, warnings about predators, or stories, had to be spoken aloud. These weren’t fancy speeches, but they were the first (at least theoretically the first) oral presentations, delivered to small groups of hunters or families. Archaeologists figured this was how knowledge got passed down before anyone could scratch it onto a rock. Leaders or elders probably stood up to address the group. Think of it as the original town hall meeting. No one’s got recordings, obviously, but evidence of communal gatherings, like big hearths or meeting spaces in places like Çatalhöyük in Turkey, hints that talking to a crowd was already a thing.

Fast forward to the big ancient civilizations like Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece. Speeches start taking shape as something formal. In Mesopotamia, around 3,000 BCE, kings and priests were likely giving proclamations to keep everyone in line. We don’t have transcripts, but clay tablets mention rulers addressing their people, often about laws or victories.

Then there’s Greece, where speeches hit their stride. By 1200 BCE, the Mycenaean Greeks were into oral storytelling. Think about the Iliad and Odyssey recited by bards. But it’s the classical period, around 500 BCE (my favorite period), where things get amazing. Athens, with its democracy, turned public speaking into an art form. Guys like Pericles were giving funeral orations. (Check out his famous one from 431 BCE praising fallen soldiers and Athenian values.) Citizens had to speak in assemblies or courts, so rhetoric* became a skill you had to learn if you wanted to matter.

*The Greeks had a word for it—rhetorike—which just means “the art of speaking.”

Rome took the Greek playbook and ran with it. By 509 BCE, when the Roman Republic kicked off, public speaking was the name of the game. Senators and lawyers like Cicero (106–43 BCE) turned speeches into high-stakes performances. Cicero’s takedowns of corrupt officials, like his speeches against Catiline, were huge events. Romans loved a good orator, and they trained hard—schools taught boys how to gesture, project, and win over a crowd.

Modern Times: Soapboxes to Stages

By the 1700s and 1800s, speeches were everywhere. The American and French Revolutions leaned hard on oratory. Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death” in 1775 was a famous example. People started climbing onto soapboxes (literally, crates from soap deliveries) to preach politics or religion to anyone who’d listen.

The 20th century brought tech into the mix. Radio let leaders like FDR reach millions with his “Fireside Chats” (1933–1944). TV made speeches visual; JFK’s 1961 “Ask not what your country can do for you” hit harder because you could see him. And then there’s MLK’s “I Have a Dream” in 1963—delivered to 250,000 people live but broadcast to the world.

Now, speeches are all over: YouTube, podcasts, Zoom calls. Politicians still stump, but so do influencers and CEOs. The roots are the same—connecting with people, but the delivery’s evolved. You’ve got Obama’s smooth 2004 DNC speech launching him to fame, or Greta Thunberg’s blunt 2019 UN climate talk shaking things up. Anyone with a phone can give a “presentation” to thousands online.

The history of speeches is the history of us. Inspiring one voice at a time and used as our timeless truth that trumps trivial trends.

That’s all for now,

The Forensic Funnel Team