The way in which communication has been viewed has changed considerably since it first became a subject of study. The first scholars to study and write about communication lived in Ancient Greece. The culture of the times placed heavy emphasis on public speaking, so it is not surprising that the first theories of communication—then called "rhetoric"—focused on speech. Aristotle, probably the most influential person of the day to study communication, characterized communication in terms of an orator (i.e., a speaker) who constructed an argument to be presented in a speech to hearers (i.e., an audience). The goal or effect of communication, as Aristotle viewed it, was to persuade. He described the process as follows:

[Communication] exists to affect the giving of decisions.… [The] orator must not only try to make the argument of his speech demonstrative and worthy of belief...