In his book "Rhetoric and Poetics in Antiquity", Jeffrey Walker claims that epideictic rhetoric predates the rhetoric of courts and politics, the study of which began in the 5th or 4th century BC with the Sophists. The other two kinds of public speech were deliberative or political speech, and forensic, judicial, or legal speech. Epideictic rhetoric or style is according to Aristotle most appropriate for material that is written or read. In the "Art of Rhetoric", Aristotle stated that "The epideictic style is especially suited to written compositions; for its function is reading." (423)