PR Roots in Ancient Civilization

Bates (2006) in his paper on “Public Relations from the Dawn of Civilization” cited one of the patriarchs of modern public relations, Edward Bernays, who wrote, “The three main elements of public relations are practically as old as society: informing people, persuading people, or integrating people with people. Of course, the means and methods of accomplishing these ends have changed as society has changed.” In his opinion, much of recorded history can be interpreted as the practice of public relations. Whereas primitive societies ruled mainly through fear and coercion, more advanced cultures tried to build consensus, since coercion that was mostly grounded in force, transformed to words and public relations took its shape. The ancient rulers, in promoting and creating their image as kings or warriors, to impress their public by their greatness and prowess as well as to mold the public mind, used written and spoken tools (also architecture, art served as a tool). As a result oratory blossomed, and the public interest became a central concern of philosophical speculation.
As an evident of public relations’ power in ancient Rome were such phrases like as vox populi, vox Dei - “the voice of the people is the voice of God”, res publicae - “public affairs”. During his crossing of the Rubicon Julius Caesar organized the Romans by sending reports such as “Caesar’s Gallic Wars” on his epic achievement. Caesar already was aware about the power of news and published a daily paper Acta Diurna. He also wrote his Commentaries that can be sought as propaganda for himself.
The word “Propaganda” originated by Vatican in the seventeenth century, that is Congregatio de Propaganda Fide – “congregation for propagating the faith.” This is considered to be a definite acknowledgement of the need for a third party to mediate communication between government and its constituencies.
After the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens (1789), where the leaders of the French Revolution proclaimed the right of citizens to freely express and communicate their thought first propaganda ministry was created by National Assembly of France in 1792. It was part of the Ministry of the Interior and subsidized editors and sent agents to different parts of the country to gain public support for the French Revolution. (Bates 2006)